Wow where to begin?

Yesterday I got the opportunity to have my work in a group show, curated by Keith “Kebo” Brown and Dr. Karen Hennessey, and it was an amazing experience! I chatted with the most interesting people and I got a good response to my work which gives me the warm fuzzies when I think about it! I am incredibly humbled by everyone that came out to support emerging artists, it really means the world to us!

Along with my work, the show featured the work of:

Aaron Whitehouse

Alberto Mier

David Huff

Esteban Patino

Todd Alexander

I didn’t take that many photographs last night, but here’s one (yes, ONE LOL) but I’ll probably have a link to more photographs in a few days or so. You can view the photographs that were featured in the show here.

I didn’t want to be That Artist who was snapping photographs at her own show (though I thought about it!).

I want to thank K2 (Kebo and Karen) for allowing me this opportunity! And their little dog too

Hello! I’m back again!

As you can see, I need a clone. Or maybe a small child that’s proficient in CS3 and Lightroom that I can pay in cookies (that’s not child labor, is it?)

All jokes aside I’ve been extremely busy wrapped up in several projects! One, being a documentary project on Egbe Alaje, THEEEE coolest Afro-Cuban dance class in Atlanta, which is held every Thursday at the D.A.I.R. Project. I’ve gotten to know some fabulous individuals– of course, Charisse, whom I’ve followed from DC to ATL , Sekou Alaje, the ridiculously talented lead drummer, and alllll the gorgeous, graceful dancers and other talented drummers who come and participate. I’ve learned so much about the significance of Yoruba/Afro-Cuban dance and drumming, and preserving the culture and history of the Diaspora in general, and I’m grateful that Charisse and Sekou have allowed me to document their class!

And of course, what’s a blog post without photos!? Yesterday was their 1 year anniversary in Atlanta, and because my professor LOVES to make me work really extra hard and think outside the box, go where I’ve never gone before, and try studio lighting outside of the studio and make me put away one of my favorite prime lenses (the 50mm 1.4, LOVE!), here are some of my results!

And of course, this is a to be continued, because I’m still shooting this project and have LOTS more goodies on my hard drive!

Again, THANK YOU to Charisse and Sekou and the members of Egbe Alaje for allowing me up to be all up in your face with a camera!

Hey hey hey!

Yes…again I’ve been lax on the blog updates. So here are some updates on arty stuff that I think is cool and maybe you will too:

For folks in the Atlanta area, check out Heidi Aishman‘s solo exhibition “You Can’t Win That!’, it’s up for 3 MORE DAYS! at Gallery Stokes.

I recently did an interview on the Dodge and Burn blog! Woot! And check out some of the other interviews on there, it’s a really cool resource for photographers!

Next week one of my photographs will be in a group show at SCAD’s Silver and Ink exhibition next week at the River Club on the Savannah campus.

Ummmm right now…the photograph is framed and chillin in the trunk of my car, but by tomorrow hopefully I will change that! Annnnd if I can somehow clone myself I will be at the group show too! Yay!

I just finished my first grant proposal! It’s been a long three weeks of editing and re-editing and re-wording and worrying, and if things don’t pan out, you know what? I’m grateful for all that I learned in the process. It definitely will help me be less worried about the next submission

Oh and what’s a blog post without a photograph? I shot this after we had some rough storms surge through the area.  It was almost midnight. Wish I brought a tripod because it was a bit breezy where I was shooting. Doesn’t the sky look like you could rest your cheek against it?

Hey there! So…I’m in the airport and I’d figure I’d share some of the stuff I did this week. I miss home, but I’m glad to be going back to Atlanta!

Of course, I hung out with this guy:

Watched my brother and father partake in some friendly pool competition:

Read a book on the Metro:

Learned that patrons gotta use faith:

Hirshhorned:

Got to meet Chance and Laurence for the first time (and again, in May! So excited!)

And hung out with an awesome couple yesterday!

More to come! Bout to board my plane!

Okay so my blog posts are going to be a little out of order because I wanted to share these images with you first!

My good friend Charisse ran away from DC to Atlanta about a year before we did and she’s a wildly talented teacher of Afro-Cuban dance, (and she makes DELICIOUS black-eyed peas, greens and mashed sweet potatoes) and I’m sure if you show up to the D.A.I.R. Project on Thursdays from 7:30-9ish, you’ll definitely have an amazing time. There is a small fee, 12 bucks, but it’s definitely worth it!

I had the opportunity to document her dance classes when she was in DC and jumped for joy when I found out that she is teaching classes in Atlanta and needed to come up for air a little from school (I realized last week I spent on average about 12 hours a day there!), I grabbed my camera and headed out

Here are a few of my favorites:

Charisse!

Sekou Alaje and his drummers:

Okay, I’d definitely recommend seeing the SLIDESHOW!<—Click!

Last night I got to see one of my favorite up and coming artists, Janelle Monae, in the D.C. area, no less

She’s an independent artist hailing from Atlanta by way of Kansas, got her break with Outkast, did her own thing and started the indie label the Wondaland Arts Society, and recently signed with Bad Boy, so I’m positive she will be a familiar name and (hopefully) change the state of music.

Her sound is a mix of everything, I think, and the kitchen sink, her band is amazing, and when I think nobody’s watching, I sing out loud (and loudly) to her CD in my car (and not to toot my own horn, but you’re looking at an All County Chorus finalist, for Lake Ridge Middle School, REPRESENT), and hope that whoever’s looking at me rock out doesn’t think I’m having a seizure or anything. But I’m certain that all other Janelle Monae fans have similar reactions to her music, so it’s whatevs  

Anyway, some snapshots from the evening

While shooting two weddings this weekend for Julie, I came to the conclusion that I’m one of those people. The ones who cry at weddings. I mean, I don’t do it all day, but there is something about seeing Mom put the finishing touches on her daughter’s dress, and then looking around the church and seeing the bride’s childhood friends tear up during the ceremony, and ohhhh how can I forget, the father-daughter dance? I tend to think about how the parents first held their daugther/son when they were babies, and how they grow up soooo fast and them boom, they’re getting married!

Color me ferklempt. The good thing is, my nerd-glasses hide the fact that I’m bleary-eyed

I also think it’s my nephew’s fault, bringing about this whole new feeling of they-grow-up-so-fast-ness. I’m putting together an album of his life from when I first put him in front of my camera until now and as I go through all the photos I’ve shot in a short year, I get this horribly overwhelming feeling knowing that he’s never going to be that tiny again. He’s practically talking now and doing all sorts of I’m-getting-bigger-baby-ness stuff now and I’m all OH BUT OH YOU WERE SO LEETLE! I used to hold you and now you’re like, running away from me now

(Naturally, when I was a teenager, and my mom tried to convey this emotion to me, I was like ‘Psht yeahhhh mami, cayoudropmeoff at the mall now?! My friends are waiiitiiiinnnng!’ *pops gum*, but now that I’m older, I really can understand that feeling.)

So to my clients, present and future, be forewarned, I’m probably going to tear up, but I do keep a small pack of Kleenex in my camera bag for situations like these and I promise, I photograph through tears

One of my favorite shots from this past weekend! I spotted theeeee LAST strawberry sitting on a bed of lettuce before I was done for the night, and made a beeline with the rings, three toothpicks and a champagne glass

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So, that Kleenex box shot is from today! I just took it a minute ago I’m back in Cali for the taping of the ALMA Awards! No, I won’t be shooting it but I’ll be working closely with the photography team and YES, I’m totally bringing a camera along to get some snapshots. Oh and the highlight is that I’ll be trying to survive in a DRESS! (For those of you who don’t know me…I LIVE in pants. This is a big feat that I’m going to pull off this weekend!)

Pray for me, y’all.

And tune in September 12 to see the awards!

The view from my hotel window:

And from the plane on the way here:

Of course, to be continued!

P.S. I’m only sharing this because it’s absolutely necessary to be able to laugh at yourself. About an hour ago, I was bringing my room service tray out and locked myself out of my room. I didn’t have shoes on, just socks. I really thought about the embarassment that would ensue if I padded into the lobby and ‘splained myself, but thankfully, I was able to get someone up here to let me back in. Awkward moments define my life.

Thomas Sayers Ellis is a ridiculously talented poet, photographer, go-go expert, and a mentor to my work as a photographer and poet (yes yes y’all, I write…but that’s a whole ‘nother blog entry)…

Anywho, he’s offering a real deal to folks in the D.C./Metro area, and I would LOVE to hear that some of my loyal blog readers submitted to be part of this workshop. Read on:

Line March: Verse-ing and Reverse-ing Natural Talk Into Prosody

A tough, nuts-and-bolts poetry workshop designed to tell you the truth about your work and what it takes to get it on its feet and into the publishing arena. The instructor will look at your writing, suggest literary (reading) kinship, make the necessary adjustments (on the page and in your creative process) so that you understand the distinctions between prosody and prose behavior as well as how to make nuance (not just text) from the simultaneous effects of music and meaning. We will discuss what makes a poem “literary” and practice wrapping our opinions in ideas that are in conversation with issues of art and life, and ideas from other genres and mediums. The workshop atmosphere will be judicious yet courageous, and the instructor will take into consideration each poet’s individual interests, strengths and weaknesses. Weekly (Monday) meeting dates beginning July 26 thru the end of August, 7-9 pm.

Washington, D.C. area meeting place to be announced upon acceptance. Send three poems to tsellis@gmail.com no later than July 25. Enrollment Limited to 10.

 Class fee: $160.

Thomas Sayers Ellis is the author of The Maverick Room and a contributing editor to Poets & Writers, the poetry editor of The Root and a contributing writer to Waxpoetics. His poems have appeared in Grand Street, The Best American Poetry 1997 and 2001, Poetry, Tin House and The Nation. He teaches writing at Sarah Lawrence College and in the Lesely University low-residency MFA program.

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Oh, but what would a pho-log be without photographs? We recently shot for Rare Essence, the Wickedest Go-Go Band Alive in DC (blog post on that coming sooooon, I think), and here’s a few shots of TSE that I captured during the process:

(As I said, SPACE IS LIMITED, so definitely get in contact with him ASAP)