LOOKING AT LISTENING posted by O.W.

I'm always wary of giving in too much to the forces of nostalgia. There's a dangerous comfort in thinking on or fantasizing about the past; it's all too easy to filter out all the negative history and just focus on what you idealize from it. But it's impossible for me not to look through this new set of Magnum photos dedicated to records and record shops and not be pulled in by the romance of it all.

Mostly, I like looking at people listening; there's something so intimate about it even at mass events like a concert. That's one of the beautiful things about music - it's always simultaneously public and private and some of these images, of people standing by or dancing to a record player capture that duality.




And hey, just because we're in a digital age doesn't mean listening stops.