Photo Essay| Gospel Music is Fellowship in Humanity
The crowd at the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
NEWARK, NJ—Photography cannot only capture an image but also a sound. Public Square Amplified's photojournalist, Brian Branch-Price, displays his adeptness in depicting gospel music through his signature black-and-white medium. Through his photos, he gives us a glimpse of the rhythms that tie family to music and God.
Gospel has many meanings, and it is in the making of meaning that we find ourselves. For Branch-Price, the Gospelfest portraiture grounds us.
To Branch-Price, gospel music was his childhood. Cissy Houston was half of why his mother, Carol Hall, would drag him to church on Sundays as a teenager. Even his mother once sang in the church choir, cementing the music's value in his life. To Branch-Price, gospel music is the most homestyle of music genres – every row, a front row of family and friends.
In his photos of the McDonald’s Gospelfest, an annual music festival held at the Newark Prudential Center, on May 13, 2023, he fosters a sense of kinship among his subjects. Whether they are performing together, or engaged with the audience, his subjects are warm and inviting with all those around them, including the camera. Beyond their sense of companionship brought by the force of gospel music, they are united in their passion, courage and dedication to put themselves forward and in the spotlight – something Branch-Price felt keenly proud of within his own evangelical community.
“I wanted to show them what it takes to get on stage and sing. It’s the evangelism in me, I wanted to show the singers, and what they do, what they prepare for,” he said, “It’s all about what it takes to get on stage and sing about God and sing about Christ and sing gospel music.”
What draws Branch-Price to this subject of gospel music is that this subject feels like home. Even his mother once sang in the church choir, cementing the music’s value in his life. To Branch-Price, gospel music is the most homestyle of music genres, one in which performers will sing and dance in a crowd of their own fans.
“Everybody is family in the gospel world, you could be in the seats and wave to a singer and they’ll wave back and want you to come sing with them,” he reflected, “It’s a little different than most other music. The singer and the spectator have a family bond.”
The Clark Sisters perform during the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in, Newark, NJ, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
Stefanie Mills Background singers during the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Saturday, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
The Praise Ground Choir preparing to perform at the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
The Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts of East Orange preparing to perform at the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
Corey Fulmore performing at the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
Mime performers during the McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
The Love Fellowship choir during the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
The Divine Praise Dancers prepare to perform at the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ , May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
Gospel rapper Tifanny “T-hawk” Accor during the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
Jose Figueroa Jr. during the 40th annual McDonald’s Gospelfest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, May 13, 2023. (©2023 Brian Branch Price/TheFotoDesk)
