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QC Flasher | Justin Driscoll the Nightlife Pictorial Storyteller

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Text by Kia O. Moore (of International Music Selectors Society)

Photos by Justin Driscoll

Whenever Charlotteans go for a night out, cameras will most certainly be flashing. With the array of Charlotte nightlife websites and Charlotte news sources seeking to fill nightlife photo albums, amateur and professional photographers are called upon to capture endless "pose & smile" shots of party-goers. However, some photographers go beyond the "pose & smile" and capture pictures that tell the tales of the night. Justin Driscoll is one of those photographers.

Driscoll has become somewhat of a resident photographer for Dharma Lounge's weekly party Le Bang. He also boasts the title of Director of Marketing and Design at Baucom Entertainment and owner of Justin Driscoll Designs, his photo, design, and marketing company. Many of his nightlife picture stories can be found on the Creative Loafing Charlotte blog QC After Dark. Mingleberry.com decided to take the time to get to know the man behind the camera with the nightlife storyteller-eye as he reveals the stories behind five of his favorite nightlife shots.

JD the Professional

Justin Driscoll was born to be a photographer...literally. As a young child Justin‟s father spent quality time with his son by passing on the talent of photography. "Ever since I was a little kid I had a camera in my hand. My father shot professionally and taught me the basics of photography as a child," says Driscoll.

Driscoll's passion for the arts continued into his college years. He started off as an Art major at UNC Charlotte, however that changed before he reached the graduation stage in 2009. Driscoll explains, "I came into college as an Art major. I took all the pre-requisite courses and realized I had been implementing most of this stuff since I was a kid. I had been working with Photoshop for years by that point. But, I really didn't know what I wanted to do at 19 years old." Seeing that he already had the art skills Driscoll decided to pursue a degree in Business. Driscoll reminisces about his thought process when it came to changing his major. "A business degree seemed sure fire. I picked Advertising and Marketing because it seemed like the most artistic because I was not a fan of finance or economics. Plus, I figured you can‟t have advertising without a good designer."

The photographer with the Bachelor‟s of Science and Bachelor's of Arts in Business Administration and Marketing got the chance to put his "good designer" status to the test when he was given a Digital SLR Nikon by his boss Daniel Baucom. "I work a full time job as a Director of Marketing and Design at Baucom Entertainment. The VP of the company [Baucom] basically gave me a decent starter Nikon and told me to learn how to use it. Although I knew all the fundamentals from film, I had never shot digital professionally." Although the digital camera body with "a lot more bells and whistles" took some getting used to, it did not take Driscoll long. "I began shooting a lot of Harley-Davidson themed stuff and got a lot of good feedback," says Driscoll. However, Harley-Davidson was not the only theme that Driscoll would receive a lot of positive feedback for. His nightlife subject matter also got him a lot of attention.

Tales from the Night

Driscoll‟s eccentric friends motivated him to start photographing people in a nightlife setting. Driscoll explains, "It's always fun to photograph people fueled by liquid courage doing ridiculous stuff!"

Tales from the Night #1

JD: This is a photo of my drummer Dan Hitselberger from my band Scapegoat. It was his 26th Birthday and he wanted a low key evening at the Common Market. The night went on and our buddy Nick Virth showed up. Nick lost his leg while on a tour of duty. Making this worse, Nick is a death metal drummer. Nick pulled through and his drumming is better than ever; however, his leg now often acts as the Macho Mug, which comes with a song: Macho, macho mug. Dan's gonna drink from the macho mug. We had the whole place chanting that as Dan bonged a beer from the prosthetic leg.

Tales from the Night #2

JD: This is Nate. I saw him earlier and more sober at the Milestone Club. I guess he and his buddies were bar hopping and becoming less clothed at every stop. I saw him and said out loud "by the beard of Zeus." That's when I knew that I needed his photo.

Tales from the Night #3

JD: Doc Martin, October 1, 2011 at Dharma Lounge. I climbed up and tip-toed around the ledge of the DJ booth to get this shot. Afterwards Doc told me that it sketched him out. He thought I was gonna fall, but after a few photos he was like "Yeah, that guy's got it." I really like it because it looks like the turntables are the dashboard/controls to his space ship, and he is taking off into hyper-speed.

Tales from the Night #4

JD: There is really no story behind this. I just captured an epic Eiffel Tower high-five occurring over my best friend's head.

Tales from the Night #5

JD: My friend sent me a concept he wanted for his album cover, so I called up an actor friend, David Holland, to get the shot. David and I were hanging out doing the dive bar thing, and it was freezing and windy as the sun went down. Needless to say I was not in the mood to shoot. So, David and I ducked out in Snug Harbor...had a few drinks...and then this bad boy [photo to the left] took place.

With all of Driscoll's nightlife photos, a common theme arises: candidness. Driscoll explains,"I really hate posed photos...snapshots. It's not photography and it cheapens everything and makes the photos all about a quota." For Driscoll, the quota does not matter. Out of the 100 or so photos he takes during a night out he usually only finds 10 worthy enough to be shared with others. The determinate that makes a Driscoll photo worthy of publishing: the grin factor. Driscoll elaborates, "When I do my Morning After Booth Review and there are photos that make me grin or smile—that is gold to me. That's why I love what I do."

For all things Justin Driscoll: