We all know that there is no such thing as a free lunch but here I am with freebies to fill your iPhone’s appetite for awesome wallpaper images.
Some of these images were actually down with my iPhone camera, others with my real camera & others were pure digital creations of mine.
Image PBT_WP05_2011 of this bunch is my hands down favorite!
I’ll assume that you know how to add these to your photo library, like a smart iPhone junky, so please enjoy!
As a graphic designer, when I see 111111, I think of the hexadecimal color value for black. Nothing more, nothing less.
One item that I love offering from Mpix is their custom DVD & disc covers to clients. They are super awesome…
The right photo & design really makes for an nice presentation. And presentation is everything.
Here is the latest mix cover that I did for my friends at www.soulbounce.com.
When discussing the concept for the cover with Buttress aKa The Queen of Freckles aKa Mistress of Soul aKa Butta at Soulbounce suggested that I take a play on the photo below.
After some thought, I came up with a little pop art for something fun & playful.
The backdrop theme of the mix was in celebration of Butta’s birthday and all of the soulhouse cuts were selected by her & mixed by our homeboy, Keyknow, one helluva mixologist.
So in designing this image, I learned a few things 1) how women applied & blended make up 2) shit talkers always unite for great conversation 3) purple makes people happy. 4) saying “this bitch” makes me laugh.
I would go into my points for the context but it’s a long story that needs to be told over cocktails…
You can check out the new Soulbounce, “Like Butta Vol. 1″ here. Oh, yeah, it’s a hot!
Photo credit: Butta
The other night I bumped into blues singer Thornetta Davis in Ann Arbor. When I walked into the room, she was on stage performing but when she saw me, she gave me a quick shout out. I got all excited. You know I get excited a lot….
I fell in love with Thornetta about a good 5 years or so ago after seeing her perform somewhere in Detroit. I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest blues fan but something about Thornetta’s music is magnetic.
Rewind back to August 2008 – I’m at the Detroit African World Festival with Olivia; we are just walking around taking photos and people watching. Somewhere along the way, I learned that there was going to be a public wedding on the main stage. Soon thereafter Olivia and I made our way there to see what it was all about.
Once we were in the staging area, I discovered that Thornetta was actually getting married to her long time partner James Anderson. This was totally exciting.
Before the ceremony kicked off, there were African drummers drumming, African dancers dancing, Kem singing, Khary Kimani Turner of Black Bottom Collective rapping. It was an amazing showing.
After some of the excitement died down, the wedding ceremony began with a colorful & lively precession of flag bearers and brides maids. Then….. Out comes the lady Thornetta Davis and the audience of hundreds of people literally went wild. It sounded like amplified thunder.
And while all of this was going on, I was armed and shooting like I was hired. I mean, I really slipped into the zone throughout the wedding. It was crazy. I guess I was just moved by the aura of abundant love in the air.
I even stayed after the ceremony to get photos during the private reception.
A few days after all of this, I put a few photos on Flickr & forwarded a link to some mutual friends of Thornetta’s and mine in hopes to connect with Thornetta herself. Not even a day later, I got a call from Thornetta thanking me for the photos.
She told me that the photos that she got from me were better than the ones she got from her hired photographer. I then offered to send her all of the photos as a wedding gift.
I have witnessed how people are affected by Thornetta so this was truly my pleasure.
Interestingly enough, a few months after putting the photos on Flickr, I was contacted by Reader’s Digest Canada who wanted to use the photo above for a story on the usage of brooms throughout the world. This would be my 1st stock photo transaction.
Now back to the other day… So after Thornetta’s set, including James, we got a quick chance to catch up. They again thanked me for the photos and James mentioned that I was the only photographer there that was able to get a photo of them jumping the broom. In my mind, I thought wow, so this really was a money shot in more ways than one.
Until yesterday, the story of their wedding was a distant fond memory but after looking at the photos again last night, I was transported back to those moments and I heard the music, saw the dancing & felt the drum beats. It was a perfect day.
- True Story, Thornetta & James had less than one month to pull the wedding together & nothing was confirmed (cake, dress etc) when this opportunity was made available to them.
One of my clients ordered DVDs of their wedding photos the other day & I spent a little time designing a surprise custom DVD holder & DVD covers.
I rushed home today to open the packaged like a kid on Xmas.
What I saw really excited me. The colors were popping like they were on my screen. The images were nice and sharp as I expect from Mpix. Just a total win!
This evening, I will be loading the disc with files & shipping the final package off to my client tomorrow. I cannot what to get their reaction.
With just 19 days left to go, my plan is officially in motion that now that my travel is officially booked for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
No, I have not got my official credentials as of yet but like I said before, I’m gonna make this happen one way or the other.
My friend Asia Willis of the NYLA Report joked that waiting for IMG to confirm press credentials is like waiting for a college acceptance letter & that nobody wants a reject letter. I responded by saying that waiting for IMG is like waiting to hear Maury say “You are NOT the father!!!”
Anyway, I’m still pretty nervous all as a newbie but I got even more nervous yesterday after running into fashion photographer Piper Carter who shared some great stories.
In addition to some fascinating stories from Piper’s experience as a Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week photographer with Vogue & various blogs, she gave me some great quick pointers & lens suggestions.
Looks like I need to pick up a Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 (rental of course) OUCH!!!
On a funny note, Piper asked me if I’d have an assistant while work. I told her no, she then looked at me with this wild look & did this funny body move & was like Hmmm, good luck on that…. Oh shit. After this season, Ill have personal knowledge & see how far I can go it alone.
In general, I will need to get my aggressive Detroiter skills in full effect just incase I have to check someone that TRIES to check me.
I hate having to be aggressive while working but you gotta do what you have to do to get the shot….
The photo above is of one or my long time & dearest friends Yvette Tamaika combined with my new favorite typeface Afrobeat, which was created by Spanish designer Giuseppe Salerno.
I stumbled across Afrobeat on the Kiss My Black Ads blog & fell in love immediately. You see, I’m a font whore! A font whore who has been know to drop a few hundred dollars on face types only to regret it later. Well regret it until it appears in a project where it looks totally awesome.
Inspiration:
“The pounding tribal rhythms of Afrobeat music is expressed through this psychedelic brand new font, Afrobeat. Every letter becomes art as every letter is elegantly placed side by side, like music notes, creating music for the eyes.
Afrobeat is a musical style performed by many African artists such as Fela Kuti, Femi Kuti, Antibalas and many more, which is a fusion of jazz,funk, and psychedelic rock, originating from the 60s and was based on the political movements of Nigeria.”
It takes a lot for me to splurge on a typeface & it’s been a while so I’m in a good space.
Are you a typeface whore of junky? What your favorite & what’s the most that you have paid for a font. Don’t be afraid to speak, you’re amongst friends here.
This will be up for the next few days. scroll down to see my latest posts.
Yes, this is all about me. The post is long, kinda boring but I had to get it all out or die from excitement.
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Monday I had a test in my math class that I was feeling pretty confident about because I had been hitting the books consistently over a period 3 weeks. This test had to be the test that I made my comeback on because I totally fucked up on got a 69% on the 1st one. So I had to prove to myself that like so many others before me, I could do it.
So I took the test, which took me a good hour. After it was over I felt good, went home, changed into my gym gear, hit the gym, came back home, ate dinner & eventually fell asleep.
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Tuesday: I woke up feeling pretty good but nervous about the test from the day before. Got ready for work, hit the plantation for 8 hours, came home to cook dinner, went to the gym, ate dinner & eventually fell asleep.
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Wednesday: So today was the day I got the results of Monday’s test & I was pretty much on edge all day wondering how things ended up. Work was boring as usual & after 8 hrs, I hit Whole Foods for an in-class snack & some two bite brownies just in case I needed to console myself after getting my test results.
So now I am in class & the instructor said that he would pass the tests back after the break; everyone was like damn.
Anyway, we jumped off into chapter 4 & that shit was not so easy to comprehend but I will be working my ass off over the next few weeks to keep up.
Now it’s break time. I pull out my snack & beverage & await the test results. Five minutes later, the instructor stops in front of me then gives me smirk. At 1st I was like what was that all about, was he laughing at me, was he like great you did it, what???? Bottom line is it was a smirk of you did it. I got a 94 fucking %. So I was so geeked, I could not concentrate one bit after the break.
My come back is now on & poppin’!
After class, I went home, changed into my gym gear, hit the gym & watched ANTM while working the elliptical, came back home, ate a delicious Thai dinner that Suite Suzy picked up for me & eventually fell asleep after basking in the glow of my math victory (can you say run on sentence like a mutha!!!).
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Thursday: I woke up feeling fucking great & glowing because of my successful math comeback. Got ready for work, hit a 9am work mtg, returned to the office for a few hours, then left for the day to pick up Olivia & Sade because they had a half day of school & I wanted to spend some time with them.
It’s now 1150am & the girls & I are on our way to lunch. Lunch was god but the conversation was much better. It is really fun listening to them voice their opinions (sometimes). They are quite strong in how they feel about things & speak with such conviction to be so young. It’s good to see my kids more advanced than I was at their age.
Now it’s 2pm & we are back home after stopping at the store to pick up some movie snacks. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching “Stardust” (rented in iTunes), popping milk duds & whoppers.
OK so now it’s 4 pm & I get an email from Vonnie @ Honey Soul who informed me that singer Anthony David was trying to get in touch with me. So moments later Anthony David & I touch base & he tells me that his record label wants to BUY the impromptu photo that I took of him back in Nov 07. I was like what???
He was then like name your price & it’s on. So at this point, I had to consult with one of my professional fashion photographer friends & he was like don’t accept anything less that ?00 but don’t lose the sale so be flexible at the same time. I was like for real? He was like hell yeah.
OK so now I am back with AD & was like my price with rights is ?50 or you can have all 6 for ?000. He was like no problem, let me hook you up with the record label rep (Universal Republic Records).
Hours later after all negotiations, my price was honored the paperwork was submitted & the images were sent.
So you can imagine I was on cloud 9 all fucking afternoon through the evening. The kids heard all of the discussions & were like OMG is that for real. They were like, we are so excited for you baba/brother. It felt good to her my babies talk that way. I then got in touch with my boo to share the good news & she shared that same sentiments as the kids.
During all of the negotiations & other shit, I attended a talk on becoming a stock photographer by professional photographer Ric Kasnoff. I learned a lot & hope that one day some I can put the information to use.
About 1030, I made it back home did some paperwork, & eventually fell asleep. Notice, I did not have dinner, I was too tired & went to be slightly hungry.
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Friday: I woke up feeling fucking great & glowing because of my successful math comeback & my 1st photo sale!
Eventually, I scroll up into the plantation, work until about 1240pm then hit the Toyota dealership to test drive that Prius that I mentioned a few months back.
After being up in that bitch for 3 damn hours, a deal was made & I am now the proud “pre owner“ of a Prius. The one I wanted was not in stock & had to be ordered. It should be in by Wednesday next week. I am pretty geeked about my new car & the fact that I will be rolling fat like my boy Larry David!!! My car not is 24 bucks cheaper plus all of the gas money I will be saving. Cha ching!!!
The ride on the Prius was smooth, very quite & pretty roomy for a small vehicle. My gas guzzling V6 days are almost over!!!!!!!!!!!! BTW, I got mine in the “magnetic gray metallic” color.
It’s now just before 4pm & I roll up to the house & see Suite Suzy off before their 3-day girls weekend in western MI somewhere. I will miss them but looking forward to a quite house, mos def.
So I run in the house to spend some of the money I earning on my photo sale. I now have a new Nikon 85mm & Nikon 12-24mm lens on the way.
It’s now almost 5, so I take a quick leak then hit the freeway to head to the Centaur for after 5 cocktails.
My BFB winded up meeting me & we chilled while talking some shit like we do with some of the other bar flies. About 730 my boy “Bouncer Locs” asked me if I was going to the Jill Scott concert that was jumping off @ 8. I was like no, I could not get tix in time. He then said he had 2 & could not go. He offered them to me for 125 bucks. The wheels in my head were turning big time. I was like hold on let me consult. Fifteen minutes later, BFB had the tix in hand after making the money exchange in a weed smoke filled car (nothing like a contact buzz after a few martinis). Fifteen minutes after that we were up in the Fox in our seats (half way decent seats).
We caught the end of Raheem DeVaughn’s set, which was just OK. I mean, I really like Raheem but that new CD Is wack!!!!!!!
Now it’s a little after 9pm & my boo Jilly from Philly on stage looking good & sounding even better. She burned the stage up for 2 straight hours & totally gave me an eargasm!!!
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I ended my best 08’ week ever on such a high note, unlike that bitch ass Kwame Kilpatrick!
What the fuck is next?
I finally completed a Landscape Management website that I have been working on for months. The client was referred to my by Cousin Dee & the referral was based in part because the client like CD’s website, which is always good to hear.
The job started out as a simple site but grew into a logo design, business cards & other print materials.
I am very happy with the final look of what I put together & the client was as well.
With another website win under my belt & cash in the bank, I am chilling on any more web designing until this semester is over & then I will still not be doing much.
I am kinda over this business venture but the money is hard to say no to, so I will be operating on a case by base basis. One cool thing resulting from this project is it may turn into some landscape photography work this summer, which will be great for me Verta Photography portfolio!
Anyway, check it out, let me know what you think & don’t be afraid to hurt my feelings!
Grace Landscape Management Inc.
