Shawn

You know how in high school you  had the ones who stand out? Well, Shawn was one of those dudes who really stood out. He was a straight edge punk, which already distanced him far away from the other Black boys who attended our high school. In fact, he was the lead singer of a well known punk band, Dag Nasty, before graduating. He thought for himself and fought for himself. He continued to perform in local rock bands but changed gears and became a well respected tattoo artist. I recommend his work- myself having 5  tattoos done by him- and suggest you seek him out at Tattoo Paradise.

Kennedy, Riley and DJ Fillup Banks

When you see beauty, you just have to capture it. I attended the GatewayDC Summer Film Series in South East tonight and just had to ask DJ Fillupbanks to take a photo of  his daughters, Riley and Kennedy.( word to photographers who don't know: you should ALWAYS ask!) After he said yes, I caught a picture of father and daughter that is beyond words.

Anakwa

Here's my usual method of snapping photographs of strangers: I ask, and if they say no, I thank them for thier time and mosey on. If they say yes, I shoot, say "thank you", get their contact information and mosey on. One recent day I came across Anakwa, a jounalism student from Ghana and he graciously let me photograph him. He told me of his recent purchase of a camera and asked for insight. His main question was "How do you get people to let you photograph them?" I replied "You tell me." We both bust out laughing. I showed him the picture, got his approval and then moseyed on.

Mrs. Mary Cypress

On a recent Saturday morning in the Northeast DC neighborhood of Deanwood, I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Mary Cypress. She was eager to tell me about all of the fun acivities nearby and  the many oppourtunities to volunteer in this once neglected area  that's slowly coming back to life. Our pleasant coversation was taking place as a joint effort by the National Park Service and neighbors was underway to  clean  nearby Fort Mahon park. Mrs. Cypress, a septuagenarian, has recently been married. After being courted nearly ten years by a gentleman  in her church, she finally said yes and says she's been happy everyday since.

Master Dong Kim

After arriving to the U.S. from his native South Korea in 1984, armed with black belts in several discilines of martial art, Master Dong began teaching both adults and children. His instruction was not limited to the traditional dojo however. Master Dong taught in homeless shelters such as DC Villiage and the Center For Creative Non-Violence. Special atention was given to chidren, who suffered shame and ridicule along with the other burdens of being homeless. The name of Master Dong's original approch to martial arts is called Home Do, which is described on it's webpage as thus:  “Home” refers to body. “Do” refers to practice.  Master Dong emphasizes how buildings are not our true homes. Our true homes are these bodies we use to walk, talk, see, eat, play, and many other things. Our “big home” is nature in which we all share, not just amongst each other, trees, animals, and microorganisms." More info can be found @ www.homedo.org

Jessica

One of the hardest to get picture is that of another photographer. This proved true when I attempted to snap a fellow Washingtonian named Jessica. She protested, she covered her face, and she made the classic excuse of "..but I don't have any make-up on!" Of course I replied with the truth that she was beautiful without any. Jessica  finally gave in and I snapped, amazed  she had let her guard down. The best moment for me is when I show a subject their photograph and they smile in approval. It makes me happy to know I just gave a person a new view of themselves.

Cowboy

I caught this gentleman on the 96 bus, Saturday the 21st, on my way to visit  friends of mine at Pinz and Needlez tattoo palor on U Street. He was not only gracious in allowing me to photograph him, Cowboy gave me a cool pose. I showed shop artist Darryl and owner Chris the image on my phone.They also knew Cowboy well:The night before, Chris tattooed on Cowboy, a surveyor by trade, looking through a level!