Midland is a constant explorer. As one of electronica’s most creative stalwarts, the Leeds native has a sound anchored in house and techno terrain, yet time and time again he proves how flexibly he can hopscotch between their many sub-genre traits. Straddling everything from garage-tinged tech house to mesmeric tribal shuffles and homages to the UK Funky-bassline axis on “Archive01” has become a real forte.
That ambition to probe doesn’t come from nowhere. A childhood spent in East Africa – a nostalgic period he discussed in our recent Autonomous Africa feature – and considerable time trekking through Spain is enough to fuel any creative thoughts. It’s a background that has inspired his visual tastes as much as his musical ones. It’s no surprise then that another of Midland’s passions is photography – and strong photography at that.
Having him on the bill for our maiden trip to Milan as part of the Ray-Ban x Boiler Room 007 event was a fitting choice. Appropriately, he’s used this opportunity to showcase his favourite self-taken images. Ogle at them above, and see more on his Instagram.
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“Taking photos has always been a really important part of my life. Getting my first camera aged 6 when living in Tanzania I was always taking photos, mainly of the sea, my friends and my surfboard which I loved more than anything else. As I have started to travel more with music I have found that taking photos has become something that keeps me sane when I am travelling alone and something I actively look forward to. I take a lot of photos as I go along, then go back and find the best ones and go from there. As uncool as it is to admit it, the thing that really reignited my passion for taking photos was Instagram. I dislike most social media, but find the simple layout, and the fact I can connect with lots of amazing photographers really great. It also acts as a really concise way to store and display your photos.
In terms of inspirations I would cite Andreas Gursky, Bruce Davidson and my brother Dominic Agius, whose photos have always inspired me more than any. Most of these pictures were taken on my phone, some were taken on various film cameras I have. I’m not pretending to be any better than anyone else with a camera ot phone. For me its always about trying to capture things in a way that will make people question it or look at things differently. One thing I have learnt is never be afraid to look stupid to get a good photo, people’s odd looks will be forgotten but a great photo will always be worth it.”
