Paschal’s portraits on old-school film capture Illinois music festival’s flavor

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Portraits from the 2023 Full Terror Assault music festival in southern Illinois.

Putting the photo in “phocrastination,” I finally completed a yearlong project. Last September, I made my yearly trek to southern Illinois for a music and camping festival. Full Terror Assault, as it is called, is an extreme, metal-leaning, three-day weekend smack dab in the middle of nowhere.

A couple of years back, I documented the weekend with literally hundreds of frames of images (my best remembrance was about 700). So last year, as a reaction to that digital overload and as a way to pay homage to the unrefined music and style of the festival, I decided on a different approach.

Armed with a 25-year-old film camera and a 20-year-old roll of 36-exposure film, my task was to take 36 individual portraits of people I met at the festival. There was no room for error and no second chances. Plus, it made me look and approach things in a different way. I wasn’t going to shoot the bands on stage or candid, generic images; I wanted the the viewers to be engaged with the subjects.

Late Tuesday I finally printed the final frame of the project that, all in all, I’m happy with. I did not successfully make 36 portraits due to a few mitigating factors such as harsh, changing light conditions; out-of-focus subjects; and some kind of film development disorder. All of these can be blamed on, sigh, yours truly. Truth be told, I really only shot 35 subjects as instinct took over and I snapped a second picture of a person after they slightly moved. I was afraid it would have been terribly distorted.

What I do like seeing is the scratches, watermarks and light leaks that uphold that anti-digital want from this project. It’s kind of like the pops, skips and warmth from listening to a record album.

Sadly, FTA is coming to an end this year. I will be heading south in a day for the final time. I think this little exercise captured the essence of the people and the festival as a whole. No one refused a picture and there was always joy (even if it was a bit hidden) from each person. I hope the festival and the wonderful people I have met will continue to live on in these portraits.

- Alex T. Paschal can be contacted at apaschal@shawmedia.com. To see more of his work go to @svmphotogs on Instagram.