MOCA Los Angeles

I am the new director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles!  Ok, not yet but I should be.  Let me tell you why.  I have leadership experience (over 20 years in the Army – I was a platoon sergeant for crying out loud!); I can handle pressure and stress (did I mention the Army thing – tours to Iraq); I’m educated (a BA in studio art and a minor in business – and I graduated with honors); I love art (see the BA in studio art thing); museums like to have older folks running things – I’ll be 56 within weeks; diversity – I’m black; need to show some love to America – I’m a #vet and you know this (from above sentence); I support the #metoo movement (I’m married to my beautiful wife who is a college professor and we have 4 daughters between us and my mama lives with us – I’m no position not to support women in all of their struggles – and again, I can handle pressure and stress); management potential (see everything above); and I really want to work in the art world – really, really want to.

So, please contact MOCA Los Angeles and let them know I’m the perfect candidate.  Really.

A View of Iraq – Inside the gate at Al Asad in January 2004

Ok, I’m not done with showing some photos from Iraq.  Here are just a few shots of us after we got through the gate at Al Asad.  If you go back a couple of entries, you will see that I left off at arriving at the gate.  We were waiting for “rooms”, if you will – what temporary space we would occupy for the night before we were back on the road again heading for Rifle Base.  The theater commander had long since ordered a stop to night convoys ever since the IEDs had started in the latter half of 2003.  Oh, the armored cavalry regiment that was our final destination was the 3^rd ACR – the name Rifle Base should have told me that (nickname “Brave Rifles”) but it’s been a while and I was never a part of that storied unit.  At this time, I was a part of the 11^th Signal Brigade in the 86^th Signal Battalion.  Which I have recently learned are no longer based out of Fort Huachuca, AZ.  They are now located at Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, respectively.  That blew my mind to learn that but that is another story.  Let us get back to Iraq.  My lieutenant (LT) and I were on this mission not only because the team we were recovering was a part of our platoon but because we were very familiar with where the various bases and outpost were in country at the time.  We had escorted quite a few convoys throughout the theater since being there.  Me even more so since I had been in the theater for 11 months by that time.  It had become my secondary mission there.  Rolling out the gate was always a serious matter.  A lot of soldiers and marines were blown up on those Iraqi roads.  So this mission, because it was very close to our last there in Iraq was a bit vexing because crap seems to always catch you just before you get the hell out of Dodge.  But that’s ancient history.  Have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think if you can.  Enjoy.

On our drive through Al Asad base.

 Another gate.

 My LT was walking back to his vehicle.  He was in the lead HMMWV, it is tan and just behind the larger truck with the shelter on it.  There are three green HMMWVs between us – the escorted from the 3^rd Sig Bde.

 PFC Jackson and SPC Hall.

 A box of bottled water – you did not go anywhere without any.

The muzzle of my M16A2.  While we were out of the gate, it stayed resting across my chess with the pistol grip just to the right of my center mass – locked and loaded.  The barrel would be sticking out the window to my immediate left.  That was how I drove.  And I always drove if the mission permitted it.  Good times.

A View of Iraq – On the Road to Al Asad in January 2004

School, as in post-secondary education, is an incredible undertaking.  And it takes a lot of your time.  Especially when you have so many other things to do outside of it.  Well, this is one of the things I really like doing though there is little time to do it: My photography blog.  Another thing I really love doing is making pictures.  Here are a few that I took when I was in the Army in Iraq back in 2004.  This was done while moving, mind you – and before any formal education regarding photography.  The post production I did a week ago though.  But as a side bar, we are having an art and music festival at that very same school this coming Friday and I’ll be showing off prints that you might not otherwise see.  For details, click here.

We were on the road to recover one of my platoon’s teams that was supporting an armored cavalry regiment (I forget which one) at Rifle Base.  We were bringing a relief team from the 3^rd Signal Brigade.  We being the escort we were providing for the 3^rd’s TACSAT team that would relieve our TACSAT team.  This was day one of a five day mission – first stop, Al Asad.  My lieutenant (the platoon leader) and a few other soldiers were in the lead vehicle and we, (me being the platoon sergeant) I with three other soldiers, were in the trail vehicle.  I drove and snapped “no look” pictures (yes, like a no look pass in basketball) as we provided rear security.  If they look like I was composing these shots while looking through the view finder it is only because I had been taking pictures like this for almost a year by this time.  I had gotten pretty good with no look drive by photography.  There are a bunch of other details that I am sure you do not need to know in order to look at the photos so I will spare you.  Otherwise, this is a small piece of what Iraq looked like in January 2004.  Enjoy.

Entry 09: Photographer for artist album cover (Los Angeles)

This is a photography blog.  I keep saying that for my own benefit I think.  Just the same, you run across stuff you just want to share with the world.  However, before I do that:

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing."

Abraham Lincoln

Happy New Year to all of you!

Ok, I saw this on Craigslist last month, copied it, and saved it.  I didn’t know where I was going to use it or do with it but it made laugh so hard I almost wet my pants.  It also made me really pissed off after thinking about it because I’m trying to use my camera to earn income too.  So many people out there put little to no value on the trade/art form or whatever the title you want to label you want to paste on photography.  Too many of us are willing to work for free too.  It is a tough nut to crack but we have to deal with those that do not get it and that makes it tougher.  I know I am preaching to the choir so here it is just as I copied it:

Photographer for artist album cover (Los Angeles)

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Date: 2010-11-28, 7:10PM PST

Reply to: gigs-ya2dd-2084472746@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

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It's always funny with the people who have no money to always want the best people to do their work for them and also tell the photographers just how long the shoot will take!! How about loading in and out, setting up and breaking down equipment how about outfit changes, downloading Material to computer to check lighting!! Sounds a lot like a 10 hour day to me for what?! Oh yeah nothing!! Split album income, what are the chances of seeing that money!! Ziltch!! F#%*ing Losers!!! Contact an art school!! That's about all the free anything you deserve!

Done with these idiots! 

•Location: Los Angeles

•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

•Compensation: You get what you pay for!

This is a photography blog though so here are some photos.  I love it when I have a camera in my hands with my finger on the trigger:

This was nothing special, just a basic shot with my Canon PowerShot A540 on Aug 1, 2010, in the waiting room at the Chevy dealership waiting to get the car fixed.  I shot it from my lap so as not to alert anyone.  No flash and shot in basic Program AE setting (party mode! – a popular setting for me).  I forgot about the photo.  Later after I downloaded the images (I wanted to so say, “after I developed the film”), I looked at the shot for some time.  I thought it was really a cool looking photograph.  It is surreal.  Woman to my left and man to my right.  None of us socializing because we do not do that anymore.  I mean, I was not feeling like talking either.  I think everyone in there was wondering how they were going to pay for the bill.  There is the box of donuts, the coffee station, the flat screen and more stuff.  It is Americana.

This shot was taken in Fort Worth on Jul 18, 2008 with my Canon PowerShot S5 IS.  I think I mentioned once or twice that I am a loyal Canon-nite.  It is one of the angels on the Bass Performing Arts building in downtown Cow Town.  I lived in Texas for 4 and half years.  My longest stay in any one place since I was I was born.  Really.  I find it difficult to comprehend myself but I was a resident at that address longer than any other.  Wow.  Ok, the angel – just a cool picture, man!  I was set on “shutter speed priority” at 1/1600 shutter speed, black & white, at 24.5mm focal length, normal stuff.  It’s a bad ass shot though!

Did I mention that I am an Army veteran of 20 years?  I was in the first Gulf War in 1990/1991 (Desert Shield/Storm).  I was in the war on terror, Operation Iraqi Freedom from February 2003 through February 2004 in Iraq.  Did I mention any of this before?  That is neither here nor there really.  I just cannot forget so I take photos of things like this.  I even did a photography class assignment on memorials for veterans (yeah, I took photo 101 in the fall of 2009 at Tarrant County College – best thing I ever did concerning photography – I was shocked just how much I didn’t know).  I will have to show some of those photos one day.  This one was not a part of that series.  I shot this with my Canon EOS Rebel XS on May 31, 2010 (you can get a good deal at Adorama).  I was using the Aperture-Priority AE mode (my favorite) at F-stop 3.5 (which did not render any real shallow depth of field because I was so far back).  The focal length was 18mm and shot in monochrome (well, black & white is for other cameras, not DSLRs).  What I really need is a good wide-angle lens like the Canon EF 28 1.8 USM so I can really F-stop something – you feel on that, right?

I know, all that talk about Canon this and Canon that and here I am using my BlackBerry Bold 9000 to take a photo.  Well, Canon does not make a smart phone.  Hey, now that is an idea.  I digress: I was making breakfast for my oldest and I and had this idea on Mar 16, 2010.  So I lined up the eggs and took this shot.  No flash.  Cool isn’t it?  I think so.

And a little homage to my first digital camera, my Canon PowerShot A60.  Did I mention that I am an Army veteran…  Yeah.  I took this shot on Jan 31, 2004 in a warehouse on Camp DOHA in Kuwait.  We had just convoyed back from Iraq (Camp Victory/BIAP) to Kuwait and were in the process of cleaning equipment (including vehicles) to get it prepared for the return trip to the states.  That cleaning process took several days and inspections by Dept of Agriculture trained customs assigned soldiers.  Or something like that.  We all were focused on getting back to Fort Huachuca, AZ, back home.  This picture brings up a lot of memories.  This shot was taken late at night after a day of cleaning and stuff.  I took it without the flash at 5.4mm focal length in the ‘landscape’ shooting mode.  If you look at the details, you may see something interesting and other things that do not mean an anything.  It does not seem that long ago.

Well that is it for my 2010 entries.  Welcome 2011.  And thank you Anita for all the kind words and for following my photographic journey.  Thank you too, Aimz, for following my photographic journey.  And Happy New Year to everybody, again.