NBA All-Star Weekend
Stacy aka Bratz visiting Los Angeles Art District
Over the course of NBA All Star weekend, people are swarming to Los Angeles (LA). Celebrities, models and everyday people ordinary people. In those group of ordinarty people are people who are looking to hit it big with a ball player or celeb. I knew models would be arriving soon, so I was kind of wondering about on Instagram and stumble across a post that an insta-model was looking to shoot while in town. So, I threww a "bone in the dark" and waited. Low and behold she responded. I was shocked!!!
We messaged each other with me giving details, and trying to find a location that would best suit both of us. We settled on the art district area. Of course, like majoity of my shoots they always take place after work. As soon as I got off, I showered made sure everything was packed and charged. Called an Uber early because I know how LA tracffic can be. I arrived at Urth Caffe extra early to scout and get a bite to eat. The session was agreed for four in the afternoon, but she was 45 minutes late. I was going to give her until five to cancel the session. She finally arrived purple hair and all.
So, we met chatted for a bit then started shooting. Her first outfit was an all black tube topand skirt with sparkle style heels. With this look, we shot around the graffiti in the area then over to the parking garage one blick away. While walking there, I asked if she had another outfit in which she replied yes. A few more shots in the first outfit then we switched to the second look.
Eyes
If looks could kill
Now, this outfit is what we should have started with. This fit the lifestyle look I was going for originally. It was more of a fun lifestyle shoot now. The outfit was something she would wear on a regular day. We stayed at the parking garage. Utiziling the area. Alot of the shots turned out like a fashion magizine. No flash was used but natural and available light.
I enjoyed this shoot then when I visit MIami again, I'll definitly connect with Stacy in her neck of the woods.
Productive Week
** All images are SOOC (Straight Out of Camera) and selected at random. Final images are placed in galleries when finalized.**
As most know, I moved to Los Angeles for a full time position at my company. In the first few weeks of being here living in different hotels and flying back and forth to Detroit every week with my two off days. I began to feel my creative side dampen, and I was not myself. Not one bit at all.
Like any photographer feeling in a rut would do, I put out an "ad" on Model Mayhem to get my juices flow again. After about a few days, I began to get a few hits from people who were interested then it began to snowball. I had a lot of people contact me that some of the ones who I responded to have not responded back to me at all. With all these different possibilities I asked my bro Tristan if could help with some of them, and he was more than to happy to assist whenever he was able.
The first person I photographed was Andrea. Andrea contacted me on Instagram as we set something up within that week. The location that was chosen was the art district Downtown Los Angeles. When meeting Andrea it was never chill and relax, as an experienced model I did not have to give a lot of direction to the poses she knew exactly what to do. We went to pretty much all over the area. Also, with my first shot comes the first confrontation with a resident in the area. We pushed passed that mess and kept shooting. In the end for my first shoot, I over shot like crazy.
My next shoot was with Oyenoya who I was communicating with over email. We set up a fitness/swimwear session but had to cut the swimwear because of time and she had a open audition to record. We met in Santa Monica near the entrance of the pier. Again this was another chill relaxed person. We start the session with some basic yoga poses and then we move to more active positions, jogging, running, step-ups, and high knees. At times while I'm readjusting I catch he posing naturally waiting on me. To me those are the best moments to capture. The last spot was a walk way over the Pacific Coast Highway where we did our last poses and because we had to get back and it was getting dark as well. As I walked her to her car, I told her I really didn't have to a car yet, so she offered me a ride at least half way. With it being LA that took longer that expect. About half way I just had her drop me off at Home Depot so she can make her taping. In the end she did make it.
Next was my coworker Ronnie. She was starting to push her hair business and needed a few head shots and I still take models to expand my portfolio. We schedule a day after she came back from her trip. Again day was suppose to have been done Thursday but her flight came in late and it was pushed back to Saturday after I got off from work. Because I don't know LA traffic like at all, I just know it gets extremely heavy at random times. I had to quickly shower, change clothes and call an uber to take me to Beverly Hills. I finally got there and met Ronnie and we drove down Melrose til we found a parking lot that had a lot of dope street art. Just like all the street art in the area there are a lot people "tourist" taking pictures as well. We start moving along different pieces and incorporating different shades of lipstick. All the pieces there was so dope I wanted to stay there longer but I had other plans for the night.
So my original second shoot was suppose to be with Miss Black Los Angeles herself Jasmine. Due to the weather being a little cold and wet due to the rain the day before it was pushed back to next week Wednesday then moved forward to Monday (MLK day). This shoot I was able to have Tristan with me I was making sure the shoot was going to be one for the books. Just how I planned it -- not really though but let me have my moment -- It was a complete success. We met at the Route 66 sign that signified the end/beginning of Route 66. The first look was in the edge of the water where the waves just hit our toes. It was semi-perfect as the sun was setting, I just wanted it a little lower to really bring out the hues. In the middle of our session she was recognized by someone who follows her in the pageant world (I'm guessing). From there we moved to under the pier to do some dopeness and get even more cold from the water. Brief intermission, clean sand from feet and wardrobe change. She came back with the dope sequin skirt and yellow jacket, oh I forgot to mention her mom was there who is also her manager. With this look she wanted to shoot within the arcade but that was short lived as we aren't allowed to shoot in there we did get a few shots before we were kicked out. So we moved to the park entrance, and it was perfect as the colors matched perfectly with her outfit. Because we were using a speedlight we kind of drew a crowd. It was as if she was a celebrity. With momanger and Tristan on the look out they began to notice we caught the attention of the park security. With a few more shots we quickly broke down and moved inside. While inside we used all ambient light and the Ferris wheel as a rim/background light. Because I limited, I had to push myself and my camera. In the end, the shoots became something that I loved. After the shoot, Jasmine's mom invited us to her video premiere party on Valentine's Day. She told us a lot of names will be in the building so it will be a perfect networking opportunity for us. Noted also future collaborations between us.
Stay tune for more shoots!
Travel Series - To See DC
Recent Visit to Washington D.C.
Back in June I took my sister Phoebe to Washington D.C. for her birthday. We were able to see a lot of great museums and monuments. The one location we weren't able to visit was the newly built African American Museum of History and Culture. I learned you had to have tickets to enter because it was still so new.
Fast-forward five months, I finally have tickets for the museum. The tickets go so fast that you have to order them months in advance. I missed October, but managed to get them for November. The weekends are the worst days to try and get tickets, so unfortunately Monday was the best available day. I got these tickets back in August there was plenty of time to prep ahead of time for the trip. In the beginning, there were four of us who playing on attending this trip, my mother, Phoebe, Izzy, and myself. To cover myself and others, I order 6 tickets and offered up the other two who ever wanted to join along. Although they would have to get there under their own means.
As the trip came closer and closer, Phoebe dropped out from the trip at least a month or so before the trip. My mother dropped out the day before the trip. I hate that she did because I wanted her to experience this with me as this would have been my last trip to take with her before I transferred to Los Angeles. She had some things very important to take care of first. To fill in the void from the two that wasn't able to make it, I asked a coworker if he and his wife would be able to join Izzy and I. I know it was last minute, so I really wasn't expecting an answer.
Monday the 13th arrives and it's just Izzy and I are on our educational trip to Washington D.C. We arrived and first thing first food. After a short break, we made our way to the National Mall. As it was Izzy's first time in D.C., she was gleaming with excitement with everything around us. Our first stop was the National Gallery of Art West building. Upon entering we walked right to an exhibit that was showcasing Vermeer and other masters of genre painting. Seems like a lot of Dutch artist. I wasn't a fan. I felt the imagery was bland and repetitive, so I was quickly bored with it. We continued to walk around view a lot of the art, we seen student tour groups which I was happy to see. It's nice to see children introduced to art at such a young age. We also learned that artist are allowed to come in replicate any piece of art just as long as it is not the same size as the original piece.
Next we went back over the Museum of Nature History. First thing I did was ask about the Dinosaur exhibit only to learn that dinosaurs will not be live til 2019. Disappointed I was!! We continue to walk around looking at the different exhibits. We looked at mammal life, aquatic life and few dinosaurs We spent another 45 minutes or so just wondering around before we headed up the street to our last spot of the day.
What are you looking at?
Ant eater with child and eating in an ant hole
NMAAHC
Washington D.C. National Mall
Now off to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Our time was scheduled for 1:30 pm but it didn't matter because we arrived early and was still let in. They didn't even check the time on the ticket, just scanned and moved on. As we walked in after the metal detectors and scanners we were in awe at the design and a layout of the building. We checked out some the contributors to the museum and there were a lot of donations along the names were Oprah Winfrey (one of the largest donors) and Tyler Perry, Best of America, Bill Gates Foundation, and Microsoft just to name a few. We went to the infomation desk to grab a map of the museum, and the worker told us to start with the 1400's the start of the slave trade and how it started.
I would like to forewarn. This exhibit will pull on every emotion possible, as I overheard an employee state that a woman was crying due to its nature. We walked through and was able to read as mush as possible. It was so crowded that moving was like driving on the 5 in LA or 75 in ATL. Everything about what happened was just so much to talk in for a first time visit. As we continued we seen parts of a slave ship that was found, some the largest contributors to the slave trade (Portugal with 5.5 million). As we moved to the years, especially in the south, blacks were considers property of war and were forced to stay with their slave masters. Fast forward to the 1960's with the women of that era who put themselves in harm way to not protect their fellow black men but also for women rights. The hardship they endured as always been on equal ground.
The rise of the KKK
A book written by the original founders
There is so much to talk about that this blog post would be come a miniseries. The best way to understand the past of the black community is to make this visit. This museum answers a lot of questions that most needed answered. When visiting, schedule your time wisely. Just like many of the museums, and thousands of exhibits in that area. This is one of the places you will spend the entire day exploring the history of African Americans. You will not be disappointed with this visit.
Video History
Visitor's are watch a video on the south with an old guard tower in the background
On our way back to the airport, I made a huge blunder and got on the wrong train heading the opposite direction. I what should have took 30 mins to get back took us an hour to get back. We made it back in time, and the line to security wasn't too bad at all. We made it through and as soon as we got to the gate it was already time to board. Talk about cutting it close.
Key note to my ladies who would love or would love to travel. Wear comfortable shoes!! It's one thing to look sexy, cute or whatever it might be, but having swollen feet and ankles is not the route you want to take. Izzy learned this lesson twice. First in Las Vegas for New Year and now in Washington D.C. So ladies be sexy, but comfortable.
“There are things which nobody would see unless I photographed them.”
“I see little of more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.”