TC tv: Tanikka Charrae´ Hosts for PJ MORTON @ the Arts Garage

A while back a good friend of mine, Tanikka Charrae’, was honored with the privilege of hosting IM3Media’s event at a Philly venue called the Arts Garage. The headliner for the show was Maroon 5’s keyboardist and newly signed Young Money Cash Money Billionaires artist, PJ Morton. PJ was nice enough to bring out some of his friends to get the party started, Thomas ‘TC’ Clay and Aaron Camper.

So why was I there? Well for one, to support my bestie Tanikka Charrae’, who I’ve yet to mention is an amazing solo artist who also sings backing vocals for the great Lauryn Hill. I was also there taping some footage for the upcoming TCtv docu-seroes, The Climb. A series showing a young artist’s climb/grind to make a name in the music industry. That young artist… you got it, Tanikka Charrae.

All that said, I had a blast watching the excitement on stage and off. I love being back stage, reminds me of my old theater days. Something about that cool creative, wild, nervous, energy building up to something magnificent for all the people in the audience…who by the way, had to wait like 2 hrs before the show started. I don’t think they were disappointed at all by the end of the night.

It was a high energy, fast paced, night and I had a ball. Now I did make a lot of mistakes that night, but I also laughed with good beautiful people, networked with some great artists, and learned what not to do next time.

In my down time, I was able to get some stills. I’ll drop em below. Stay and check em out. Thanks!!

Click on them and they’ll get bigger…

 

Freeeeeeedddddooooommmm!!!

Ok so, most people who know me, know that I have a special reverence in my heart for The New Freedom Theater. This was a place that I grew personally and artistically. I can be extremely shy in some instances, but Freedom theater gave me the skill and confidence to speak in front of large groups, create my own path, and discover the many roads that are available to me as an artist.

The teachers at Freedom have been mentors for me in my professional career, even though it is not arts based, and my educational aspirations. Freedom theater, and the connections I have made there, have always been considered a second family to me.

So when Ms. Diane called me and told me to come out to a dress rehearsal  in preparation for their departure to Panama, I had to come out to support.

Back story: Freedom Theater not only promotes artistic development, but is also adamant about making sure it’s African American students are aware of their heritage and ancestry. Back when I was a student at Freedom, they expanded their curriculum to include Vita Saana, a form of African martial arts developed in Philadelphia about 20 years ago. Well this year Mwalimu Taliba and some of her students were blessed with the honor of going to Panama to compete in a competition. When they found out they were affiliated with Freedom Theater, they requested they come as well to participate in a cultural exchange. Freedom decided to showcase some works from it’s repertoire. Among the group was Tap Dance extraordinaire, and my homie, Khalil Munir. <——– Also an extremely talented actor, dancer, and teacher. I actually shot some stills for a documentary he produced about his life. Maybe I’ll share down the road.

Brought my camera along for the ride. This is what transpired. #sidebar I am ABSOLUTELY loving  live theater photography. The colors, the movement, the lights, just great!

Anyhoo check the technique… you know the deal. click the pic to enlarge!

Link

The Short Ride

Just me trying to learn editing. 

Village: An Afro Futuristic Fable

I was working on a film project that kinda got left on the editing floor and wanted to get more experience. I decided I’d had my current dslr for quite a while, and could benefit from treating myself to an upgrade. So I went out and purchased the Canon T2i, not a full sensor camera, but hey it’s what I could afford at the time. I am a techy and love to buy electronics and things, but I was going through my usual state of buyers remorse. Did I really have the money for this camera? Should I return it? Maybe I’ll just test it out until my 30 days are up on the return policy? Do I even get enough photography gigs to make my money back? yada yada yada!

Ironically, 2 days after I bought the camera, I received a call from @Jos_Works (follow her on twitter), a multi-talented artist and filmmaker. She was actually brought in on the film project I was just talking about to help out with some writing and directing. She was calling to ask me to do photography and/or video for a multi-media play she was producing at the CEC.

To say the least, I was honored and jumped at the chance. I took photos one night and shot video on another. I had a great time at the event. Took lots of pictures and even wanted to get out on the stage myself. Something bout the Djembe man! It was a high energy show with singing, dancing, drummers, and short video interlaced throughout the play. On the day that I did video, luckily Jos had another person shooting as well, because I forgot to turn my mic on for the first 2 scenes! EEEK! That could’ve been a major disaster, buuuuuuut that’s why Jos is a professional and I’m not!

Even though I can be very hard on myself, I still feel very encouraged and excited about my progress. I’m learning a lot from Jos and look forward to doing many other projects with her and gaining as much wisdom as I can from her. Jos made a short excerpt of the footage I shot, I’ll post the link below. I’m looking forward to see what she did with the full edit. I also have my own footage, so I’ll be able to experiment and learn more about editing my own short clips from the play. Maybe I’ll post them later when I get around to it.

Here’s the link ——–>>>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2kX1yw4Arc Check it out!

Some pictures from the event…. Check me out. Oh and say something…lol

—–>>>>>>> Click on the pic and it’ll expand

Hope  you enjoyed them!

Treasures

So I have been trying to get more into video. I have a lot of ideas in this big ol head of mine, but I’m still learning about editing and even shooting so I do what I can. After I got my new camera with HD video, I went out to Treasures’ Open mic with a good friend of mine. While I was there I took a little video of the happenings of the night.  The picture above one of only about 6 pictures taken that night. He’s the owner of the club, and I guess he was the bartender that night too. Well Check out my lil commercial I made with the footage I shot. Wait…nevermind. I can’t upload video with this account! LOL Maybe I’ll put it on my youtube or something.

Don’t judge me. I’m new to this.

Ok. Youtube link below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdYAkAhQUxg

My Sexy Friend Tommie

So I spoke to a good friend of mine out of the blue one day, we always seem to separate for long periods of time and come back together at the right time. We’re family in many ways. He’s like a spirit guide for me. I can speak to him about my own iniquities and not feel judged. He is a genuinely great guy, and I’m not just saying that because he’s a fellow Leo. We’re apart of the pride so we understand each other. Real humble dude.

So Tommie tells me he’s working on some projects and he’d like to take some photos. Makes perfect sense. We decided we’d try to get a couple different looks. He’s interested in modeling and acting, so we could have some fun. I was very excited about shooting him, because he’s a snazzy dresser, and he did not disappoint.

It was a great day for a shoot. It went back and forth between sunny and overcast so we had a good wrange of looks throughout the shoot. I used my 5-in-1 reflector for the very first time. We shot over 400 pictures and had a nice late lunch. It was a good day.

Hopefully you’ll agree…

So, what do you think?

Works in progress

So this is like the fifth time I’ve tried to start a blog. Let’s see if it works this time. I actually need a place to store and showcase some of the work I’ve done. I’d like to call myself an amateur photographer, but I think that would just be my way of living in my fear. So, although I have done some work, I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn.

Recently I’ve caught the film bug, and have been trying to use what I know from photography to grow and learn through film and video. Problem is, I have all these ideas in my head, but can’t figure out how to put them together. I guess the same thing could go for my photography as well.

We’ll call this blog an experiment. An avenue.  An outlet. To all of the things I wanna do. To the creation and cultivation of an art form. To my journey as an artist. I used to write poetry some years ago. I don’t really call myself a poet anymore, but maybe that way of thinking, as a poet, can help me in developing a style for my myself. A brand.

Hoping this blog will be the answer to my questions at this point in my life.

I’m gonna drop some photos on this page every now and then, maybe some video, quotes, whatev. Leave comments. Give suggestions for things I can shoot. And if something needs some edits or other constructive feedback…then lemme know!

I’m a work in progress. Check out my works in progress…

Just click on the photo and it will enlarge.

Story: Feeling kinda down and was stuck in the house. Hadn’t been to work in a couple days and just needed a boost. My good friend Tanikka Charrae was in town, sooooo she peer pressured me into going to Hidden Soul Wednesdays’ very last open mic…EVER! lol The event was run by her good friend Ike of IM3Media. Usually don’t bring my camera out, but my intent was to do some filming of TC. I think we had too many shots and decided against it. #sidebar- did somebody say open bar! Buuuuuuut, I did get some pics of my surroundings. All in all it was a GREAT night. I actually ran into someone I went to college with, Latifah, who is one of the youngest officers of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc.’s Pa chapter. Turns out she’s also a flight attendant. Obviously we exchanged info and she’s gonna refer me for some events and even some flight attendant shindigs to photograph. Meanless to say, things are looking up.