Recipe Used:
Well do I have a story for you!
Let me begin with a note on the post that should have come before this: My yearly post covering Cross The Tracks which happened a day before City Splash at the same location.
After these two days of coverage and giving the JPEGs to the respective festivals as agreed in the Photography Exchange I had with both festivals, I wanted to temporarily put my Cross The Tracks files into one of my external hard drives so I could get everything off my SD cards.
Unfortunately, the hard drive containing the Cross The Tracks files, along with 3+ TB of my work spanning 3+ years tanked whilst transferring files.
I hope one day to post my experience @ Cross The Tracks, but until I get a professional to either fix my hard drive or recover the data, they will be on my broken hard drive not to be seen for the foreseeable future.
Personally, this is frustrating because it tanked whilst I was attempting to fill the remainder of the disk space. So close to finishing it and putting it in storage, ready to use my new one…
Funny how I still have a post to share about my time in Brockwell Park, but it’s for the other festival.
So, let’s begin.
Welcome To City Splash!
Welcome back to Brockwell Park on the hottest day on record in the month of May. Combine that with the fact that I was here the day before and you have yourself a Charlie that was rinsed before 6pm!
I arrived later than I typically would, partly because I wanted more sleep after the day before but also (and I say this in hindsight) it feels like City Splash is less about the musicians on stage and more about the general vibe. Think Notting Hill Carnival lite.
It’s a weird contrast when put against Cross The Tracks which seems much more dedicated to the music. Even when I looked at the timings there were artists I wanted to see but they only had 10 minute sets? What’s the point?
But to City Splash’s credit, they do have an element that I really valued. On the way to that element, I took in the sights under the beaming Sun.
Welcome to the Rastafari Reasoning Corner where Dr. Aleema Gray’s “House Of Dread” curated a few talks inside a little tent. It was a bonus that I could get away from the heat in there but the talks were interesting.
Before all that however, we were treated to some traditional Rastafari sounds.
The first talk was “Re-sounding the System” with Eerf Evil, (Who I’ve covered as part of The Silhouettes Project) Linett Kamala & Asheber, hosted by author/filmmaker Nubia Assata.
I caught the beginning and end of the talk, leaving the middle because one of the acts I was really wanting to see were on the Reload Stage: The Queens of Lover’s Rock, Carroll Thompson & Janet Kay.
After that double up of good talk & finally checking "Silly Games" off my "Songs I Need To Hear Live" list, (I did technically already with Producer of the track, Dennis Bovell. At Cross The Tracks no less!) I then spent the bulk of the day capturing the people.
This day was hot as hell but on top of that, the crowd was already large once I got there. Maybe Cross The Tracks gets the same numbers once entry shuts at 8pm, but by 3pm it was already nearly impossible to get a good look at the main stage.
I say all of that to say there was no way I'd be covering anything on the main stage. Even one of the tent stages were rammed at all times!
So let's cover the people!
I don’t know how people could be at the main stage consistently. I was just trying not to get into crowds. Like I said, Notting Hill Lite, and whilst there were a couple more places to listen to music, it felt less overwhelming to walk around and catch moments.
At this point I thought, why not at least try to go where the main stage is.
Futile effort.
But I do sit on the grass and get some of my favourite shots of the day!
There’s that at least…
I then took a walk around the spaces I didn’t hit yet, to some great results.
I went back to the Rastafari Reasoning Corner to catch the back end of their last talk: Sistren’s Chant with Sinai Fleary, Queen Ifrica, Yeshawa Selassie & hosted by Ukaylah Unique.
Golden Hour was fast approaching so I went to the middle of the space to watch my people glow.
I then hit my 2nd and last performance of the day: Empress Ayeola on the Foundation Stage.
Beres Hammond didn’t even come through yet, but some people were done. Including me!
We finish with my favourite segment.
Silhouette time BABY!
Even in the 20 minutes I spent on the floor capturing these, the sunset was giving more depth.
And that was City Splash from my lens!
I think if it wasn’t the hottest day in May ever, I would’ve had more variety but I did enjoy doing this festival a little differently than I typically do. There were line-ups in past years I would’ve happily paid for but I’ll take this experience for free and bank that.
Charlie Taylor
chillicharlie.taylor@gmail.com
Born in Camden, North London.
Bred in Leigh-On-Sea, Essex.
Screenwriter/Podcaster/Photographer/
Hip-Hop Student.