Planning, Organizing a Fundraiser

Over the last month I came up with the semi-ridiculous notion of organizing a group bicycle ride in Los Angeles for a charitable cause.
props to my design girl Ari Tiziani for the dope graphic ari.tiziani@gmail.com

Now often times I cant stand the notion of charity- dependency, privilege, and the disconnect between the giver and the "needy". As Bill Moyers says,

"Charity depends on the vicissitudes of whim and personal wealth; justice depends on commitment instead of circumstance. Faith-based charity provides crumbs from the table; faith-based justice offers a place at the table."

However, utilizing a bicycle as a means figured to be the best way to honestly connect with people who are into progressive causes. So I've contacted and secured support from various small businesses in the LA area, and now I'm one week away and need the riders to come out.

Now organizing as a student was one thing, but doing this all while working 7 days a week with 2 jobs has proved difficult. Keeping my eyes forward on the greater goal is all thats kept me positive. I really have found myself to be quite a novice at many things in life.

Other lucidity while I'm at it...

Staying on a learning curve with relationships can be uncomfortable.

Working with children is more difficult than I had ever imagined. Not only do you have to tell them no to many things that they may get into, you have to justify and rationalize with illogical unbalanced immature humans. But they are beautiful as well. Congratulations to my best photographer friend Jelani Memory for his baby girl to be.

Loving long distance is crazy. But so is love. But maintaining and building in a virtual realm has me and my blackberry closer than ever.

Anyways...come to the ride if you're in los angeles. If not, follow along with the project at www.playforhope.org . One.

on becoming a photographer

one lesson i have learned over the past month is the vitality of ones memory. Whether it be physical or psychologically stored, memory is a very important aspect that governs the way we live our lives..

on a purely material level, I recently have been dealing with a significant memory loss, damaging my external harddrive a few weeks ago while I was visiting my girlfriend in New York City
girlfriend on the left..goofy face on the right.

So while i'm dealing with the prospect of shelling out $2,500 to the data recovery folks, I figured I'd at least post some of the pics I was able to recover from my most recent shoot in Los Angeles:

A lil documentary action in progress

Exciting news!
Check out this mini-update from my friends @ the Manhattan Edit Workshop.

Somali Pirates?! How about their side of the story

A ton has gone on in the news lately about these dastardly Somali pirates reeking havoc on Euro-trade routes. Listen to K'naan a somali hip hop artist, explain some of it from the their perspective. It may surprise you.



props to my long lost chinese export Molly Franz for first posting this

freedom

Some thoughts for the day...

I inhabit a space where all are equal. Regardless of sex, gender, race, religion or other, the humans in my world all are given the opportunity to pursue their dreams. No one is incapacitaded by another. This space where I exist extends to those who I come around, or those that come around me. My love is unobstructed, ignorance is nonexistant. I can come or go at any time, because this space that I speak of is my own mind.

I've been quite challenged over the last couple weeks. Starting to work with kids has been by far one of the greatest challenges I've faced since graduating college. If anyone out there thought biking across the country looked difficult, try working with children!!

Anyways, here's a brief update, I'm working @ the Boys and Girls Club in Blaine, WA, teaching kids photography through a national B&G Club program called ImageMakers. Its been great to see the kids enthusiasm for the project, and I'm already blown away by how quick they can pick up a camera, memorize a couple of terms like "shutter speed" & "focal point", and go put the concepts into practice!

Don't take my word for it, see for yourself:

My main man D

Heres some flicks from a shot back in February with my good friend and aspiring progressive hip hop artist Prince David..known to most as D'anthony or D.. or as he would say "you know, the 4th letta".
He's bringin some of that Birmingham stilo all the way out west. This shoot was nearby our church Pasadena Church of God, at Pasadena High School. They're for his upcoming album.

March Madness.. and crazy new skills

Been on a tear this month so i havent even had the chance to post up many of my latest shoots.
I bounced from LA to Seattle..Portland..back to LA in a period of 3 weeks. Anyways now im back in Washington and ready to get some work done.

Check out this headshot i finished this morning with the help of a tutorial from the guru Jelani Memory.


He's putting his skills out there for all to improve, and has always been a huge help to me in my progression as a photographer. O ya, and he and his wife Lavenda are pregnant! Congratulations! I swear the way this couple's art has been progressing, their kid is gonna win his first Pulitzer straight out the womb!

sexy black superheroes

Had a great time this week shootin with some students @ Oxy. Doug's always a blast to shoot, and adding the energy that Rachael and Yelka brought made for some stellar shots.