5am Trip to Philly to cover Barack Obama's Speech in Philadelphia

So Friday night we had our official Halloween Meet and Greet and Photography Shootout Challenge at Blue Hen Studios which finished up after mid-night. No biggie other than I was asked to go upto Philadelphia the next morning to cover the first of three Barack Obama speeches in Philadelphia.

With Redbull by my side I made it up in time to get my press badge and look for the best spot to shoot. Amazingly, though other photographers got their in advance of myself, no one got the angle and background that I did. This is a lesson to be learned for everyone that is looking to go into photojournalism....Anyone can push the big black button on top of the camera...It's also about observing your environment and making decisions in advance on where your best shots would potentially come from. Sometimes it isn't the most obvious spot.

This blog is about my passion for photography and is not an opinion or comment of my political views. I am not looking for feedback and comments dealing with political views. This is about photojournalism. I hope you enjoy...

(CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER IMAGE)

Night of Heroes - Special Olympics of Delaware

I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Glenn Jones whom was names Outstanding Athlete of the Year by the Special Olympics of Delaware. I was sent on an assignment for the News Journal to cover this event, Night of Heroes and also to get a shot of Glenn and his parents.

It was a beautiful event held at the University of Delaware's Clayton Hall in Newark. Master of Ceremonies was Kevin Reilly (Salesianum and Villanova Grad whom went onto a professional football career in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, and later for the Philadelphia Eagles). The Keynote Speaker, and motivational at that, was Pat Williams (Attended Tower Hill School, later worked in the front office of the Phillies before becoming General Manager of the Philadelphia 76er's for 12 seasons including their 1983 Championship). What amazed me about Pat was that he and his wife Ruth are parents of 19 children, including 14 who are adopted from various countries. Somehow he was able to author 51 books along his years. Wow!

It was truly an honor to meet Glenn and the others that night. This was the first Annual Night of Heroes, so I will definitely be looking out for it next year!

The image of Glenn and his parents were on the front page of the Sports section of the News Journal last Friday. If you missed it, please feel free to read the entire article about the night as well as Glenn's amazing story here:
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810100322

LadyB - Pioneer of hip-hop

On my second assignment for The Las Vegas WORD magazine I was sent out yesterday to capture the raw "in the life of" perspective of LadyB. Those that recall, back in the day she was the first woman MC in the hip hop industry with "To the Beat Yall" . . .She also was the first DJ in America to play hip-hop on the radio. She took a huge risk on getting fired back then when working for Power 99FM, but instead she made history.

These days LadyB has two radio shows.
Locally on 107.9 every weekday evening:
http://www.1079wrnb.com/showdj.asp?DJID=39314

as well as every weekday morning on Siruis Radio's Backspin channel:
http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/Page&c=Channel&cid=1104779639871&s=person

We had a great time on the shoot. She had me laughing the entire time. Her crazy stories captivated me. Talking about hanging out with her close friend Will Smith, and recent visits to Dj Jazzy Jeff's new house (which is in Delaware) made my mouth drop. It was truly an honor to work with such an accomplished artist who is also one of the most grounded and real person I have ever met.

Keep an eye out on the upcoming issue of the Las Vegas WORD for my images supporting the profile of LadyB!

Remembering a local Photography and DJ Icon

This past week I received two assignments from a magazine in Las Vegas called The Las Vegas WORD.

The first assignment was a private event to pay tribute to the life and passing of a local Philadelphia icon, Mpozi. He was a nationally known photographer working for several organizations in Philadelphia including the City Paper and the Associated Press. Later in his career he relocated to Indianapolis to work for the Indianapolis Star. He passed away two years ago while editing photos in the news room. There were several private tribute events going on around the country, and I was there to cover the event in his hometown. Mpozi was also an accomplished DJ and between the two careers he had impacted many lives around him

The event I covered was almost a who's who of Philadelphia hip-hop scene. Questlove of the Roots, SchoolyD, King Britt, and many others were present to pay their respects. The Indianapolis Star ran one of my photos of Questlove spinning at the event (while they didn't pick the best image in my opinion, I was honored that they ran my work) You can see the online pic here: http://www.indy.com/posts/9767

Recent Freelance Photographer Positions

Hey everyone. Thanks for stopping by my blog again. Just a quick update to let you know that this past week I accepted a freelance photography position with the News Journal. When reviewing my portfolio I was really excited when the single word used to describe my body of work was "AMAZING!"

I am looking forward to getting future assignments for the News Journal and I hope you recognize my work while reading it everyday (and also online at www.delawareonline.com too) :)

As some of you know already I have been freelancing for Spark Magazine (which is a sister company to the News Journal / both are owned my Gannett ). . . .I have had a ton of event coverage there and also recently did a photoshoot for them with the local up and coming band Bombs Away from Newark. Looks like they are going to be signed soon with a national label. Congrats to those guys as it was a true pleasure working with them on their shoot for Spark's Summer Concert Series.

I also have just accepted a photography position with the Las Vegas Word Magazine that covers the national hip-hop and r and b scene. I will be shooting events, private parties, celebs, sports figures, and musicians for them from New York City to Washington, DC. I am looking forward to meeting and networking with tons of new people through this relationship. My first assignment is next weekend with LadyB, some of you might remember her as the first woman emcee in the word to play hip-hop on the radio back in the early 80's. These days she runs her own program on Sirius Radio!

That's it for now!!!

Have a great week!

Workshop this past weekend

Wow....We had a great time at the workshop this past weekend. I wanted to thank the 20+ area photographers that attended. The focus was on basic in studio lighting skills focused mainly around glamour lighting. I jam packed in tons of information within a 3 hour span.

I wanted to thank our models Yandra and Rachael who both really worked well together. We all had a blast. Oh, thank you to Marlena for doing hair and makeup as well!

We held the workshop at my studio, Blue Hen Studios in Newark, Delaware on Main Street. I am in the process of coming up with topics for upcoming workshops in the near future, so if any of you here reading my blog are interested in attending, please send me an email and I will add you to my workshop contact list.

Newark Night a Huge Success

Chris and I (partners in Blue Hen Studios) had a booth this past weekend at Newark Night on Main Street. Though the heat was beyond comfort, I think the event was a huge success. It seems like the heat did not keep anyone home, there must have been more than 20,000+ people on Main Street. They originally were estimating something closer to 35,000+-. We met a ton of local delaware photographers as well as many residents in the area. Thank you to all of those that stopped by and said hi! - We will see you at the next event in Newark as well as Newark Night Next year too! :)