Vice's images can be split in to two distinct categories: candid shots of 'real' people and staged photoshoots. What is communicated in both of these types of photography is distinct from one another but both hold significant power in creating the Vice culture. This page contains 'candid' photos are taken at Vice-affiliated events around the world. The images are used to illustrate how 'friends of Vice' look and act in public spaces. These photos allow the camera to select a particular cultural attitude that the magazine wants promoted to the public. Vice's 'party shots' are in a documentary-style framework that invites the viewer to relate to the images in a way that is perhaps more intimate than the 'staged' images of their fashion pages. Vice's informal photography allows the viewer a particular reflexivity that reinforces the culture of Vice.

This first image shows three 'party goers' from the launch of their new issue in Bristol, England. The photo operates as a 'demand' (Rose, 114), meaning that the subjects are looking right us, thus commanding the viewer to relate to them. The three of them appear to be about the same age; perhaps late-20's, all of them are white. They are wearing black and have similar footwear. These similarities communicate a particular cohesion in fashion and culture (they are attending the same event after all). They are also not smiling, thus making their appearance to the viewer a bit intimidating. Certain 'props' that are present in the photo also ad to its overall discursive message. The man on the left has a camera draped around his neck. From this we know that he is either a photographer or wishes to document the event in some way. Also, this camera codes photography within the accepted culture of Vice: we now know that photography is deemed an appropriate activity. The use of photography to document internal Vice events can be described as 'autoethnography,' which fan-theorist Matt Hills uses to describe a particular self-reflexivity within fan culture (Hills, 81). By photographing themselves Vice employees destroy the boundary between the magazine as an institution and subject. By people documenting their own lifestyle or their live events in ethnography, (photography can be thought of as an ethnographic technique), then the ethnographers "unsettle moral dualisms" and utilize a particular "common sense" based on an individual's subjectivity (Hills, 81). This technique is identity-constructing and goes against the normal modes of academic analysis within cultural studies. Therefore, by taking Hill's concept into action, the candid photographs occupy a space that disrupts the traditional relationship between ethnographer (photographer) and subject. In terms of discourse and identity, this method could also have the potential to present an even stronger cultural image to the viewer as it intends to show not what Vice 'wants us to see' but what Vice 'is.' Whether or not this is accurate (the camera only allows us to see what it wants even at a party), there could be the potential for greater power within these images. The other prop in this photograph is the beer, which reinforces that they commonly engage in a carefree party lifestyle. From this photo we have learned of a particular fashion sense, that photography is valued, beer drinking is encouraged and smiling has the potential to destroy the careful creation of the authentic alt.

The next photo was taken at an issue launch in London. This photo has a different feel from the first. It is less serious and reinforces a different set of subculture values. The woman is spitting what appears to he water in to the air. She is less polished and manicured than the first three partygoers and is presented as more unaware of the camera's presence. Her clothing seems less fashionable than the others, but possesses a similar alternative style. The subject's act of spitting can be thought of as rebellious or subversive, even within a party environment. This almost 'masculinized' act can be contextualized within the role of women in subculture. It is often thought that Western subculture has been historically masculine in nature (McRobbie, 40). The aggressive fashion, music and risky lifestyles associated with subcultures have been shown to marginalize both women and people of color, thus creating social spaces dominated by white (often middle-class) men (McRobbie, 41). However, the essence of subculture is a disaffiliation with hegemonic authority thus providing the possibility for transgression within gender boundaries. To furthur complicate the claim of a phallocentric counter-culture, one could argue that an adoption of a masculine-coded act provides the possibility to reinvent femininity through a Foucauldian form of productive power (McHoul, 15). In other words, the subject of this picture is contributing to a discourse that exists outside normative femininity, even if the motivation for this is to aquire a particular type of masculinized identity. That being said, it seems that the acts of social defiance as realized by the majority of Western subcultures posess a masculine backbone (McRobbie, 42) (Roszak, 58). The pressure for girls or women within a subculture is to then assimilate to the testosterone-fuelled rebellion of the counter-culture (McRobbie, 43). Male dominance within subculture is exemplified by the American punk rock movement whose aggressively male structures of authenticity motivated women create a smaller sub-culture in the 1990s (McRobbie, 139). When considering this image within the context of Vice's culture as a whole, the theory of a masculinzed discourse within the alternative 'brand' is convincing.

The third photo is taken from a photo series called "Dinner with Porn Stars," which documents the adult photographer, Nate 'Igor' Smith's dinners with various adult-content performers after a photoshoot. This image is of Veronica Ricci (a pornographic actress). The photograph is interesting because her appearance does not fit within the typical public image of the adult industry. She seems almost like someone you would know. Again, the 'candid' photograph is used to transgress boundaries. This photograph takes one subculture (pornography) and 'humanizes' it to the viewer. In a similar way that the 'party goers' are made relatable and real by the autoethographic photographer, Smith's images depict life 'off camera' for porn stars. Vice as a subculture acts as a socially transgressive force by reinforcing and promoting a subversive lifestyle. By showing an adult performer 'off set', Vice is normalizing the controversial adult industry. Here, the discourse of femininity and sexuality within pornography is both promoted and challenged by recontextualizing it within a normalizing activity.

With the use of autoethnography as a way to see 'inside' the corporate culture, we begin to gain greater perspective in to the overall discourse of Vice. Identities are constructed by portraying real life. The photographs exhibit a significant social power because they show the viewer what the insiders of the subculture are doing, dressing in and attending. The photos provide a certain level of self-reflexivity as the viewer is asked to examine their own identity within the context of the lifestyle presented.