Saturday with D2G

I had the opportunity to photograph hip hop artist D2G this past weekend. I met D2G a while back  when he performed at this show "Heavy Rotation" that happened monthly at Cafe Lura. What I found unique about D2 was that unlike some of the other artists that evening (and other evenings for that matter) that would perform and leave. D2 stayed the entire time long after he performed to support that other acts and partcipate in the open mic freestyle they had at the end of night. He was a true class act and I became an instant fan. 

My good friend and fellow artist Tone( pictured below), had already been working with D2G and painted this amazing painting inspired by one of his songs titled I-RAN.  so when I approached D2G about photographing him he was game, and Tone was also their to collaborate.

I-RAN Painting by Tone aka FeastisFamine

The three of us met for breakfast and that was all she wrote... We came up with some good ideas. I'm always inspired by other artists regardless of what their medium is, and I'm looking forward to more projects with these two. So there you have it! That's all she wrote!

It's also really important to me that as soon as its decided that I'm going to photograph someone that I try to support them and get to know them as much as I can to build a rapport. Plus,I  mean who turns down an opportunity for breakfast Delish!! LOL

We  had 3 locations and all in all I was pleased with the day. We closed out with a celebratory rum shot and chilled!

Here's a quick peek into some more images from the day

D2 with Artist/Friend/Collaborator Tone (@feastisfamine) 

Oh, and if your a hip hop fan you should def check out D2G's music. My favorites are his newest single "I-RAN" and "Windy"

Thanks for reading!!!

No more yes. It's either HELL YEAH! or no.

I came across this Derek Shivers fella yesterday while I was reading a blog post written by Colleen Wainwright for the ASMP Strictly Business blog. It was a good read and if your interested you can check it out here.

Derek Shivers has this "Hell Yeah" philosophy that I really connected with as its one of the foundations (next to God of course) of my art practice and how I make money.

We've all been there right? I know I have,  you commit to a project and then something clicks inside you and you just wish you would have never said yes in the first place. Oops, that sucks!  I'm a woman of my word, but there has been moments where I do have to pull away from the project just because I cant get with it. Thankfully, I rarely get in situations like that anymore. 

I only work on projects that I absolutely believe in period. Its just not worth it otherwise. 

So lets re(commit) here as we move forward with the projects that we're working on:

When deciding whether to commit to something, if I feel anything less than, “Wow! That would be amazing! Absolutely! Hell yeah!” - then my answer is no.- Derek Shivers

Cheers to happier projects!!

Thanks for reading

It's Who You Know...

Yesterday I met with my accountability partner discuss goals for the year and the progress we have made thus far with our art business and projects. I cant tell you enough how important having a partner to help through all of this is, she is smart,talented, funny, knowledgeable and of course INVALUABLE to my art practice.  Each time we meet, we listen to each other to discuss everything we have going on, we discuss work goals, fitness goals, art goals its all up for grabs. We congratulate each other as well as help each other with challenges, it keeps momentum in my world and thats important.

So anyhoo, one of my partners goals for 2013 is to continue to build and foster relationships with people in the art community. Awesome!!! Building relationships and keeping them consistent is the foundation of alot of goals, especially in arts and media so I was all for it.  Stephanie Graham the Career advisor kicked in and I introduced Deirdre to the RELATIONSHIP ACTION PLAN. A relationship action plan, or RAP as my girlfriend Mikey and I call it is a strategic plan on who you need to meet and how you will meet them to help you reach your goals. I think the term was coined by Keith Ferrazzi, a strategic consulting guru. 

We all know how beneficial it is to write out your goals, but it is good to have an idea of who is going to help you get there, so be sure to include a RAP into your plans too! It will take some research, LinkedIn searches, phone calls and emails but it becomes a lot less intimidating to do these things when you have a plan with action steps in the mix.

Try it! I found a really good article here about how John approached his RAP plan.

Good Luck!! 

I Heart Mighty Text

So.. I lost my iPhone, no wait I take that back.... someone stole my iPhone at my birthday shindig. ( stolen eases that pain that I really couldn't be so careless, you understand, PLUS I really do think it was stolen). AT ANY RATE that was in October and since I have to wait until February for my contract to renew to get a cheaper phone, (Can you believe AT&T wanted me to pay $250 for to early upgrade PLUS the cost of the phone HECK NO! I will wait until February thank you very much). So I ended up snagging this my first smartphone style Android to use while I wait for February 1st to come . 

So having spent the last few months as #TeamAndroid, I wanted to share my love for the app MIGHTY TEXT. It's Android specific and its AWESOME!!  In a nutshell Mighty Text allows you to text directly from your laptop. It has been my savior for me to keep in contact and have conversations with those friends that who no longer believe in the telephone , my buds who are on set and unable to talk and of course, my little sisters who really should be awarded worlds fast texter. (Is texter a word?)

Bravo to the fellas that put this together its really a gem.

Check it out for yourself let me know what you think!!

http://mightytext.net

How Not to Act When a Co-Worker is Laid Off

HAPPY 2013!! We did it! We are here, so lets make the best of it! 

As I was saying in my last post,I was recently laid off, a wild and overwhelming experience that surprisingly seemed to effect my co-workers more than it affected me. So I had some insight about this experience that I wanted to share with you. Just in case you find yourself in this situation here are my thoughts on "How Not to Act When a Co-Worker is Laid Off". 

A few more I forgot to mention after a discussion from me and some girlfriends:

*Dont tell me to steal office supplies in a joking matter
*Dont ask me for my office chair or other supplies on my desk
*Do say that you are "sorry this happened" or " Lets go have a drink and forget about it, My treat"

Have you ever been laid off and experienced this? What are your Dos and Dont's? Tell me in the comments

Thanks for reading and watching :)

So Long 2012..... LETS DO THIS 2013 !!!

The Good, The Bad and Fabulousness of 2012 via my Instagram

TWO WORDS TO DEFINE 2012....... HOLEY MOLEY!!!!

My goodness, this year was fun (of course), but boy o boy was it STRANGE LOL.  Dont get me wrong its always a blessing to see another year and 2012 of course is no exception. But my good grief!! Politically, Personally, Professionally , WORDLY its just been off the chain. Its been a while since I was able to really reflect back over all the good, bad and fabulousness that has taken place in a year. I usually just feel like okay a good year and try to make the next one better but not 2012 no way, I'm completely aware of all that has taken place this year and I'm hoping to bring that self awareness into 2013. Who knows maybe its because I turned 30, I mean thats a change in itself. A Change I'm looking forward to since everyone says that 30 is when things get poppin! Haha.  I do though, believe that this self awareness is really due to me constantly being in tune with the goals and plan to carry out those goals. So if you havent set up a strategic plan for yourself DO THAT ISH FOR 2013. Seriously using your plan as a living document that you refer to all the time.. Its super helpful! Okay I'm off my goal setting soap box, but would this be a New Year's blog if I didn't say something about setting goals? I mean come on..

So anyway, with all the changes that took place in 2012 I'm expecting BIG things for 2013 and I hope the same for you!

Cheers to 2013!! I'm so ready!!
Thanks for reading :)

T is for Transition

This past October I decided to step down from my position as the Midwest Regional Chapter Director with American Photographic Artists. I worked with them as the Chapter Director for two years.  Shortly after that I decided to also leave my board position with the Midwest Chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers too I was a board member with ASMP for four years. 

This wasn't an easy decision for me. In fact I didn't want to do it, I was having fun, I enjoyed planning events, engaging members  sharing information and being a resource to the memberships and helping out in the photographic community. I met a bunch of amazing people that I know I will remain in contact with for what I hope to be forever. I credit ASMP for helping be build alot of the leadership skills that I have now, and if it wasn't for ASMP I would not have been offered teh Chapter Director postion with APA or my advising postion with Harrington College of Design.

So then why did I stop? My own work was startting to suffer. *GASP* I know right!! How could I let me own work slip! It was messed up. My days were long with working at the college, then I would come home to work on things for the APA, then after a good workout, I would get some edits done for myself but not as much as I planned in my head and then its time for bed.  You know how the saying goes "If you dont love yourself, how can you love anyone else". Well, same thing here, I cant  help anyone with their business while mine is just sits and my list of to-dos just keeps piling up.  You have to take care of home. 
*Side note*- I was also turned 30 in October, a lot of restructuring priorities and the like was going on and what can I say, some things had to be given the chop.

                                                       THEN I WAS GIVEN THE CHOP!!!

After almost four years of  working as a career advisor at Harrington College of Design. I was laid off. Damn. I have never been in a lay off situation before. Harrington was my first "real" job. I had pretty much been freelancing ever since I graduated college so this whole lay off thing was totally new to me but more about that later.  This is oh so bittersweet. My finances are interrupted, no more students, no more faculty and staff and no more need to buy "The Editor Pant" from Express.  The whole experience was well worth it, and I wouldn't change a thing.

So back to the blank canvas.. The world is completely my oyster right now and I can literally do whatever I want. That is exciting and overwhelming all at the same time. I've never been in such a huge transition like this before.  However I am expecting great things. I'm ready just to get back to focusing 100% on my own work and sharing it with you.

So with 2013 right around the corner you might want to check in with yourself and think about what you might need to give the big chop to and what your going to focus on. 2013 is getting ready to kick butt!! I for one can not wait!! 

Thanks for reading