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. I quickly readjusted my day and caught the train into DC for the protest. My first time with the Occupiers was intriguing. Lots of different ages and faces, different agendas, and different m.o.’s. Everyone is unified by the sense that they’ve been wronged and by coming together they can exercise some sort of collective influence on the world. It’s better to act than to remain a victim after all. I just don’t understand why nobody would give me their name. Why not stand up all the way for your rights?

 
Occupy Congress – Images by André Chung

A Yoga Holiday – Images by André Chung

I had covered much of the events leading up to the original dedication ceremony, but the devastating effects of Hurricane Irene had postponed the dedication from August 28 of this year. That date would have marked the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington and the date of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. None of that dimmed the spirits of the tens of thousands that came out Sunday morning for a front row seat to history. People enjoyed the program, with speeches from Civil Rights leaders, Martin Luther King, III, and his sister Rev. Bernice King, as well as a speech by President Obama, who was greeted loudly with cheers of, “Four more years!” Although one protester who stood up called him the Anti-Christ, and was quickly removed from the area. Everyone else seemed quite happy with all the speakers.

As Michael Johnson, who brought his daughter, Zanyah Johnson, 10, with him from the Bronx, NY, for the ceremony put it, “It’s a very special moment. I had to make it”.

 
MLK Memorial Dedication – Images by André Chung

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 Magazine commissioned me to shoot this assignment early this summer, and I pitched a photo essay to the editor with the idea that it would be a lot more dynamic for their story than a portrait. Luckily, they agreed and gave me the green light. Everybody walked away happy!

Lee Andersen – Images by André Chung

I’ll be in excellent company for this, as Carl Clark, David Allen Harris, Robert Houston and Ken Royster have all contributed prints to the show. The New Beginnings Barbershop is a unique venue that has successfully transferred fine art back into the community. Many renown artists have exhibited in the gallery there, including Sam Gilliam, Lou Stovall, Renee Stout, and Charly Palmer. Artist Sam Holmes, co-director of BMI is also curating the exhibit.

If you get a chance, come by the gallery and check out the show. I’m excited to see the work of the other photographers, and I hope to see you there too.

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 time an individual who was not a former president has been honored on the National Mall. The memorial faces the Tidal Basin and is in line with the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, adjacent to the Roosevelt Memorial. The main feature is a 30 foot high granite sculpture of Dr. King, and quotes from his speeches and sermons are inscribed on the granite walls that ring the plaza.

Public reaction has been positive, as everyone I spoke with has been impressed with the job that’s been done. Wiley Jones, of Bowie, MD, came by during his lunch break. “It’s absolutely amazing”, he said. “It stands as a tribute to those whose shoulders I stand on; and this is a reminder of that. This is a monument to decency and goodness. We should remember, because we don’t act like it now.”

Hurricane Irene rained out the official dedication ceremonies that were supposed to take place on Sunday. They’ve been postponed to sometime in September or October. It’s fitting that the country’s first Black president will dedicate the memorial, and every living president is expected to be in attendance. I plan to be there as well.

MLK Memorial – Images by André Chung

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 need to step up his game if he wanted to keep it respectable for the art show at the end of camp.

His final assignment was to create a self-portrait of himself. However, this was not a straightforward gig. First he had to fashion a mask that represented his alter-ego; then he had to paint a portrait of himself wearing the mask. This boy, who recently boasted on his Facebook page that he had freestyled for 30 minutes straight, built himself a boom-box out of cardboard that he could slip over his head. Being young, gifted and black, he was quite proud that he had represented himself so well. He asked me to photograph him with the mask so that he could paint from the photo the next day.

At my studio we tried a few different things, and I used it as an opportunity to test. I dug up an old Morris Mini and gave it to him to hold while I triggered it with my strobe, hand-held off-camera (top). I kicked it up high key, but mostly he didn’t like that look. We dialed it back to make things a little more natural, but that quickly bored both of us. Time to change it up.

He said he wanted the picture to be darker and have more negative space. Clearly, he had something in mind for his painting. I threw up a blackdrop and put a softbox around the strobe, and we were getting closer to what he really liked. We were definitely having fun, so I grabbed a piece of velvet, wrapped it around his head and gave him the Sleepy Hollow treatment. No Photoshop here.

When we were done he had plenty to choose from, and the next day he got his classmates to vote on it. The vote was very close between these last three. He tossed one out, then had another student break the tie for him since he couldn’t decide for himself.

He finished it up with acrylic on cardboard, and came up with something pretty damn cool in the end.

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 when it was still on the beach. In fact, in his first race there as a novice in 1947 he finished in third place. That’s big, for those of you who don’t follow racing. After his racing career ended he continued as a flagman, starting thousands of  races for the AMA and WERA.

There’s a mandatory riders’ meeting at every track day. After the safety briefing, Al would step up and regale us with awesome and hilarious stories from his racing career. Short in stature, but friendly and full of vitality he would launch into a narrative of track heroics or motorcycle mayhem. Stories about how brakes weren’t allowed on the bikes in his day, or how many riders were killed during an event gave us a fuller perspective of this sport that we love. I remember going to the races at Summit Point and seeing Al, who was already 90 years old, tooling around the paddock on a moped. Still on two wheels all the way to the end. Al died yesterday after a short illness just a few weeks after his 92nd birthday. On March 9th he will be inducted into the Daytona 200 Monument.

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 download now, and they’ve got a new album set for release in early November.

With a passionate fan base, M-1 and Stic.man have been challenging mainstream rappers lyrical substance for over 10 years. Hip-hop’s pervasive images of black criminality, loose women and ghetto high-life are upended in their music. Dead Prez see themselves as community artists, and promote self-determination, healthy living and social justice. A heavy influence from the Black Panther Party and the Uhuru Movement charges their work. They put other rappers on notice throughout their show, “This is a takeover not a makeover!”

Dead Prez – Images by André Chung