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.

Portraits and Lyrics

And the unveiling of yet another one of my projects. This particular series of portraits have yet to be formally named but lets call them "performance portraits" for now.

I've known Sabrey for quite a long time...as you can see. And Roger for quite a bit longer. The Evanston born and raised hip hop duo is known as GooD HooD and I've even been known to step in the booth to spit hot fire in collaboration. But those were my younger days.

Now I just watch and listen. A few weeks ago I did a simple white seamless shoot with them for some new promo material. While at the shoot, I had them perform a verse from a few of their songs and shot as fast as my lights would recycle.

For me, what is even better than good music is the passion with which the artists performs. I tried to capture that. Shout out to GooD HooD and you can check their music out here and here.




Can't Stop Video

Sabreezy

Meet Sabrey Smith: The rapper/lyricist from Evanston, Illinois who will probably be making a lot more appearances on this blog. Occasionally, my good friend Sabrey and I kick it on Saturday afternoons because I need someone to shoot and fortunately for me, he doesn't mind being shot. With the skully on tilt, he's in the camera section of the new Best Buy in Columbia Heights shopping for Mother's Day.

Sabrey along with Deuce make up the group Good Hood. Check 'em out.

The Adventures of Good Hood

I've featured Deuce, Sabrey or both on Untitled in the past. And if you're one of six of my faithful readers, you would know that when their powers combine, they make up Good Hood (the soon to be famous hip-hop music duo). Last week I was privileged to join the two, along with Queen and Jordan for a performance during the Baltimore Music Conference at The Black Hole.

First of all, Deuce tells me that the performance is in Baltimore. Cool, no problem, I've been to Baltimore before...multiple times. But the show is actually in Dundalk, which is a little further east of Baltimore. I've never been to Dundalk; therefore, I have no problem with Dundalk. But here go Deuce and Sabrey with the stories of performing in small towns that begin with, "Remember that time...". The Black Hole, known for its rock and roll, was a solid venue. There was an actual stage equipped with lights and sound people (to be PC) and the french fries were pretty good. The only thing that worried me were the biker dudes with grey-ing pony tails sitting at the video poker machines. I don't know if anyone told them it was hip hop night.


Jordy and Sabrey trying to correct the wackness playing on the jukebox.

Stroll Around Mt. Pleasant

This post isn't really about a stroll, nor is it about a neighborhood in DC. It's just a clever way to disguise yet another impromptu photo shoot with burgeoning model (read: Mike's photography guinea pig) Sabrey Smith. Lately, I've been more unemployed than self employed so I'm always doing photo projects to stay busy (holla at me if you have any ideas). This is the latest. It seems that if Sab ever needs promo pictures for his actual burgeoning career, then he has plenty to choose from. This week = Sabrey appreciation week.

Shout out to Jesus (see the chain), Charlie Brown (see the shirt), and again Jonathan Mannion (see Usher).

Broadway Miller

I photographed Broadway Miller for his mixtape Catch up or Get Caught about a month ago as seen here. He was also a willing participant in my Performance Portrait idea that that began with Deuce and Sabrey of Good Hood. So I have two questions for my Untitled audience. 1) Which Performance Portrait works better for Broadway? Leave your answers in the comments. And 2) Will you come to Broadway's listening party at Lotus Lounge (1420 K St. NW, Washington DC 20005) tonight from 9pm-10pm? Shout out to me because I'll be there.

See Bigger Version


See Bigger Version

Scouts Honor

Tuesday, I reluctantly helped a friend (Sabrey) move one of those old school projection big screen TVs from the offices to an apartment. Luckily another friend (Tom) was there to help us load it into the Jeep and luckily the thing had wheels that turned out to be pretty useful. On the way to the apartment, I asked Sab if there were steps we had to traverse...to which he replied "not a lot". Great. Anyway the move was less than stressful and I got to clown him for wearing this t-shirt.

Good Hood

I was looking through the archives this long weekend and found some stuff that I wasn't really looking for. Sabrey (who you know) and Deuce (who you have been introduced to today) make up Good Hood. The duo hails from the North Pole aka Evanston, IL and share an affinity for the Cubbies and Da Bears. Check out their newly released video here and visit their myspace for new music.

Guess Who's Bizack

Yeah it's your boy Sabrey Smith who was previously made famous by yours truly. For the most part, I've been shooting sports, sports and more sports and have been totally slacking on shooting portraits. Well here's to trying to get back in the groove. Yep, definitely behind on my portrait work, definitely.

Sab and I headed over to Fort Stevens park in NW Washington DC where we found shattered 40 bottles, condom wrappers, a couch cushion, dirty clothes and my favorite...dog shit. The park closes at dark, allegedly, but it seems like it's a home for nightly parties...invite only of course.

Shout out to Sab for being the designated guinea pig. Check out his music here. He and his fellow Good Hood mate also have a blog. Check it out.

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.

Way Back Wednesdays: Nation Nightclub

Remember that club over on Half St. SE? Near the Wendy's that also used to be there? Yeah, it was called Nation and while I haven't been over there in a while, I'm pretty sure it's now a parking lot for Washington Nationals' games or a building full of condos.

On February 10, 2006 Heavy Syndication artists (Broadway, Blayz, Deuce and Sabrey) all opened for Fort Minor. They even had my man Jordy (dreads) manning the merch table.