I have been working on a long term project documenting rave culture during my time at university. The project focuses on the spaces where raves take place at weekends, where those who have worked all week come to enjoy themselves. What interests me most at these events is the energy and raw emotion you can see on people's faces, there is always something different to look at. During raves everything happens so quickly and it’s easy to miss an opportunity to capture a moment before it disappears, so I have trained myself to be ready. I have mainly been working with flash to make subjects stand out in a way that natural or ambient light can’t do. This use of flash has crossed over into my photojournalism work. Due to the pandemic I haven't been able to photograph any events for over a year, but this has allowed me time to network and get in contact with various organisers to shoot future events across other areas of South Wales and England.
Ryan Thomas is currently studying an MA in Swansea focusing on photojournalism and documentary photography. He began his professional career three years ago shooting events, and continues to develop his portfolio.