At the Mermaid Parade 2012

A photoshoot with actor Taimak Guarriello

Taimak and I first met in Club Limelight in 1996, eleven years after the of release of The Last Dragon, Meeting him first impression was that he was a down to earth person and didn't ride his ego from The Last Dragon. Years later he would frequently visit my job at Unique Copy Center at the East Village, making copies of Iron on transfers for his Fitness venture Taimak Fitness. Now it has been 20 years and threw a mutual friend became really close.

 Like me we have been born in the Year of The Dragon, and we started talking about how 2 dragons would collaborate in film and photography. My idea was to do a photo-shoot and interview that would cover the mystery that surrounded him after the success of The Last Dragon. Taimak has done everything from modeling, choreographing a Madonna video, teaching  Director guy Ritchie Jujitsu, and even Robert Deniros son.

Saturdays photo-shoot with Rose

NYC protest January 29th

I just wandered in the latest Occupy Wall Street protest that was northbound on 22nd street and ended at Tompkins Square park. The protest at first seemed organized, later turned into aimless wandering around the lower east side.  Some protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct, nobody was hurt, surprisingly N.Y.P.D didn't break any heads.

I used a Canon 7D with a pentax m42 105mm 2.8 lens

Shooting R&B sensation Genuine for Hoodgrown magazine cover

loss of power at the 63rd and lexington ave stop F line

Totally unprepared for this cool spectacle, I exited a manhattan bound F train on the 63rd street station and to my surprise there were no lights. I had left my Canon 7D home and proceeded to photograph this odd situation with my 8 megapixel android phone on 400 ISO.

N.Y.P.D warrant squad serves a warrant to my neighbor, kicks in his door, removes peephole only to find out its the wrong apartment .

I was startled by someone banging on my door Thursday morning. My mother answered thinking it was housing or U.P.S. It was the N.Y.P.D warrant squad looking for an African American male in his 30s. The two officers were in plainclothes. Both bald and could pass for brothers, one was 6'5 the other was 5'6. They had a picture and asked my mom if she seen him, She said no and closed the door. The man in the picture did not look familiar. For the following hour they knocked and banged loudly on the neighbors door, threatening to kick it down if he didn't answered.

It was apparent that there was nobody at the apartment, the warrant squad was relentless, kicking the door, and even removing the peep hole by prying a screwdriver and removing the plate.  Later they once again banged on my door, and asked my mom in an authoritative voice if she is alone, I answered "No she is with me and there is a doorbell on my fucking door !". One of the warrant squad officers tried to put his hand through the hole to open the door but failed. They left taking the peephole with them, leaving a large hole in my neighbor's door.

The ironic twist was that they had the wrong apartment.









Here are these same cops after failing to kick the steel door in removing the peep hole .



Peep hole removed

Black and White NYC Iraq war Protest photos 2004

Neighbors fighting , police arrive

Years ago I owned a Sony Dsc-1, 3 megapixel camera. This camera was my first digital camera, and the first 3 megapixel camera in the market that fit in your pocket. With a price tag of $1k, I had bought the camera threw risky means from a friend that gave it to me for 300 dollars. This camera had given me freedom to shoot anywhere, with its vibrant colors and portability I managed to capture this dispute between my neighbor and his in law over the ownership of a dog. I put the lens directly over the peephole and took this shot.

D.O.A at H.B.X studios

I had the opportunity to direct a short documentary that showcases a very talented comedian/beat-boxer D.O.A aka Dread Odessa Archie , who has been in commercials , Movies and Television, and has been on the cult fave documentary Scratch for his beat-boxing skills.

Sleeping man on silent street

I had shot this back in 2004 after seeing this man on the floor motionless, I quickly nudged him and called 911, It turned out he was intoxicated. I had entered this photo for Metro's photo challenge and it had got quickly published. Originally shot with a k1000 camera with Ilford 400 film.

Fort Dix