Keynote address for Urban Alliance 25 year celebration at the African American Museum. It was an honor and pleasure to make a portrait of a man that has so impacted my life, the way I witness the world and at the end of the day I can always tell my son that when he was born we had a black president with more swagger than the world….
To photograph Barack Obama in the African American Museum was surreal because when I was my sons age (6) the idea of either was far from a reality.
Photography is so much more than captured imagery, it is art. The art of designing a set, the art of interaction with a model (a subject), and the art of our storytelling. These are paramount in my artistic process and the reason I love photography. The art of photography is my art and it allows me to understand the world from intentional points of view.
The women’s NCAA National Championship Final 4 was hosted at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore MD. Check out the link below to see the some of the images taken.
My question to the subject is simple….
”It literally can be anything... what’s not up for a debate in your eyes?”
It’s one side or the other. This isn’t about black and white or about red / blue. It is because everyone has a story. Has a basis of self. I want to collect stories that represent who we are at this moment. A story that will reflect a collection of our individual struggles, celebrations, convictions, passions and purpose. Our struggles is a collective one, we are only able to achieve but so much by ourselves.
The idea is to marry art and the message. The high key black and white is beyond simple. Because of it’s stark contrast I want to pair it with the notion that in life we face many of the same things in many different ways. That we all have something that is without question, that what drives us is what ties us together.
As a content creator travel is extra fun. Creating stories and watching people will never get old. I loved the time I got to spend in New York City’s Times Square last year. I hit the streets as soon as the family went to bed. Check out the blog for some picture stories or hit the link for the Times Square After A Pandemic and see some more images from the trip.
The Creative School and The Dojo Studios are working together to bring together communities and empower our Kings and Queens to shed light and tell the story of their community while making solutions for tomorrow.
Royal Exposure exists to enrich and uplift our community by creatively connecting to our communities. Training 15+ Queens and Kings per semester in photography through Story-Centered Design. Capturing images of their people and their place, connecting their people in real time to witness the Kings and Queens photography and cultivating community solutions together that honor the stories captured.
If you want to support the effort to bring this to as many Kings and Queens as possible please reach out to be a sponsor, to be a mentor, to have your story recorded and portrait taken.