We're all aware being influenced by different art forms can enhance how we express ourselves in our chosen medium so we asked a handful of winning and shortlisted photographers from the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards what music they enjoy listening to during the planning, shooting or editing stages of the creative process. To keep you inspired we've put all the tracks below in a playlist - link can be found at the end of the article.
Jean-Marc Caimi and Valentina Piccinni: We're very much connected to music and are very inspired by what we listen to. We also use music in our multimedia projects as well as composing our own pieces. Jean-Marc is a pianist and spent some time as a successful musician so we've chosen to share his album Home. He's also got quite a bit on Bandcamp.
Christy Lee Rogers: I listen to Ludovico Einaudi a lot and the new Muse album...especially the last two songs: The Void (the acoustic version is beautiful) and The Dark Side (I like the alternate reality version).
Federico Borella: It all depends on my mood and the type of pictures I'm working on but I have to listen to something – I can't live and work without music! While editing my documentary work I've listened to Singing Bones by The Handsome Family. The slow rhythm and melancholic melodies of this alternative American country band seem to work really well with my slow reportage photography.
Nicolas Gaspardel and Pauline Baert: We love music. Our tracklist is as follows: 01 – Fatima Yamaha, What's A Girl To Do; 02 – Poolside, Golden Hour; 03 – Phil Disco, Happy Day; 04 – Dorian Concept, Nest Nest; 05 – A Band Called Flash, Mother Confessor; 06 – Land of the Loops, Multi Family, Garage Sale (Bargain Mix); 07 – Bonobo, Noctuary; 08 – Plaid, Shackbu; 09 – Lone, Meeker Warm Energy; 10 – Junior Boys, Birthday; 11 – Mitch Murder, Ocean Avenue; 12 – Thunderclaw, Castillo; 13 – Oppenheimer Analysis, Don’t Be Seen With Me; 14 – Freescha, Come Good; 15 – The Chemical Brothers, One Too Many Mornings; 16 – Blonde Redhead, For the Damaged Coda. Enjoy.
Yan Wang Preston: I’m not an expert at all but I do like Radiohead’s Creep and Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters.
Martin Stranka: Right now I'm listening to Keeper by Pace; Romantic Works by Keaton Heston; After the Storm by Tony Anderson and basically everything by Olafur Arnalds! I love all of his work, he's definitely my biggest music inspiration.
Richard Ansett: I tend not to play music in the studio as silence creates a slightly more tense environment which can help produce a more complex portrait. I do listen to music when working on my images and writing. I find trance-like tracks that have a repetitive element very helpful as a form of white noise to help block out distractions. I'm currently listening to the amazing Nautilus by Anna Meredith and Like Wolves on The Fold by Colin Stetson.
Álvaro Laiz: Here are some of my musts, be it driving to a shoot, taking photographs or editing my work. Eddie Vedder, Far Behind; Johnny Cash, God's Gonna Cut You Down; Audioslave, Show Me How To Live; Led Zeppelin, Immigrant Song; Leonard Cohen by You Want It Darker; Pearl Jam, Proch by (the Live On 10 Legs version); Pearl Jam, Again Today ; The Black Keys, Little Black Submarines; Ramin Djawadi, Paint it Black; Ghost, Dance Macabre; Arctic Monkeys, Do I Wanna Know; Pearl Jam, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town; Eddie Vedder, Hard Sun; Ghost, Rats; Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Beat The Devil's Tattoo; Queen, We Will Rock You (Fast)(the Maida Vale 4 Studio 1977 version); Greta Van Fleet, Highway Tune; Mötorhead, Killed by Death; The Doors, Roadhouse Blues; Metallica by Whiskey in the Jar; Leonard Cohen by Nevermind; Queen, Breakthru; Muse, Knights of Cydonia (the Live at Rome Olympic Stadium); The Cult, White; The Handsome Family by Far from Any Road; Jimi Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower; Rival Sons, Feral Roots; Franz Ferdinand, This Fire; Queens of the Stone Age, The Way You Used to Do; Greta Van Fleet, Black Smoke Rising; Johnny Cash, Rusty Cage; Johnny Cash, Ain't No Grave; Leonard Cohen, Who By Fire (the Live in Dublin version). And the tracks should be listened to in that order!
Want to hear more? We've put all of the photographer's favorite tracks on a Spotify so you can plug in and get lost in the music.
Listen to the Ultimate Photographer's Playlist here.
