Damari Rubio and Umair Khan for the Houston Chronicle

Damari Rubio and Umair Khan design gloves and dresses, respectively and I photographed them in their studio in Spring Branch for the Houston Chronicle. Read a little more about them here! Shout out to Joy Sewing on the keyboard and your boy on the camera.

Houston Rockets Power Dancers - The Audition

I usually spend my Saturday mornings on a basketball court indulging in excessive buckets. Last weekend's Saturday morning activities took place on a similar surface. Competition ensued, athletic feats were performed and midriffs were bare. The Houston Rockets Power Dancers held their annual tryouts for the 2015-2016 basketball season at the University of Houston's Wellness Center. I don't know how many women actually showed up, but there were a lot. They began by warming up and stretching, learning and memorizing a routine taught by one of the RPD coaches and then separated into groups of 5 for further evaluation. I rolled out before the cuts were made but you can find out who will make the squad on July 2, 2015 at the House of Blues at 7pm!

Red Bull Reign - Houston @ Fonde

There is no chill time in 3v3 basketball. Like a shark in this game of basketball, if you stop moving, you'll die. Not literally of course, but your opponent will hit you with a back door cut to the hoop for an easy layup with the quickness. I think this is why I like shooting 3v3 tournaments so much. And also why I dislike playing anything less than 4s. I like to chill. Shout out to Team Glory for taking the Red Bull Reign crown at the legendary Fonde Rec Center and representing H-Town in Chicago in August.

Kick & Roll Classic: The Tune Up

Last year I photographed some action and portraits at the 1st Annual Kick & Roll Classic which is a 3 on 3 basketball tournament that showcases fly sneakers and raises awareness for colon cancer. George Kiel III and company will hold the 2nd Annual Kick & Roll Classic in Austin later next month. In the months following the first Classic, there have been smaller pick up hoops events gearing up to the main one. I dropped by one in May to see what it was all about.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yeah I know it's not Mother's Day and this is actually the week of Father's Day but I forgot to post this picture when I took it. Mother's Day 2015 was kind of exciting for my family because two of the women in it became mothers in March (one not pictured). These images are both pictures of my mother, her daughter and her daughter aka my mom, sister and niece. Glad to hang out with them the first time they could all celebrate Mother's Day as mothers. 

Color Me Rad - Houston

On the vast pavement that is the Sam Houston Race Park parking lot, an event emerged. 3.1 miles of a guided path snaked through a parking lot, over a bridge through an adjacent lot, back over the bridge and all over the original lot. Participants ran, jogged, walked and strolled through the course all while being pelted with colored powder and squirted with colored gel. This is called Color Me Rad and there was an abundance of color.

 

Palm Springs Photo Festival - Portraits

Back in late April, early May (around the same time I stopped making blog posts, coincidentally) I went out to the desert of Palm Springs for the third consecutive year. What's in Palm Springs you ask?  Ok, I'll tell you. Palm Springs hosts the Palm Springs Photo Festival and has done so for the past ten years. My jaunts to this wonderfully sweltering place usually involve very little sleep, a healthy consumption of photography and an infinite pool of inspiration and motivation from my peers and legendary photographers.

This year, I worked with festival favorite Frank Ockenfels 3. If you take a look at his work, he has probably shot a lot of stuff that you've seen but had no idea who shot it. Over the course of three days, Ockenfels' pupils made portraits of their classmates and models using wacky sources of lights. The final day, we trekked out to Indio, California to a place called Tropics Motor Hotel where another festival favorite named Frank welcomed you at the front desk. The other Frank is an incredibly nice guy who has lived long on this earth and takes smoke breaks that you could set your watch to. He also has no problem sitting or standing in front of the camera if you ask, as many of us did. 

Here are a few portraits I shot of Frank and two of the models (Melat and Spencer). Shout out to the desert city a couple of hours east of Los Angeles. I kind of love that place.