Complete Women in Las Vegas

My dear friend Jada and her girlfriends took it upon themselves to organize their equivalent of a TED talk for their closest associates and friends. Jada, Veleta and Svetlana are all upping the stakes in their professional careers and these talk were the stepping stone to doing so. They each gave 20 minute talks about the respective topics. Jada's talk was "Confidence from Your Closet", Veleta, "Do it again! How to Take a set back and make it your Comeback" and Svetlana's,  "Wisdom of the Heart". The evening was a roller coaster of emotions not only for these three women but for the 60+ women who were in attendance. I'm truly glad I was able to be a part of such a special event. This video is a pre-show behind the scenes of the night leading up to the talks. 

Empowered women, inspiring women. Join Jada Willis, Svetlana Singletary & Veleta Keyhan at an inspiring networking event that will highlight three powerful talks that will elevate. Hosted by Cheryl Lightford, host of "Ladies First" and co-host of "Like it is Radio" on 88.1FM.

Ethnic Origin Company

One of the things that makes my life rich are my relationships with friends. My friends come from many different backgrounds and they all do very different things for a living. My friend Petra has been running an online business for worldly home decor goods for a couple of years. She recently opened a retail store, really a retail experience because once you step foot in. you'll feel like you've been transported to a far corner of the world. Her insight, knowledge and passion for these goods are infectious. I really enjoyed interviewing her because I got to know her a little better. Enjoy!

Ethnic Origins Company imports tribal artifacts and stunning one of kind pieces for home collectors and designers. Born out of a desire to preserve the past, Ethnic Origins sources items from around the globe through a trusted network of individuals focused on fair trade, historical preservation and timeless beauty. The Ethnic Origins inventory is built piece by piece by owner and curator Petra Gurin and consists of tribal artifacts and intricate handmade items including baskets, plates, wall art, ornamental trays, vases, blankets and more. Each item chosen to become a part of the Ethnic Origins collection comes with a storied past, historical ties to humanity and the indigenous cultures of Africa, Asia and Europe. Our hope is that these beloved items will enrich your environment and that each treasure, emblazoned with a unique and rich past, will reconnect you to the world’s larger story. At Ethnic Origins, artifacts are not “things”, they are the artistic vision of our ancestors and the lifeblood of today’s tribal artisans.

New York Said Book Release Party

It's been exciting to watch the growth of Amon's brainchild, "New York Said", over the past few years. The idea has evolved from not only a book series but into a podcast, videos and even a community of people who just love to hear the stories of others. 

I'm always excited about the book launches because of the array of people it brings out. I never know who I'm going to meet or who I'm going to see that I haven't seen in years. I'm also always excited about the parties because I get to be a fly on the wall and document the night. At this point in my life, I can't help but to make a video about everything I do. So here's my video of this years launch party. 

Sharing, Learning and Exploring

My dear friend E.J. Porter reached out to me a couple of months ago asking if I would be able to share some time with him and his teenage mentee, A.J., who's interested in video. He said they would be visiting NYC and if I could teach him a few things about video production. I said absolutely but I had to figure out and plan a small shoot that I could have him assist on. I decided to plan a shoot with the incredibly funny and beautiful Marissa of "Chopsticks and Stilettos".  

Marissa and I have been working together for a couple of years on her vlog but we hadn't yet told her story of who she is and how everything came together for her, so I figured this would be a great time to do so. The plan was to shoot in SoHo, get an heartfelt interview and to shoot some lifestyle shots. Here's the BTS of the video shoot.

The entire shoot and day went perfectly. I think we all had a blast and learned a little. The next day, E.J., A.J., and I sat down to edit the video. I showed A.J. around Adobe Premiere, showed him some pointers and things I use most often. I answered a lot of his questions. Watching someone edit a video isn't the most exciting thing so we wrapped our editing session and I finished editing the video the next morning. Here's the final video for Marissa's story. 

After a few years of working with Marissa on her "Chopsticks and Stiletto's" video blog, I decided to get her story on modeling and love of food.

After shooting the video, we found ourselves at the Nike store in SoHo. It's five floors of Nike goodness. The fifth floor is rightfully dedicated to Mike where there's a basketball court. It's been a couple of years since I picked up the rock. I had to see if I still had it. I do. What can I say, I was born with it. 

Interviewed by New York Said

I was recently interviewed by Amon Focus on his New York Said podcast. We covered a lot of topics from work to house parties. It'll hopefully entertain and inform. 

2017 Social Occasion Collection

As Spring comes to an end and Summer approaches, dreams of spending time at the beach is at an all time high. Just a couple of weeks ago, I got to get some early beach time in at Coney Island to shoot a lifestyle fashion video for Faviana. Although it wasn't sunny, the overcast day was perfect for our shoot. Overcast days are like a big, beautiful soft box of light. Shooting fashion videos is beginning to be one of my favorite things to create. Here's what Faviana is calling the "Social Occasion Collection". 

Uploaded by Faviana NY on 2017-06-07.

Bushwick Collective Block Party

Just two years ago, I went to my first Bushwick Collective Block Party. It was great seeing the street art scene transform a community. At the same time, I met, Ramone, owner of Lot45. I got him to speak on camera about the days festivities and I put together a video that he and his team loved. Ever since then, he and Lot45 became friends and clients of mine. Fast forward to this year where we created another video based on the same event. 

Eat Your Art: An Alternative Cinco de Mayo

Lot45 and Abby Hertz have put together another great food and cultural event. This time they produced a Frida Kahlo themed Cinco de Mayo party. 

Eat Your Art: An Alternative Cinco de Mayo is the first in a new collaborative series by curator Abby Hertz, Lot 45 Bushwick, and chef Samia Behaya. Artist Frida Kahlo was famous for her dinner parties where she combined a diverse group of artists, musicians, writers, and other creatives in her home for a salon that would inevitably turn into a raucous, and sometimes debaucherous melee. In the spirit of her infamous gatherings, we present a fiesta full of everything delectable...including the people.

Empire Closing Party: The Last Interview

Over the years, Amon Focus has produced a diverse range of media projects. He's created web series, travels videos, podcast and books just to name a few. Howl Happening recently debuted an interview Amon created with Arturo Vega, famed artist who created the Ramones logo. Sadly, shortly after Amon shot the interview, Arturo passed away. Amon sat on the interview for fours years until now. The interview was shown on the last night of "Empire: An Arturo Retrospective".  Here's the video recap of the night. 

Screening of Amon Focus’ Arturo Vega, the Last Interview, 2013 In a particularly poignant and personal interview done just a month before his death.

Working for Weedmaps, Happy 420

The great thing about freelancing is that you get to work within a variety of different companies and industries. The legal marijuana industry has been quite controversial to say the least. Here in the northeast, medical marijuana is now legal. Thus creating an entire culture and industry around it. 

Fall of last year, I began working in the legal marijuana industry for a California based tech/media company called Weedmaps. Weedmaps is essentially an app that lets you find the nearest doctor or dispensary. In addition to the app, they've built a media company that produces video content around the culture and businesses within their network. 

I currently shoot doctor and dispensary tours. For once, I don't get to edit what I shoot. The editing team in California handles the edits. Weedmaps is sill in the process of selling more videos here as the industry begins to take off. Here are a few of the videos I've shot thus far. 

Visithttps://weedmaps.com/dispensaries/breakwater-treatment-wellness#/details menu information, deals and reviews. At Breakwater Treatment and Wellness, we handle our products from seed to sale using an indoor hydroponic system. It's our mission to provide a premium product and an affordable price. All our strains are started from seed and exclusive to Breakwater.

Visit https://weedmaps.com/doctors/brooklyn-integrative-medicine for more information and reviews. Brooklyn Integrative Medicine, located at 1514 Voorhies Avenue in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn, New York, is a complete holistic health care center committed to helping patients find complete wellness. With the help of Dr. Zablozki's extensive knowledge of alternative care, patients of Brooklyn Integrative Care are in the best of hands.

Visit https://weedmaps.com/doctors/dr-thomas-o-brien for up-to-date information on Dr. O'Brien's practice. Dr. O'Brien, or "Doc Tommy," specializes in an integrative and hands-on approach to treatment and patient education, and can tailor a remedy to each patient to help with their particular needs.

Visit https://weedmaps.com/doctors/urgent-and-primary-care#/ for up-to-date information and reviews. Urgent and Primary care center has been working to provide the East Greenbush and surrounding Albany, NY area since 1998. Our primary physician, Dr. Bhoiwala, full-heartedly believes in the healing properties of cannabis and its miraculous ability to provide relief for a variety of ailments with no serious side effects.

Faviana

Getting to work in fashion was a goal upon moving to NYC. I've gotten to work on a few different fashion projects since I've been here. Through a random connection, I was introduced to the team at Faviana to shoot a behind the scenes/lifestyle film for their spring 2017 collection. After that went well, I was asked to help create the brand story by interviewing the family that runs Faviana. It was inspiring to hear the story of how they've built this small but large company. 

This is the story of the Moradi family which owns and operates Faviana an evening gown company based in New York City.

Lust: Erotic Emersive Dinner Party

I have to admit, this is probably one of the few videos I'm nervous about sharing, simply because of the nature of the content. However, as a creative and a storyteller, I have to remember that the stories I document aren't about me but about the people and the culture I'm featuring. Plus, Lust made the NY Times so I'm in good company by getting the scoop. 

Lust's creator, Abby Hertz, gave me an excellent interview and some context into how this event came to be. NSFW but totally enjoyable at home. 

1. An immersive, erotically charged dinner party where food is served on naked bodies and eaten with raw abandon. Use your hands, feed a stranger...use your mouth...straight off some hot flesh. 2. An erotic, sensual party filled to brim with sexually-charged performances. LUST presents a night curated by Abby Hertz at Lot 45 featuring NYC's most daring performers, and a night of sensual debauchery.

Art Exhibitions

The one thing I've fallen in love with this city for is it's array of art shows, openings, and exhibitions. Any given night of the week there's something creative going on. It's challenging to not overly suffer from FOMO. I've been fortunate and lucky enough to catch wind of a few of these parties. I often hear that "the best camera, is the one you have" so I've done my best to document a few these via my iPhone. These are little iPhone films of a few of these art shows. 

The Black Medallions art collective presents “A Tribute to Native Tongues” pop-up show paying homage to the musical works of hip hop groups such as Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Jungle Brothers (otherwise known as the hip hop collective Native Tongues).

Brand new NYC-based studio and agency Sunday Afternoon put on a one-night show in TriBeCa, with an open bar courtesy of Des-Gin and Aberlour whiskey. It was a mix of photography, design and sculpture from all the artists on the roster.

New Yorkers, join us for the one day only event of LOOP DREAMS: An IRL exhibition of GIF art! Browse the work of 25 GIF artists brought to life through holographic posters, projections, VR, and interactive installations. http://giphy.com/posts/loop-dreams

Karen SRQ/NYC

In an attempt to make up for lost time due to my site being down, I want to post about some of the projects I've created over the past few months. This video was interesting because it takes place in New York and Florida. It's the story of my dear friend, Karen. Karen is a documentary photographer living in FL but also working in NY. I've known Karen for quite some time so I've seen her and her work grow over the years. Enjoy her inspiring story. 

I met Karen about six years ago while we were both covering an event. Since then, I’ve bumped into her a number of times while covering different events. Over the years, I’ve watched her and her work grow. Currently, she does the FL to NY freelance dance where she gets inspiration from both places. Here’s her story of that journey.