.. just thoughts.

I think about a lot of different things, throughout one whole day. Between school, my creative world of photography, nerdy, and trying to have money to live.. you can only imagine what those thoughts are; especially living in mid-town manhattan. I live in graduate school housing on 58th, and I really relate to what Lupe said.. about being teased with the upper crust. But hey, who am I to complain..being in graduate school and eating dollar slice pizza everyday is upper crust to most.

In the world that I live in, i feel like I don't have to search for inspiration much. Its the simple things to me. Like yesterday when I was at McDonald, and a brother asked me for some change. Or when I get on the subway, and everybody is sleep. Or even when someone from across the country reaches out to me.

All of it is right. All of it is beautiful. All of it is a beautiful struggle!

With love.

25 years

Twenty-five years ago I was blessed to have life on planet earth. I had no idea where I would be on this day. I could sit here and name all of the things that I have accomplished, where I have been, things that I have done.. but what does that really mean? Does that make me better than anyone else? Will it make me happy about the life that I have lived so far?

On this day, the one thing that sits at the front of my brain is love. I want to love all that I do. So from this twenty-fith year and on, I promise myself to go after all of my dreams and aspirations.. not only for me, but for my brothers and sister. For my family, for my ancestors, for my fellow creators, and anyone that may come after me. Its crazy, because this road that I am going to take is all uncertain and unknown..but I'm ok with that. Because loving and creating is who I am!

a letter from  4/16/11

with love.


(photo by: Rog)

To be Hip!

To be Hip, Gifted & Black, a panel event I went to with my brother, Rog. This was a pretty good discussion about creatives, and what it takes to do what they do. As we all know, following your passion and heart may not be the easiest thing to do, but in reality, it may be your way to true self expression. You missed out on a treat, if you weren't able to attend.

Here is what I know best...

The Process

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to return to my undergrad university as an alumni and be apart of the Cultural Leadership Conference. Having not been back since May, I was excited to return and embrace being on the other side of the spectrum.

Of course, I had to take some stills and do a small/short film. The process of life is a beautiful one, and I'm just excited to keep growing and learning in every capacity. I don't want to take away from the piece, so you can view the full spread here.

I hope you enjoy this document, as I enjoyed making it.

FULL SPREAD

With Love. 

Your Path

Life is to be lived to the fullest. It's lived so you can reach and capture every thought and aspiration that you have ever wanted... that you have ever dreamed of. And now I live in New York, where they say all things begin...

You grow up and get an education, a masters, masters. House and a resort, kids and porsche!

9-5 and P.T.O, only because school won't teach you how to be the CEO.

I know life is to be lived to the fullest. I know I can reach my dreams and aspirations.
But what happens when your told to go right, when you want to go left?

...I guess time will only tell.


With love.

LifeStyle ft. Nneka

Today, I feature my first LifeStyle spread. A spread that gives you a glimpse of the life, culture and the natural hair of the beautiful queen, Nneka Salmon. Nneka has an awesome spirit to her. Have you ever met someone for the first time, and felt like you have know them for your entire life? That exactly explains her whole vibe. Nneka is the type of person that I love to hang out with, because it's an organic experience. We can actually discuss topics that are meaningful and learn from each other.

As of late, there has been a lot of comments about natural hair within the black community. I personally know a lot of women that have or recently switched to natural hair. And it's sad to say that I hear a lot of comments that are really ignorant and hurtful to our black queens. Obviously, most ignorance comes from lack of education and knowledge. This is another one of those topics that proves how powerful and strong our black women are!

Power to all black women that have to deal with society's oppression on how you are supposed to look and live your live. Power to all women! We all must join to continue to live a life of true freedom and fullness.

I hope you enjoy this first LifeStyle spread, as I enjoyed making it for you all!

Nneka Salmon
http://twitter.com/#!/thenewyorkan
http://thenewyorkan.tumblr.com/

With Love.

View the full LifeStyle ft. Nneka spread HERE

Amanda

It's amazing to me, that we humans can have so many people in our lives and not even really recognize them. Friendships, relations, and associates are all powerful on so many levels. I truly believe that every person is in our life for a reason, and I guess its up to us to find out why...

Amanda's silent, angelic energy is awesome to be around. We are actually from the same home town of Omaha, and didn't meet until we both moved to NYC. It's crazy because I thought I knew everybody from home! But I basically had a random idea in my head, and she made it come alive...naturally. And even more important than the photography, it's the connection that I try to take advantage of on times like these. We have to be selfish, and get as much as we can out of people.

I sincerely deem that a lot of life is about sharing, and then passing on for those to come. I'm sure you have heard this quote, but I'll say it again... "what we keep to self we lose, but what we give we gain forever"

Love.

Full spread here

GQ & Tissot

Peace to the King Keino B! You have to love people that are all about passing on knowledge and helping out younger brothers such as myself. We lack so much of this in the world that we live in today. Instead of pushing and bringing brothers and sisters along with us, we like to take roads by ourself, and keep things secrete. I have one thing to say to that... "I live in a abundant world, and we can all win", words from another great man, Senyo.

Des and I attended the GQ & Tissot Swiss Watch Collection event at Saks 5th Ave on Tuesday evening. It was filled with a lot of networking and great conversations with many different types of people. We also met some really cool people that we ended up going to a jazz club with later on in the night, those photos will be coming soon.

Something that I took away from this day is confidence! There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance, but the line isn't easily crossed by true and genuine folks. Be confident in yourself, be confident in your craft, and be confident in the universe!