Back it up,

okay so this is a very important  topic whenever you are working on a project back it up, but it is not enough on your computer, it really is best if you can make yet an additional back up copy on an external hard drive. The reason for this is that, in the event that something happens to your device, weather it be lost, stolen or broken you still have a back up. This past weekend was a prime example, I do most of my editing on a tablet, I had just got done photographing one event and took a cab to the second event, I had just stepped out of the cab and had not even made it to the curb yet when I realized my tablet was still in the cab. I turned around and it was already gone. Two days later, I still have not gotten it back, and doubt that I will, luckily a lot of what was on there is also in an external hard drive AND in my lap top. I am not real trusting of cloud storage, I know some people swear by it but most of the people I know from the computer security community are not too trusting of it and since I tend to make politically volatile images, I stay out of the clouds as much as possible.
  Having multiple back ups like this has made it much easier to pick up the pieces and carry on. Yes I did lose SOME data, we live and learn, with my back ups and tenacity in hand I continue on my path in photo journalism.

Selfies

A self-portrait to pass the time. Between cell phone technology and editing apps you can create on the fly no matter where you are, Never give up on your craft even if you are pressed for time, there are always moments when you can work on improvement. If it is important to you you will make the time

More than the negative

As people who through our craft capture and make observations on the human condition it is easy to always focus on the negative in society, but we cannot do this all the time if we want an audience because we will cease to offer any hope to our viewers. Even if we are showing the negative we as artists can do so creatively so as to make commentary and still offer hope for a better future. If we only offer up the horrors of pain and suffering and always show the darkness of societies heart it eventually drives people away no matter how good you are, because you offer no contrast in your work, it just becomes this unless parade of sadness. you have to show your audience the light at the end of the tunnel from time to time, to give them hope... do not do so it makes you look more like a parasite profiting off of other people's suffering, but if you include the positive and show what we as a society are working towards you will become engendered  as an agent of change and will draw more people towards your work

Independence day

I use my art, my photography as a political weapon, of mass education, I use it to expose hypocrisy in a government gone astray of its original intent. I will not sit idle and toe the status quo. Historically the artist has had the role of the socio-economic barometer of the times in which they live, and I will wear that mantle willingly, I will speak as eloquently and truthfully as I can, about a government conquored from within by lawyers and businessmen,  bankers and bondsmen, multinational conglomerates and political whores in drag as statesmen. Sound the alarm, they must be held accountable for their actions, freedom and democracy have been defiled in the name of commerce.
I am a photographer and an artist, I report back to you what I see, I refine this image and hold it up for you to take in, contemplate, and respond to, I am doing my job, now will you do yours?

focus, composition and living as an intentional being

A while back a friend who is a fellow photographer and I were talking, and eventually the topic turned to people's preconceived notions about what makes a good photograph, and thereby a good photographer, and at some point I mentioned how I have repeatedly produced pictures that were well recieved and when people asked about them one of the most common questions is "oh wow what camera did you use, what lens, software, etc" and to their dismay I frequently reveal that an image was made with a little point and shoot like my Nikon Cool pics or Canon Power Shot, and some even with a cellphone, the secret more often than not is in the composition, intention, and focus or as my friend so eloquently put it " the magic is in the magician not in the wand" you can have all of the latest equipment with all of the bells and whistles and the latest software for editing but if you do not have a sense of composition and some intention behind your image chances are more likely that what you produce will only be sub par, and nobody wants that as their reputation, you have to look at your subject and decide what is going to be the best way to present what you have to say with this image because if there is no intent behind it you are one step closer to having pictures that resemble what you find on those disposable cameras that are handed out at weddings. Admittedly sometimes you do not have time to sit and think before you take a picture because sometimes things just happen in the moment and you know that you have to capture that picture but you don't have time to set it up, the more you think with your camera and plan out your photos before you take them the better you get at thinking on the fly and being able to capture that image that you just happened upon and the more likely you will be able to capture it with intention because intention is what you need behind your pictures that is what draws people to them not what kind of camera you have what's editing software you use what tripod you use, none of these it is your vision your intention, the reason you took the picture in the first place

NATO Summit photos

the need for attention

The need for attention has never been greater, attention to our surroundings, the needs and suffering of others, the acts of social injustice, it is up to us to change the world, we are the heros we have been waiting for, we just need to  have  the courage to take action, until we take that first step nothing will change. We, collectively have the power to render a sustainable world, but to do so will take trust, and willingness to work at it, nothing worth doing ever comes easy...this is worth doing, it is worth the effort, the sweat, the late nights and early mornings, the short lunch and tireless toil. That is part of building a better world, a better life, this is what I am working towards, and I would be honored if you joined me. For me it is through artistic endeavors, photography, film, painting, writing, and music, that is my skill set, what can you contribute to a better world that is possible?

street photographer

Wandering the streets of Chicago with a camera I can revisit the moments previously  only recorded to my minds eye, once it is loaded to my computer I can highlight and bring its voice to the forefront, direct attention where it is needed, affect change, and if I do it right just maybe change the world even if only in a small way, I use photo editing in such a way as to heighten the drama in a photo, so I can break down the walls of indifference we erect as a safety mechanism,  the society we live in has become so desensitized to other people's suffering that when we encounter other people's misfortunes we reply with a shrug of the shoulders as if to say "bummer dude, not my problem" we are losing our humanity to indifference,  it takes an added skill to get through this wall we build, to break the layers of ice on our hearts and rekindle the fire of brotherhood and empathy, this is what I am striving for, not just pretty pictures but something that will move people to action,  a call to arms, but not to fight eachother but rather to hold, and rebuild eachother, we are all comrades, it is our birthright as sentient beings, we are losing  vital contact with eachother in this world of commerce, war, and indifference, the saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words, with my camera...I am trying to talk to you.