Road Tripping
At 10:38 am the text came through on my phone: “You want to do a HD ride from Atlanta to Daytona next week? All expenses paid.” Dudley Brooks is the Director of Photography at Ebony Magazine, my former editor at the Baltimore Sun, and a friend and colleague for over 20 years. We also share [...]
Inauguration 2013
The last couple weeks have been pretty busy in the studio. Working on contests, assignments and a host of other tasks has made for a few late nights. The highlight of the year so far has been covering President Obama’s second inauguration. In 2009, I was selected as one of a handful of photojournalists to [...]
Olympic Dreamer
As I looked over my work from 2012, I realized that I had forgotten to post one of my favorite assignments from the year. Tyrieshia Douglas, 23, trained for the first U.S. Olympic Women’s Boxing Team last year. At the time ranked number 2 nationally at 112 lbs, she went up against the best in [...]
Yoga in my Studio
The excitement hasn’t worn off yet here in the new studio. It’s been fun testing and shooting the business portraits over the last couple of months. We even had a photo critique in here last night for a select group of photographers from Love Life Images. The space is getting a good workout, and I’m [...]
Open Studio every First Friday
Spring is here, and it is time for a fresh start. As good looking as you are, why use an unflattering photo? If you consider yourself a professional, then you should have a professional portrait made. Take care of your image; come on in and I’ll make you look great. We all know that we [...]
Tri Hard
The Columbia Triathlon just ran on Sunday for the 29th time and I finally went out to see what was up with this event. Many of my friends and neighbors have participated in the event over the years, and I’ve got a lot of respect for their heart and commitment. It’s an impressive endeavor; the [...]
Eyes To The World
The Iris PhotoCollective is exhibiting an international body of work from the last two decades at the New Beginnings Barber Shop in Baltimore. Troy Staton, owner of New Beginnings, has created an amazing gallery in the West Baltimore neighborhood across from Hollins Market to bring art directly to the people. The Iris PhotoCollective is made [...]
Occupy Congress
I was reading the paper this morning when I saw a brief stating that the Occupy movement would be descending on the Capitol to welcome Congress back into session. How did I nearly miss this? I’ve been following the Occupy twitter stream for weeks, but one busy weekend is all it takes to get dropped. [...]
A Yoga Holiday
If you’ve looked closely at my site, you’ll know that I love yoga (and motorcycles). That love goes beyond yoga practice and extends into a partnership with my wife, Kat, owning and running Bikram Yoga Columbia. I can count house photographer among my many duties there, and we’ve fallen into a tradition of shooting a [...]
MLK Memorial Dedication
Blue skies and 70 degree temperatures blew away any reminders of Hurricane Irene as a predominantly African-American crowd gathered to celebrate what had been a long time coming. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King had officially arrived on the National Mall. Etched in granite, he is the only African-American and only non-president with a memorial [...]
Lee Andersen’s Designs
Lee Andersen owns one of the biggest little clothing design studios in the U.S., with presence in over 3000 boutiques nationally and internationally. Her staff of about 40 interns, seamstresses, and assistant designers manufacture and ship only about 100 pieces of each design that she creates, keeping the clothing unique and exclusive. Woman to Woman [...]
Black Male Identity Project
I’ve been chosen to participate in a show on Black Male Identity that opens Sunday, September 11 at the New Beginnings Barbershop in Baltimore. It runs until November 4, and is put on by Art on Purpose, a community arts group in Baltimore. Funded in large part by the Open Society Foundation, the Black Male [...]
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Last week I covered some of the events surrounding the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall. The effort to create a monument to Dr. King has been years in the making, and final result is absolutely stunning. This is the first national monument to an African-American, and the first [...]
Not my self portrait
My son, Kian started his summer break enrolled in a camp for gifted and talented artists. This drew kids from around the county, some of whom were quite older and more experienced than him. They worked with charcoal, paint and other materials that he had little or no experience with. Day 1 lesson: he would [...]
Shaman
Harriet McMahon is a healer. She’s a healer in the oldest sense of the word, and she draws on traditions that predate modern medicine. She’s trained in the energy work of Reiki, and has studied the Shamanic traditions of a variety of cultures. Spiritual teachers in Peru have initiated her and taught her the secrets [...]
Al Wilcox RIP
We got to know Al Wilcox when we started riding our bikes on the track with an organizer named Roger Lyle and his Motorcycle Xcitement track days. Al was the official starter for all of Roger’s track days. A former Harley-Davidson factory racer from way back in 1948-1951, Al used to race at Daytona [...]
Dead Prez
The concert series I’ve started photographing continues to stay hot as I hooked up with Dead Prez over the weekend at Sonar in Baltimore. If you’re not hip to their style of black liberation/social revolutionary lyrics, then you need to put it in your ear. Their latest mixtape, Revolutionary But Gangsta Grillz is available for [...]
A walk in the park
I don’t know why I don’t use the iPhone camera more. It’s a little noisy at dusk, but I’m glad to have it in my pocket!
Distant Relatives
The text said, “wAnted to invite u to nas & damian marley Tonight @ sonar”. A friend of a friend, Jon Sabban was reaching out. Jon and I are planning to collaborate on a project down the road, but hadn’t had an opportunity to meet yet. John clearly likes to do things with style, as [...]
Junior’s Story
PETIONVILLE, HAITI — Junior paints everyday. Bright colors on clothing, Creole slogans on sheets, acrylic on canvas; it doesn’t matter, his need to create is constant. Lyonel Elie, Jr., 30, has lost his home but not his art. His house, a concrete bunker cemented to a steep hillside in Petionville, is cracked. Too unstable to [...]
Port-Au-Prince by moto taxi
Port-Au-Prince suffered massive damage, with officials estimating that 70% of the city will need to be rebuilt. The downtown area was hit the hardest, with many buildings reduced to rubble.
Haiti, do not despair
Port-Au-Prince is in ruins, it’s downtown a field of rubble. As many as 1.5 million are estimated to be homeless, at least 200,000 lost their lives, and officials say the reconstruction will take decades. I had many days of mind-bending scenes of utter destruction and human tragedy. It was shocking in it’s ferocity, and has [...]
We are alive in Haiti
I should have come to Haiti before this. This is madness, and despite all I’ve read and seen, Haiti could never be like this. Driving across the border from Santo Domingo was a good way to to ease into the shock. As we approached Port-Au-Prince, the outbound traffic became increasingly heavier, and took over both [...]