Grown Woman
Happy Birthday to my first born. I can’t believe that you’re 20 years old today! Where did all this time go? Sometimes I sit back and think, it really trips me out that you were actually born in the 90’s. I’m so proud of the woman you’re becoming. As a father you make me so happy! I wish you all the best going forward in your life. You’re one of the sweetest people I know and I pray you’ll always stay that way. Oh yeah, you may look just like your mom but, you act just like your old man! 😉 I love you so much!!!
For The Love Of My Grandmothers
I was fortunate enough to have you both until I was 42 years old
You helped raise me, and love me, may God bless your beautiful soul
Although I’m sad, I can’t be mad I suppose, because one was a jewel 💎 and the other was a rose🌹
I’ll always love you both forever! Your son, Robert ❤
Emma Jewel
Rose Marie
The Definition Of A Jewel
According To Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary A Jewel Is Defined As:
Here is a short poem I wrote in memory and honor of my wonderful grandmother, Emma Jewel X Orsborn.
Sunrise: May 18, 1928 Sunset: January 6, 2018.
“They say no one is perfect, you’re the exception to the rule
Because, God crafted perfection when he created this Jewel.”
Princess Of Color Series Pt.1
My princess of color series was created to depict a more realistic and identifiable image of princesses to young women of color. The idea is to show girls of color that royalty looks just like them, as opposed to the traditional notion that we’ve been conditioned to accept throughout history. The series is meant to convey the message that you are beautiful and important just the way you are, so be proud of the skin that you’re in. Having a daughter myself, my goal is to get more people involved and have more representations from children of all different cultural backgrounds.
This first set of images feature Princess Madison.
(Please click on each image to enlarge)
Autumn Dashiki
The lovely fall colors help accentuate the many colors of this stylish dashiki worn by the beautiful Latrice.
Model: Latrice Hicks
Makeup: Nichele Hardge
Working With People/Marquetta Poolside
I get asked these questions so much now that it drives me crazy!!! So once again I will address this subject hopefully for the last time?!
“Do you still shoot with people?” Yes!!!
“Are you retired?” No!!!
I really don’t like unnecessarily placing labels on things, especially myself, but if I had to label myself I’d say that I am foremost a portrait photographer. Portraits are what I love to create. Over the past 3 years I’ve taken time away from shooting people as much to concentrate on the other styles of photography that interests me. Because of this decision the local public seems to think that I no longer shoot with people, even though I still post people pictures! Shooting with people, models and children is still what I love to do, but the truth is, I’ve had so many issues with the models AND people where I live that I’ve basically been forced to stop working with them. It’s not that I want to stop, it’s more about being tired of all of the drama in order to do what I love. I know that nothing is perfect and as long as you deal with people there will always be problems, but it should never get to a point where the drama outweighs the fun and starts to steal your joy away. Well that’s exactly what started happening to me. So I made the conscious decision to become extremely selective in who I work with as well as what I post. I know that this has definitely confused many, so to clarify my position, I LOVE SHOOTING WITH PEOPLE!!!
I also love shooting on the street, and I love shooting nature. These are the different styles of photography that interest me the most. But, as long as I have a camera I will shoot ANYTHING that I think is cool, fun, or sparks my interest. I never limit myself as far as what I capture even though I might concentrate on one style more than others at a particular time. What I want people to understand is that my current work reflects my environment. There isn’t an abundance of street photography or nature photography opportunities here, but those opportunities are more readily available to me than capable models are. The bottom line is this, I’d love to shoot with more people, but, until they can act right I will continue to focus on the other areas. As long as I’m busy working on something I’m happy so it’s all good to me!
Now, here is a photo from my most recent test shoot with a beautiful young lady named Marquetta. This was a very loose and fun shoot despite the number of difficulties we encountered. I’ll admit, working with her made me miss all the model shoots, and made me want to jump back into it full steam, but…we’ll see…only time will tell? Honestly I’m not very optimistic about it. I’m just going to keep moving forward, and if I happen to meet people along the way that want to move with me then we’ll do to together. If not, I’ll be fine. I’ve always been a loaner so I’ll always have myself to fall back on.
Happy Birthday Katrelia!
I’d like to wish my beautiful model friend Katrelia a very Happy Birthday today!
Model Mee X’s 3
The beautiful ladies representing Model Mee Clothing by Nadia Jenkins. This image was taken for a campaign we shot over the summer.
The Models: Ariane Webb, Alize Muhammad, and Michelle Oates
Mrs. Fancy Is Back!!!
I’m so happy that after a 3-4 year hiatus I finally reconnected with my beautiful model friend Dominique. She’s so sweet and naturally beautiful I decided to post one of our shots without any editing. Posting unedited shots is not something that I do often, mainly because most of my clients really don’t like it. I know that most people are influenced by the unrealistic standards of beauty that we’ve all been conditioned to accept but, I’ve personally never been a huge fan of perfectly airbrushed images. The truth is, I only do it because I know clients and companies like a certain “polished” look to their photographs. That’s fine, but I love the details and textures of human skin and hair.
We as photographers spend thousands of dollars on high end cameras/lenses that have the ability to exact as much detail as possible, so why would we want to eliminate all of that wonderful information we capture?! In recent years I’ve cut back drastically on the amount of editing I do to my images, even to the point of losing some clients and turning fans of overly airbrushed images away from hiring me. Don’t get me wrong, when done right those images can be flawless and gorgeous, but in the real world nothing is perfect and I like it that way.
I love imperfections. It means that we’re human. It means I’m capturing exactly what was in front of my camera. So with all this being said, I encourage my clients more and more to accept themselves as they are, and to scale back on the over-edited, “perfect” look of the past decade or more. Besides, when you’re this naturally beautiful you don’t need photoshop! 😉
Alize
The first image taken from my latest shoot with the beautiful new model Alize Muhammad. I can’t wait to work with her again!!! She’s amazing!
Lakita Maxi Dress
My latest shoot with my model friend Lakita. It’s been about 4 years since our last outing and she’s just as beautiful as ever! I’m happy that I was able to reconnect with her and shoot her in this colorful maxi dress because, I love the way maxi dresses look on women. Makeup by the talented new mommy Nichele Hardge. Congratulations Nichele!
Hustling After Dark
A homeless woman sells her handmade jewelry on the night streets to earn money in order to survive.
Go Native Now
A few weekends ago I was out walking the city streets trying to find something interesting to photograph. A typical day for me really. After hours of basically finding nothing I was prepared to wrap it up and call it a day. Fortunately my eagle-eyed wifey Terri spotted a small group gathered along the Phenix City side of the river. As we moved closer to the small crowd I realized that there was a demonstration taking place. To my great surprise it was actually a group of Native Americans teaching the locals about the history of the city. Always curious about learning new things I stood conflicted as to whether I should take pictures or just listen to the wisdom they spoke? They taught us about their history, culture, clothes, hunting & survival techniques, their names, tribes, and their hardships. They also allowed the locals to participate in a traditional dance. Just my luck to find this wonderful event at sunset!
The sun was setting rapidly so I decided I should grab a few shots before they closed everything down. Before my disappointment could set in for wasting the day wondering around when I could have been at this demonstration, one of the gentlemen speaking stopped me. His name is Little Big Mountain. He told me not to worry. Although they had been there for a few days they would be there again early the next day for a few hours. He also explained to me that he’d be wearing his tribal face paint so I could get an even better shot of him. I happily thanked him and his lovely wife Laura. I knew at that point that I would absolutely be returning with my kids so that they could learn about our history.
These photos represent the few shots I captured on the first evening.
Day 1
(Please click the images for a larger view)
The next morning my family and I returned bright and early for the festivities. This time my children were able to witness the event in it’s entirety. They were able to look around, ask questions and take pictures. First we listened as they taught more about weapons, clothing and hunting. Afterwards we had a very long, serious discussion with both Laura and Little about the connection of pain shared between African Americans and American Indians. Next, we moved on to the next group to learn about the different war cries. We sat and enjoyed stories of past battles as well as the importance of family and nature. We were once again treated to several tribal dances then introduced to everyone. Before ending the event everyone in attendance was asked to join in a beautiful prayer. Once again, amidst all the wonderful wisdom being shared I tried to remember to actually take out my camera and capture some of these moments! I mingled briefly then took a few shots.
All in all it was a great experience. My family and I really enjoyed ourselves. We all agreed that when they return next year we hope that the city will provide them with more funding and a larger area to demonstrate because, we believe it is of the upmost importance that everyone learn what they are teaching. It cannot be ignored nor relegated to such a small area. They need to be seen and heard! Their history is OUR history!
If you’d like to learn more about their educational programs, make a financial contribution, or bring them to your city please visit their website at: http://www.gonativenow.com I highly encourage everyone to check them out as soon as possible!
The following photos were taken at various times of the day under a variety of crazy weather conditions. Everything from the bright noon sun, to the cloudy possibility of rain, then to the setting of the sun.
Day 2
Queen Vey!!!
The first shot from my latest test shoot with one of my favorite people to shoot, the incredibly gorgeous Vanessa Cobb, aka Veyonce!
Cool Off: Part 1
To celebrate the return of the warm weather I decided to do a series of photos to show how different women choose to cool off in the heat. First up is the lovely Ariane.
Model Ariane Webb
Makeup Katarzyna Chenkov
Assistant Nadia Jenkins
Spring Fling April 2015
Spring Fling April 2015 has come and gone yet again. This time it lasted for 2 long weeks. My goal was to attend as many times as I could during both day and night so I could shoot multiple times to get many different looks. Since I didn’t find out until the last minute that the event was going to last that long, I wasn’t able to go back as often as I wanted to. These photos represent my first day there which happened to be my most successful day.
My family and I arrived early on day one before all of the crowds poured in. I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to come back with all the people that usually attend but, I decided that at some point I would. Unfortunately at some point never came! I was very disappointed because there were plenty of photographic opportunities for me this year but I blew it. I am however very grateful for the shots that I was able to get this time. Editing these shots is an entirely different story… Working on the edits was very difficult this time. I wanted to try something different, a specific look I had in mind. It’s something that I’ve been longing to do for a while but never willing to actually sit down and do. I wanted each shot to have bold, bright colors so I edited every single shot in this gallery individually. This was not a batch edit. I NEVER edit this many photos individually! Whenever I post lots of pictures in a gallery I usually post them straight out of the camera with no adjustments. The reason why is because it’s far too time consuming and I feel like batch edits can’t possibly give each shot the special attention it deserves. This time each shot has it’s own signature color profile. It was very tiring but I’m happy I did it. Now I know I have the patience to actually sit down and do it and I feel that it will only help me later on during my post processing sessions.
You know, as photographers we all shoot for many different reasons. Most of us shoot for the love of it. We also shoot for ourselves first and foremost but, we hope that when we do release photos to our viewing audience they understand all the hard work we put into it. Sometimes our satisfaction comes from just knowing others “get it”. This was a hard one y’all! I hope someone out there “gets it”. As always I’d like to thank each and every person that stops by my blog and enjoys my work. Your views, messages, and support are greatly appreciated!!!
Fun With Adrian
My second test shoot this year with the beautiful Adrian Sellers. This was one of the most fun and laid back shoots I’ve had in years! I wish they could all be this relaxed and enjoyable.
For Posterity
My Granny curiously watched me as I walked into the house, sat my bag down, unzipped the pouch, and took out my camera. She watched intensely as I removed the lens cap, then unscrewed the protective filter. She nervously stared at me as I approached her with my camera and after raising the the lens in her direction she quickly yelled, “I look a mess today, please don’t take my picture right now son!” Being the hard-headed child that I am I proceeded to snap anyway. Embarrassed, she looked right at me and asked, “why are you taking my picture?” I answered, “because, you’re beautiful and I love you!” Then I said, “I need these pictures to pass down to all the future generations of our family” “They need to know who the Queen of this family is” She smiled shyly then said, “ok son, go ahead” She has always spoiled me… She always lets me have my way and I’m happy that she does 🙂 This is real love!
First Shoot Of The Year
My first test shoot of the year was yesterday with the lovely Ms. Taleor Moore. Makeup provided by the talented Nichele Hardge. More to come from this shoot later.
Fantasize Models Throwback
For the Past 6 Years I’ve Been Responsible For Creating Some Of The Most Popular And Most Memorable Images Of The Beautiful Women Of Columbus. In Recognition Of Throwback Thursday, I’d Like To Remind Everyone Exactly Why!!!
She’s Almost Here!!!
Jocelyn’s little angel will be making her introduction to the world very soon! I can’t wait to meet her!
The Dynamic Duo
Models Nadia Jenkins & Ariane Webb’s first shoot together.
Ariane’s Hair by Lee Allysceaioun Robinson. Ariane’s Makeup By Nichele Hardge
Versatility By RNJ 