Grit, Saturation, and Resilience

Photographs By Mungo Dulamge

Music photographer Mungo Dulmage opens up about starting photography in a friend’s basement, the intersectionality of art, business, and politics, and the resilience of the Vancouver music scene.

Vancouver, Canada

How did you begin your journey as a photographer?

I started out my journey as a photographer in my friend's basement, they where just starting out as a band and invited a small group of friends for a private show, ended up bringing the family Rebel T1 camera on an impulse and really liked how the photos turned out so I just keep going and it snowballed to where I am now!

What have you learned along the way?

I've learned a lot along the way, it would be super hard for me to give a concise answer but something I think one thing that stands out to me would be the learning about the intersectionality of the arts, politics and business and the different ways of navigating them, especially after having run a venue of my own.

How would you describe your style?

I'd describe my style as grungy but super colourful. I really love colour manipulation combined with high saturation and super gritty texturing, it's taken a while for me to really nail down what I like but I'm super happy with where I'm at now!

Much of your work focuses on bands and musicians in the city of Vancouver, Canada. How does this subject matter inspire you?

I'd say the music itself really inspires me, I try and alter the way I edit and shoot photos depending on the style of each band, watching them give it their all on stage ever time really pushes me to get better and better so I can live up to the same level of effort they put into their music!

Tell the story behind one of your photographs.

The story behind this photo is actually pretty simple but super important to me! Cherry Pick is one of the first people / bands I really connected with in the scene, and when I started shooting for them I was still struggling to figure out my style and what worked for me. I ended up bringing an 8mm fisheye lens that I had purchased earlier that day for a photoshoot we had planned around the iron workers bridge just to see what I could do with it, and something just seemed to click right after the first photo, you could say it was the very beginning of the way I know shoot and style my photos!

What is it like being a photographer and artist in Vancouver? What do you love about the city?

Being an artist and photographer in Vancouver is so much fun but super difficult to maintain. I think it's a pretty consistent problem that all artists can relate to around the world, with cost of living being as high as it is and the arts scene (especially in Vancouver) being underfunded and often under attack by the city, trying to support yourself through the arts; and in my case photography, becomes an endless struggle against your wallet. I'm super lucky to be in a position that allows me to continue my photography without that constant fear but I've seen many great artists put their art to the side in order to make ends meet.

Regarding Vancouver's music scene, what are its strengths, and what areas need improvement?

The Vancouver scene has so many strengths I'd be able to write a full book if I got into all of them, but off the top of my head here is a few that stand out: The never ending support and resilience of the community is incredible, even under the constant pressure from the city the community refuses to die and seems to only come back stronger and more tint knit then ever before. Venues get closed down, and before too long another one will pop right back up and continue where the old one left off, it's really something to see. Beyond that the community is so incredibly supportive and has so many insanely talently, kind, and motivated people who are always ready to take on the next fight. It looks out for its own in a way I haven't seen in many other places.

Who are some bands we should check out?

Whewww there's so many insanely talented bands out there that it's hard to narrow down just a few that I'd want everyone to check out but here goes! If you're into some mind blowing Shoe-Gaze stuff definitely check out Cherry Pick, Hillsboro and Concrete Vehicles. For some off the rails Jazz-Rock craziness Chopping Spree is your one stop shop. If you lean more towards Punk Rock, Sundress Felisha and the Jazz Rejects, Benzonn Band and Chronic Fatigue are some of the best betts for kick ass music. For the Hardcore side of things, I'd get into Luella, Mal Crialdo, Jesei, and Piss. Again I'd keep going all day if I could but these are some killer bands just from the top of my head.

You ran your own music venue called Grey Lab. What was that experience like? What were some of the highs and lows of running a venue and why did you stop?

Grey Lab was an insane experience honestly, I started the venue a few weeks after turning 21 and being a young, totally naïve optimist I got in way over my head and scrambled to learn as much as I could to keep the place running and the community happy. I made a ton of mistakes, some of those contributing to the lowest points but I did the best I could to figure out how to keep us going. Eventually financial issues coupled with pressure from the city made me make the choice to close down. I'm super thankful for the time I had it am hoping I can get it back up in the future.

The highs were really high, hosting some of the craziest shows I've ever seen with our final show being a stand out moment, really blew my mind to see so many people come and support us.

What is next for you?

At the moment we're working on building Grey Lab into something new that allows us to keep hosting shows and provide more opportunities for people in the scene! We hosted our first show recently and it was so incredible to see how many people came out and supported, really can't thank the community enough.