Everyone knows that the cool kids hang out in the East Village. On this evening, there were no shortage of cool kids and random groupings out and about.

When I stopped to photograph this group. The two girls in the photo were all hugged up. I asked the girl in the cap if the other was her boo. She was like “you ain’t know???” I couldn’t hate on that.

On a separate & some related note, when I see large groups of kids in NYC, I always think of that movie “Kids.” Some of the scenes from that movie still haunt me to this day.

Check here to view more of my NYC Analog Street Portrait series.

In a previous post, I bitched about botching a roll of film back in September when I was in NYC for fashion week.  One of my biggest heartaches from that jacked roll was the shots that I got of Kelly Rowland as she made her way out of Lincoln Center.

The other day, I decided to revisit that roll to see if my feelings changed on any of the images.

I rediscovered the image above and the strange thing is that I now love it for everything that it is not; properly exposed & totally out of focus.

I love it because you can feel the eye contact, playful smile, and beautiful skin through the missed focus.

Not my usual offering but sometimes different is good even when it’s all accidental.

Typically, when potential clients call me for projects, I take that approach of “yes, I can do it “no matter what it is. Most recently, my yes, I can it has been to pet photography. Yikes! Tafari Stevenson-Howard pet photographer???

When I was approached by LaGaurd (exercise vests for dogs), I was reluctant to accept the job because of my intense fear of dogs both big and small.  I’ve been afraid of dogs fro as long as I remember and after being bit by one, I just have no love for them.

With that said, this past Sunday, I completed my second photo session with LaGaurd.  The first one was quite intense and dogs were all over. I was guarded but remained calm so that I could perform the job.

At the end of the day, I was shaken slightly and relieved to go home with out any dog drama.

On the second job, I was a lot better, relaxed and ready for action. My only concern was stepping into something unpleasant. Luckily, at the end of the day everything went fine & I didn’t step into anything.

With these two jobs behind me, I am officially retired from any other pet photography. Twice was enough and my fear is back in place.

Judge me if you must…

On a late summer night in NYC, I had one of the most horrific nights of my life! I was tired, hungry but I was looking pretty damn good as I made my way across the city.

Yeah, I was looking good but something went totally wrong with my pimp boots.  My feet were not feeling the best after standing on them all day working but I had to wear my pimp boots out. I took them to NYC so that I could rock them HARD.

So I’m making my way spot to spot & as time went on, all I could think about was taking off them damn boots!

Then get lost in some neighborhood near SoHo & I’m damn near tears from hunger & foot pain. I kinda just wanted to die but I had to keep walking. Actually, I think I did shed a tear or two.

I then stumble upon a bunch of packed restaurants. I was so ready to cool my heels and grub. But yeah, none of that happened. Seemed like every restaurant had a 1-2 hour wait so I kept walking.

As I was strolling in pain, I walked upon a street party hosted by Revlon for Fashion’s Night Out.  It kind of seemed like some oasis of music and drink.

As I got closer, my mood a little better cause the DJ was JAMMING!

Then the DJ saved my life when he played “New Bell” by Manu Dibango.  This damn is like almost 40 years old & still a hot disco banger!

Long story short is that I limped away from the dancing, found some quick food and made it back to my room around 2am.

My friends whom I stayed with were like how was your night and all I could say was, never take your pimp boots out of town if you want to have a good time.

So my last trip to NYC was to be the trip that I completed my NYC Analog Portraits series with my Mamiya camera. This trip, I expected to get some GREAT street looks since I would be near Lincoln Center for Fashion Week.

Well, long story short is that I got some AMAZING shots & one shot that I was especially proud of was one of Kelly Rowland who actually stopped & posed for me after I ran to catch up with here. It was a paparazzi moment that I did not intend on happening. You should have seen me. Me running, trying not to fall all to get a snapshot.

Fast forward to the end of the trip & nearly the end of my roll of film  & I discover that my ISO was reset to 100. The problem is that my film was 400 ISO. This means that my exposures were not exposed long enough to be properly developed.

When I noticed this I died a quick death in my head. I was done. At least 20+ photos potentially ruined.

I wanted to cry.

BLAH!!!!! Such a Rookie mistake. I was too caught up into my environment & moving to quick to pay attention to this little detail.

Lesson learned: Check my damn settings between shots!

So I had a few exposures left & spent them in Detroit at a recent event (TEDxDetroit if you must know). This time around, my ISO was set correctly. And… to wrap up the roll, was my girl & super-mutha-fucking-poet Jessica Care Moore.

Jessica, thank you for being a vision of beauty and the hottest shot on my roll!

Wild Irish Rose by Jessica Care Moore
(A poem/song from The Missing Project: Pieces of the D)

“Stay away from women
With stems extended far away
From their flower

Stay away from women
With stems extended far away
From their flower

Women with Sudanese amber hiding behind
Their ears healing with peppermint and dollar
Store candles masquerading in the trenches of a city
With no intention on leaving
Traveling beyond the perimeters of expressways and dirty
Rivers melting into the colors of graffiti
Painting the urban landscape with music
Waiting for the butterflies early morning commute
Praying to be landed on like the old woodward hoes
Wishing for winter clothes

Stay Away from women
With stems extended far away
From their flower

I am Wild Irish Rose

& There are eighty proof reasons
Why I’ve always loved hard
Why my saliva got u drunk
The night u promised to promise
My spirit slid down your throat
Making conversation with all the
Things you meant to say
I see why you always got choked up
When It came to talking to me

My thorns, your rhymes
My poems, your paint
My rhymes, your thorns

I was a field flower
Bleeding purple nectar
Moving the night to make
Your days seems longer
My roots grasping for air
A mouthful of  breath while
Pulling your hair
Anything to make this ghetto turn into

A garden.
My petals harden, hoping to blend with dandelions
We remain friends
Associate with the one who get stepped on
Fighting to keep my weeds remembered
Snow-covered girls forgotten in December.

Stay away from women
With stems extended far away
From their flower
Feet familiar with the soil of many cities
Camouflaged inside the gritty

A Wild Irish Rose says
Come and get me baby
Pick me.

If I leave a seed on every corner
Maybe my people won’t forget me

I know God sent me
Or the wind might of  dreamt me
So many spirits sitting on top of motor cities
But I gotta do something with the power my
Ancestors leant me.

Maybe a farmer or a hustler will
Make me calm
I read from Psalms
Another garden gone
Another black girl song paused.
Daddy and the greenhouse
Disappeared at Dawn
I’mma give birth on the damn front lawn

I want to be a rose
But all I see are flaws
It’s hard being young gifted and black
And fucking with y a’ll

Stay away from women
With stems extended far away
From their flower

I am a Wild Irish Rose.

Come and get me baby.

Pick me.”

So the Roots concert with Chaka Khan, QTip & nem’ was absolutely off the chain!

At points, I had to stop shooting so that I could dance my ass off. And I danced a lot! Actually I danced so much that I can still feel it now because my left ankle is killing me like never before!

Anyway, so the concert is officially over & Chaka Khan has left the stage in all of her glory but The Roots, QTip, Jay Electronica & nem’ all back out on the stage to say goodbye & greet fans. It was an awesome gesture.

The hands reaching for the stage, which included mine looked like a tide moving in an ebb & flow pattern.

While all this greeting etc was going on, I noticed Questlove signing his drumsticks. Moments later he was tossing them in to the excited crowd. My friend Nurse Angie was lucky enough to snag one.

After the drumsticks were tossed out, the rest of the band started tossing out towels & people were snatching them up. I’m like who wants a sweaty towel? Seriously?

OK, while this was going on, I noticed Questlove grabbing a stack of drumheads, which he started to draw on.

I was like, if he tosses those out into the crowd, I’m totally going home with one.

He tosses one & I miss it. He tosses two & I miss it. He tosses three right in my direction & I jumped like a fat black ass gazelle into the air to catch that bitch!

As soon as I had it in my hand, people started trying to snatch it away from me. And all of this was happening before I landed.

Next thing you know I went Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on them bitches tossing elbows left & right. I totally reverted back to my street fighting days.

Once the drumhead was secured & I was firmly on the ground, I shouted “back off bitches, WESTSIDE.” Yes, I did. I felt so hood but I didn’t give a fuck.
A little bit later, I’m back stage & I see Questlove & I held up the drumhead with pride. He was like oh, you caught that huh?

I was all caught up in the moment. So caught up that as I was leaving to head home I didn’t realize that I was not carrying the drumhead.

As soon as I realized that, I mad a mad dash back to get MY STUFF. Lucky me! It was still there & the cleaning crew were about to toss it.

Oh wait, I forgot to mention that the band was also tossing out the playlist sheet & I was quick enough to grab one.

So now the plan now is to get the drumhead framed. I don’t even want to know how much that’s gonna run me.

I had an idea to photography Olivia today. It wasn’t a well thought out idea but I kinda knew what I wanted.

When we arrived to the location for the photos, things just didn’t go in any direction that wanted.

The one goal was to use my Alien Bee beauty dish. I used it & the photos looked good but like I wanted in my mind. So then I decided to go with available light. Well, those photos didn’t come out as I had hoped.

I didn’t think the photos were a loss but I just wasn’t felling it 100% but I’m happy that Olivia was a willing model!

The above is a available light shot. To see a portrait lit using the beauty dish, click here.

I used to love walking to my job at KFC (Highland Park, MI: Davison & Woodward) listening to my Crystal Waters “Making Happy” maxi single cassette back in the spring/summer of 1991. “Surprise” was & still is my jam.

I had so many maxi cassettes & cassette singles back then. Kinda funny thinking about how I used to walk around with a small bag of tapes.

1991 was a rough year for my family after a bout with homelessness but my Sony Walkman & house music certainly provided an escape & made me happy.

After leaving my damaged Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens in the capable hands of Midwest Camera Repair for a little TLC, I ran across a Krispy Kreme & hit the breaks. And yes I damaged the hell out of my lens.

Every time I see a Krispy Kreme I get excited like a little kid, or just like I used to do when I was a kid.

Once I made it into the shop & saw the fresh glazed, my tip got moist & I almost lost control. I really got excited when the clerk handed me a donut that just melted as it hit my mouth. Being excited about fresh warm donuts is why I’m fat.

Damn it was good!

So I placed an order & as I waited, the aroma reminded me of when my momma worked at Krispy Kreme during the mid 70s in Birmingham, Alabama.  If you’re reading this & from Birmingham, she worked at Krispy Kreme on the Bessemer Superhighway.

Way back then, my momma would take me to work with her & stuff me with donuts & I loved it.

While driving off & enjoying the smell of my donuts, I forgot all about leaving my beloved lens for repairs.

Now that the euphoria of fresh donuts is wearing off, I want my damn lens back! I’m so hating the fact that I will have to rent a replacement to get through my next few assignments.

Oh well. I have donuts. I guess.

The last couple of weeks have been really crazy for me with the school semester coming to a fast end.

I’ve been bombarded with class projects, presentations, and studying for finals.  It’s all been a bit much when you factor in the rest of my constantly moving life; family, plantation job & my side gig.

Luckily, next Wednesday is the last day of classes & the following day I will be on vacation in DC where I will decompress & chill with friends.

Helping me get through this last stressful week is my supportive wife, my crazy kids & my Chaka Khan playlist!

I’ve been listening to non-stop Chaka & it has been totally helping focus. I had no idea that she had the effect on me until last Sunday.

“I Know You, I Live You” is giving me new life! In fact, it will be my theme song for my mini vacation next week. Every vacation needs a good theme song!

Usually, I am able to execute most of the photography concepts that I scheme up. If I’m not able to get what I want exactly, I close enough to be happy with the end results.

My idea with this image turned out the exact opposite of what I wanted & I’m so/so OK with it.

My original idea was to have a hand holding the compact fluorescent bulb with the bulb not over exposed & while using strobe lighting. Kinda like those clever ads for CF bulbs or environmental stock type photos.

I knew that I would have to pull off the concept with two exposures but it just didn’t happen.

I think I will try again & figure out how I can make my concept a reality or get daring & try the tip that was featured on the Strobist website a few years ago.

So much for my bright idea!

Thanks to my friends & proud new parents Brandon & Kathleen, precious little baby boy Kellen Fischer is the 1st newborn that I got to photograph.

When I arrived to the shoot, I had all kind of ideas in my head for great shots, but Kellen had his own agenda & therefore dictated the shoot. To our surprise, he stayed awake the entire time I was there. It was not until I left that he fell asleep. Go figure!

I had fun photographing Kellen despite his antics & being annoyed with me being in his face with a huge apparatus. I now know when it comes to photographing newborns, I’m not in charge.

And I’m not sure if I will be the next Anne Geddes or not but I certainly want to try out a few more babies. Practice makes perfect!