My next few weeks are going to be kinda intense with activity but I have my mind right for the challenges.

Some of the major things I have going on include the end of the spring semester, which ends next week. In the meantime, I have 2 projects due & my final exam by next Friday.

At this point, I have a 95% in the class & I’m hoping that I kick ass on the final so that I pull this A. I must show & prove!

Then we have a trip planned to visit NYC in a few weeks for a mini vacay. I’m looking forward to getting back on the eat coast. We plan on doing some museums & spending an entire day in Central Park doing nothing at all but living. Making this trip extra special is the fact that we are driving.

Yeah, I know it sounds intense but the drive to NY from MI is beautiful & very scenic. I plan on having a great 10 hour trek packed with good music & filthy rest stops.

And in the midst of all of this is my planning of me being at the 50th Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. I have tons of prints to pull together, matting to be cut, the coffee table books to assemble & all sorts of other little details. BTW, the fair is jumping off July 15-18th, I would love to see you, especially if you are coming to buy! :)

I plan on displaying some rather large dramatic pieces that I hope I do not wind up taking home when it is all said & done. My fingers are crossed!

Speaking of art, I also submitted a 20×30 piece to the University of Michigan Health System Employee Art Exhibition, which opens next week.

This show should be pretty interesting & I have to start a marketing campaign to get people to vote on my piece because I would love to win best in show for photography. Here is a link to the piece that will be on display.

Oh and speaking of art & me being on the grind; 2 weeks ago, I got the following message;

“Hi Tafari,

Wow! You’ve really caught Getty Images’ eye!

The Getty Images peeps selected another 10 of your photos for possible sale on the Getty Images web site.”

I was so geeked that I peed on myself a little bit. Anyway 9 of the 10 images are now on sale & I’m waiting for one last model release from my friend Yvette. This one will be hard to get because she is in Germany & I cannot get in touch. By the time I get this last image submitted, I will have a total of 15 creative photographs added to the Getty Images Flickr Collection. Go me!

And ‘m looking forward to getting my Getty royalty statement at the end of the week & so hoping that I had some sales. My fingers are so crossed!

Wanna here some funny shit? Today I got an email from “enRoute magazine (Air Canada’s in-flight magazine)” requesting use of one of my photos for the publication. The request stated that if I let them use the image, they would give me credit & send me a couple copies of the mag when it goes live.

I responded back by saying that I was flattered that they wanted to use my image, then mentioned that my licensing fee was $465.00. I never heard back.

1st of all, I don’t need credit in a magazine, I need cash in my mutha fucking hand! That credit ain’t gone do nothing for me feeding a family of 5. Sorry boo!

On a final note, I hope to bring some more on the grind soon! I’m hoping to secure media credentials for Zap Mama’s show happening in Ann Arbor next week courtesy of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, which happens to be on the last day of class. Here’s to hoping that the stars align the way that I need to them to.