Josh...and William

I posted earlier this month about a shoot that Josh and I did. Last Saturday I had the pleasure of photographing Josh and his little brother William (both FLY Youth). Again we went out to the MTerrace offices in Rockville where we ran into Thomas and Sabrey of GoodHood fame who just happened to be recording a song that day.

Thanks to a basketball hoop in the office (yep, a real basketball hoop) William was very involved in breaking my record of 29 straight baskets. He says he made 33, but I don't believe him because no one was watching and only he kept count. Officially, my record still stands. Sorry William...keep on pushin'. Shout out to Annie and Josh's and William's grandmother.

A Scorcher

Was able to shoot the Nationals game yesterday and yes it was hotter than a mug. Where a ten minute walk to the Metro equals a sweat soaked t-shirt and cold bottle of water turns, not room temp, but body temp in two minutes flat. But I digress.

Washington DC's baseball team, the Washington Nationals, apparently aren't doing that well either. So the stands were pretty empty for two reasons. Who wants to sit outside in the sweltering heat to endure a molasses-paced baseball game (besides me) and who wants to watch the Nationals? 30,224 attended, allegedly, but I didn't see them. Guess they were playing video games or eating at the Red Porch.

B.E

B.E is a hip hop artist out of Washington DC and a member of the hip hop group N.O.T.M.E. While I was shooting Josh, they showed up at the MTerrace offices in Rockville to record some new tracks in the studio engineered by my man Tom.

The first time I actually played with the color of the light by using gels. I liked the red because it matched the inside of his vest. Shout out to Kwaku Alston (picture of Xzibit).

When it rains...

It rains some more. Yesterday was another installment of my coverage of the 2008 DC United season and it was quite different from the other matches. A few constants: The drive down Florida Ave., "random hip hop artist" blasting in my Jeep CD player (nope still no ipod for me) and $12 for parking. Sure wish I had a VW. A few variables: Thuderstorms, tornado warnings, and torrential downpour throughout the Washington DC area.

When I left my apartment, there was a nice little early summer rain. The windshield wipers wiping every 3-5 seconds. You know, nothing I can't handle. I strapped the rain gear on myself and on my camera and prepared to get some cool shoots of soccer players playing in the rain (light rain). But instead I was greeted with a rain delay.

The game started about twenty minutes after the scheduled time with nothing falling from the clouds. Five minutes in a light drizzle started. Ten minutes in a steady downpour ensued. Fifteen minutes in, the game was stopped and the rain was coming down so hard I couldn't see the other side of the field. Twenty seconds after that I was sitting in the old Washington Nationals dugout in RFK Stadium with about six inches of water below my feet.

So I sat in the dugout for about an hour and a half hobnobbing with the other photographers and waiting to see if the players were coming back on the field. They never did. Game postponed and scheduled for a later date.

The Many Faces of...

Sabrey Smith. You've probably seen him on previous blog entries, if not, let me refresh your memory. You've also probably seen him on my website. If not, what the hell are you waiting fooooooooor (Encore - Jay Z).

One Saturday afternoon at this Chinese restaurant in Silver Spring, MD, Sabrey and I were talking (read: arguing, as we often do) about the relevancy of Lil' Wayne, the reality of the Boston Celtics, and insert topic here _______. And if you can't tell, Sabrey is always right.

FLY Exclusive

This is Josh. Josh was one of the first youth involved with the organization Facilitating Leadership in Youth (FLY) and has been since he was eight years old. Josh, who is now 16, found out that I am a photographer from my lovely girlfriend who works at FLY and decided he needed some pictures to put on his MySpace. "Mike, they gotta be exclusive son" is what he says to me. So this is what I came up with. Josh isn't a rapper (though he smiles like one), but since I had full artistic direction, I did what I wanted. And in the end, he surmised that they were indeed, pretty exclusive. Shout out to Jonathan Mannion who is the reason that I turned Josh into a rapper that day.

Baseball Classic

I spent all day Saturday shooting a high school baseball tournament at the new Nationals Park which inevitably took me down memory lane. From about the ages of 4 to 11, I was heavy into little league baseball. Then one year, in the 6th grade, the coaches were calling to see if I wanted to play that year. And somehow, I decided that I had better things to do that year. I told my mom to decline the invitation and there goes the end of my baseball career...oh what could have been.

Anyway, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty was there in all of his mayoral glory at the first annual Congressional Bank DC Baseball Classic, giving speeches, shaking hands, and throwing out first pitches (but sadly not from the mound).



If I continued my illustrious baseball career, I probably would have hit this pitch into the seats behind him.

In the middle of the Wilson vs. McKinley Tech game a thunderstorm including a torrential downpour of rain and about five minutes of hail halted the game and emptied the stadium.


So I wandered around the stadium and up to the press box to find this shattered but still in tact window looking down at the field and no doubt broken by a Major League foul ball (or a frustrated sports writer, but who knows).

After a called game and a shortened All Star game the championship went on as scheduled. The winners were these guys in red. Shout out to St. Alban's.