I’m anticipating a good start to my weekend one day early & I hope to share some really great news Thursday evening.

If my things go as expected, it means that one of my bright ideas has manifested & will help move my photography career in a great direction.

Stay tuned!!!!!!

In other news:
- I ate two too many cookies tonight
- I totally blew my finance midterm
- I’m watching “Cinema Paridiso” (one of my favorite foreign films) this weekend.

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UPDATE:

Well, it jumped of today & my news is that………………….

I NOW HAVE STUDIO SPACE! Yes me!!!

It’s actually a shared space with the “Detroit League of Photographers” at the Russell Industrial Center (east side of Detroit), which is a hub of creativity that hosts a variety of artists.

I plan on being set up at the Russell in April, which is perfect because I have a shoot at the beginning of the month.

With this space, I can grow my business, not have to scavenge to borrow space & attract a wider variety of clients.

I’ve been dreaming of having a space at the Russell Industrial Center for the last two years but timing, opportunity, & resources were not aligned. Good thing I have some patience because this venture with the Detroit League of Photographers is right on time!

I’ll give this a try for several months & reevaluate. If all goes well, then great! If all is blah, then oh well.

Overall, I hope this will be my field of dreams. I’m building it & I want them to come. Whoever they may be.

In other news:
- I’m gonna eat another cookie tonight

I was going back &  forth between who I wanted to win, so was still excited to see this very clever gem win.

According to the directors,

“Logorama presents us with an over-marketed world built only from logos and real trademarks that are destroyed by a series of natural disasters (including an earthquake and a tidal wave of oil). Logotypes are used to describe an alarming universe (similar to the one that we are living in) with all the graphic signs that accompany us everyday in our lives. This over-organized universe is violently transformed by the cataclysm becoming fantastic and absurd. It shows the victory of the creative against the rational, where nature and human fantasy triumph.”

The awesome thing about the win is that now, “Logorama can now be viewed online! Yes!!!!

Enjoy…

I will not confess to loving Judge Joe Brown, however if I did, this video would be a great representation why.

I’m still laughing at how Judge Joe Brown broke the photographer down with her entry-level equipment. Classic!!!!

Entry level camera, slow kit lenses, Walmart prints & a lack of planning sealed the deal for a bad job in this case.

And whatever happened to customer service?

New photographers – Be cautious with how you present yourself & services. Having a camera doesn’t make you a professional. Skill, knowledge, abilities, & practice go a long way.

Brides – Sometimes you get what you pay for. Ask for samples, referrals etc! I’m just saying.

Judge Joe Brown – You are the man! And next time you’re in Detroit, lets go out shooting.

I had all the best intentions of waking up at 9am today to fix myself breakfast, & prepare for my 1pm photo shoot with Detroit rock group Fluxphonic.

In my head the plan was solid! Well, it all went to hell when I woke up at 11am.

I jumped out of bed, rushed to get dressed, packed my camera bag, gathered light equipment & loaded the car. Before you know it was 1150, everything was in the car & I was on my way to the set with a very empty belly.

I totally had no time to stop for a quick bite. Oh my!

I HATE working while hungry!

Well, none of that mattered because I had to make it happen.

Then… I get to the set & realize that I left a vital lighting accessory at home. Bummer! So I improvised like one should.

The clock tics & tocs & the shoot is going great; before you now it, we wrapped about 4:15.

Before heading home, I stopped at Popeye’s for a quick meal, which I later suffered from. BIG TIME!

Lessoned learned from today:

- Set 2 alarms, maybe 3
- Triple check the equipment checklist
- Pack snacks no matter what
- Never eat a Popeye’s spicy 3 piece on a totally empty stomach

With all this said, my clients never saw me sweat or heard my belly growl (I think).

Pictured above: Fluxphonic (Steffanie Chris’tian (Left to Right) Kris Wilson, Danny Lecours, Russ Dobson)

If you’re in the Detroit area Saturday March 27, you can see Fluxphonic at the Charles H Wright Museum of African American History “Black Women Rock! A Tribute to Betty Davis”

Side Note: Who is Betty Davis?

A wildly flamboyant funk diva with few equals even three decades after her debut, Betty Davis combined the gritty emotional realism of Tina Turner, the futurist fashion sense of David Bowie, and the trendsetting flair of Miles Davis, her husband for a year.

It’s easy to imagine the snickers when a 23-year-old model married a famous musician twice her age, but Davis was no gold digger; she turned Miles onto Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, providing the spark that led to Miles’ musical reinvention on In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, then proved her own talents with a trio of sizzling mid-’70s solo LPs.

See a few more out takes from my shoot with Fluxphonic here.

The other night, Suite Suzy was going through boxes of her old photos when she stumbled across some of her high school photos.

This was great for me because I hadn’t seen any of these particular photos in all of the time that we have been together (13 years).

Thumbing through the images inspired many good chuckles from the early 80’s fashions, wild mulatto girl hair, interesting eye brow arches & “sexy wanna be model” poses. It was a Suite Suzy that I’d never seen. And it was almost like unlocking a mystery. Not like she was keeping secrets but it was like a time capsule of sorts.

The photo above is from her 1984 high school senior portraits. I found this image to be so beautiful. And until I saw it, I never thought that out daughter Olivia favored Suzanne but this image makes them appear to be twins.

I asked Suite Suzy if I could hold on to the photo for a while & she obliged. The next morning I woke up, picked up the photo again & smiled at it.

Have you experienced the deliciousness of Mexican Coke yet? I’m still so hook on this stuff?

So anyway, I ask you, who rocked “Island Life” best? Is it a toss up???

Behind the Island Life album cover:

Grace Jones’ former lover & photographer Jean Paul Goude took this photo of her in 1978 for a New York Magazine model profile.

Of the image, Goude has stated in his book “So Far, So Goude:”

“…unless you are extraordinarily supple, you cannot do this arabesque. The main point is that Grace couldn’t do it, and that’s the basis of my entire work: creating a credible illusion.”

The image is actually a composite of several photos stitched together to make this iconic image. Awesome work from the pre-Photoshop days!

The tasty looking jicama & fennel slaw recipe that I saw last year on The Hungry Mouse inspired me to try my own version. This is a very easy side dish / snack to make & the flavors burst!

Ingredients:
1 Jicama root (about 2-3 lbs)
1 Red & green jalapeño
1 Cup red cabbage
Cilantro
1 Carrot
5 tbsp Honey
2 tsp White wine vinegar
½ Cup olive oil
½ Cup freshly squeezed lime juice
A Shot of your favorite tequila

Honey Lime Vinaigrette:
- Combine your wet ingredients (olive oil, fresh lime juice, honey, white wine vinegar) in a mixing bowl & whisk vigorously.
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Set aside
- Consume your tequila shot

>>>OK, now the fun part!<<<

- Peel your jicama root then julliene into nice small strips
- Dice your jalapeños
- Shred your carrot
- Shred your red cabbage. (I cheated with Dole bagged shredded cabbage)
- Mince 5-6 cilantro sprigs
- Combine all of your cut veggies & vinaigrette into a large mixing bowl & stir like crazy
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Chill then serve

With my slaw, I served chicken sautéed in salsa & blanched asparagus spears.

This recipe serves 5 & my kids love it!

Jicama root facts:
- A legume from Mexico and it can be eaten raw or cooked The roots are light brown in color, and may weigh up to 50 pounds.

- Has the texture of waterchestnuts & quite crispy. The flavor is that of a barely sweet apple.

- Packed with vitamin C, and used as a source of starch. One serving of jicama equals 1 cup, which contains about 45 calories.

This summer my blog will be 5 years old! Wow!!!

Since I started blogging, I have gone through several blog content metamorphoses.

I started off talking about nothing in particular, then started talking about pop culture (mostly movies, weird news stories & music), then I started blogging about race, which is where I think I peaked in terms of reader interest.

When I blogged about race & inequality I started off with good intentions, but that soon grew into me blogging as an angry Black man.

During my blogging as an angry Black man period, I was getting 10k hits a month and this attracted all kinds of comments & interactions. Funny thing is, I didn’t realize that I was an angry Black man until mid 2009. This is about 2 years after I entered the angry zone.

I mentioned my reader drop off on Twitter earlier today & this is what some of my contacts there had to say:

“Anger sells, like sex. Maybe u shoud write abt sex?”

“ppl like fuckery”

“we went through the same thing…people like anger & controvesy more than pleasant isht for some reason. Look at reality TV”

Interesting… True???

Now I wonder if I was really writing for myself or for an audience. This brings to mind a quote by writer Cyril Connolly (thx Jovan)

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”

Did I lose myself? I don’t think so but at this point, I guess it doesn’t matter.

After I got my mind right & calmed down is when I decided to change the tone & scope of my blog. Since that point, my traffic is looking more like 3k hits per month.

I’m OK with whatever traffic I get here on my blog/journal & I’m happy that I’m writing for myself.