First Take: Pageantry @ Mizzou

I didnt do anything I was supposed to do this weekend.  I am at the point now where a year of school straight with only a weekend long break is starting to get to me.  Thanksgiving can’t come fast enough. So I decided to do nothing this weekend. Nothing but photograph something I love: women.  I love women.  I especially love Black women, so I decided to surround myself with their beauty, poise, and elegance this weekend at the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Miss Black and Gold Scholarship Pageant and the Miss Africa Mizzou pageant.

While eating dinner with Joe McNally last week, we discussed one of my favorite photographers, Gordon Parks.  McNally explained to me that many dont remember that Parks was a great fashion Photographer as well as a documentary photographer.  ”Mainly because he adored women,” Joe told me. Well Gordon, I wished I could have met you before you passed so I could get some of those moves from you.  I had a great time at both of the competitions.

Miss Black and Gold Scholarship Pageant was first introduced at the 1976 Alpha Phi Alpha national convention in New York city where contestant Denise Smith of Georgia State University won the first crown. Since 76, many regions sponsor scholarship pageant to provide financial support for young women in college.  This past weekend, Miss Alpha Eta from the St. Louis ctiy-wide chapter won first place.  I was in the dressing room before the event started and walked around taking some pre-pageant pictures and noticed Miss AH’s quiet attractiveness. She rocked the pageant, but it was an extremely close competition.  All of the women did well and any of them could have got my first place vote.  I love women.

To my knowledge, Miss Africa Mizzou is the first pageant our African Students Association has ever and and it was well-organized (shout out to Patricia Vewenda).  I love women.  :-)  The Miss Africa Mizzou not only had beautiful women on stage, but also had plenty in the audience.  Goodness. They were so fine. I had to harass my frat who has been holding out on me in this beautiful woman reserve.  Thanks Andom.  This traitor is in one of the pictures below with a beautiful woman.  Ever heard of sharing brother? I love women.  There was one who especially caught my attention.  I’m talking about I heard a combination of “Imagination” by Earth, Wind, and Fire and “African Queen” by 2Face Idibia when I saw her.  This doesn’t happen to me often so its worthy of being put on blast on my blog. I love women.  My homegirl K-Kay Moore also participated and earned mad props from me as she personally created all the clothing she was wearing. She’s Miss Liberia in the images below.

I can go on and on about this topic but you can check out the images and you try to guess who my secret crush is. I love women. Thanks for the inspiration Gordon. enjoy.

EPJ: Multimedia in News- Dog Fighting

The Detroit Free Pres published a story on the culture of dog fighting from the perspective of the negative and positive viewpoints on Pit bulls.  I absolutely love this story which you can find at the newspapers website.

EPJ: Photographers Site Critique

During my undergraduate experience at Arizona State University I had the pleasure of meeting a photographer names Jeff Lewis.  Not only was I inspired by his work, but I also found comfort in his identity as a photographer.  Jeff was Black, just like me, Jeff was hungry, just like me, and Jeff was a hard worker, like me.  I felt good that I could see someone in a position that I would like to eventually be in.  Jeff is now a photographer who represents the SanDisk Extreme Team and has been consistent in his work, which can be found at www.jefflewisphotography.com.

First Take: Video Job Profile

Image © Todd Heisler

In my picture story class, I have been charged with the task of finding a person with a job that is interesting enough to make a video profile out of.  Hmmmmm…..my ideas are scarce. Any ideas? lol…..I really do have a good three, but I needed to find an example that inspired me to go beyond the Mizzou teacher story.  Here is a story from the Net York Times 1 in 8 Million project that I found.  Check it out here.

This Is What It Is About

Sure. The Sprite Step Off could have brought an artist like Drake to perform at the University of Missouri this weekend.  They could have had more teams. They could have lowered the price of admission.  Instead, Columbia, MO got a taste of a beautiful culture.  What the Step Off did do is give people an opportunity to learn more about Black greeks, provide a (dare-I-say) CRACKIN’ Big Boi aka Daddy Fat Sacks aka Sir Luscious Left-foot concert, and give $4,500 to the local Boys and Girls club.  There is so much I could respond to in this post, but Im so excited to know the true message of these events is being coupled with a national service effort.  So, if you get mad about spending your $21.50 this weekend, just consider your cash a donation to the community you pollute.  Thats right.  If you’re not giving back, you’re polluting the environment you are in; socially, culturally, and academically.  I sincerely hope Sprite will see fit to bring the event back to Columbia if they have another competition.  I’m not saying the competition is old gold, but there is an opportunity to learn something here.  Hope you like the images.

First Take: 1-Day Madness

The purpose of the one day story is important.  Even during my time in Tampa for the NABJ Conference, I was told to shoot everything like a story…even the boring ones.  Below are some of my images for my first one day story about the New Eyes and BGLOs.

EPJ: Final Project Proposal

Electronic Photojournalism.  Sounds almost redundant now a days huh?  Well, EPJ is a course I am taking this semester at the University of Missouri.  I have chosen to allow this class to help hone in my skills in Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Flash, and overall design/layout.  I’ve already put some of my education at use, designing a page for my chapter brothers at Mu Eta to collect pre-sale ticket money to their annual Pharaoh Step Classic.  My previous experiences have taught me that if I would like to survive in such a meticulous class, that I need to find something I like to motivate me to do the work at a high level.