On the 28th of July, one of my friends Myles,(@wurdlife) had offered me to be a part of his artist showcase "Wurdlife Showcase". I just wanted to say how honored I was to be a part of something big, enough to express my work with other unique artists. Thanks for having me be a part of this showcase.
Even though I couldn't attend the show for too long due to being at a wedding, so much people showed mad love for my work, and that's all that matters to me. I came in when the cops busted it down, it was too lit for them to handle lol.
Each prints are showcasing each type of photography that I specialize in capturing: Portrait, Motion photography (Breaking), and General Observations (Urban Exploring).
1of4: Over the Garden Wall // 5.31.17 //
This was the first print that came to mind and that I've been saving. I'd say this is one of my best portrait shots I've taken up to date. People who came to the Wurdlife showcase were the first to have a glimpse of this piece, and now I can show it to all of you in full quality.
I've named it "Over the Garden Wall" because Krista is a full on nature woman. Every time we go into the forest, she goes barefoot beyond that point lol. Also "Over the Garden Walls" was a name of one of my favorite animated short films. The Concept of the story was phenomenal, highly suggest y'all should watch it.
2of4: Engineered to Smoke // 4.1.17 //
In frame, are some of my Philly Bboy friends, Mario and Christian.
To showcase more of myself, break dancing has a big part in my life. I grew up watching break dancing and always wanted to try it. When I was younger, I would just practice in my basement trying to do headspins haha. I was also a very introverted person, so I didn't have a lot of friends. When high school hit, I saw a couple of people cyphering in the gym floor, so that's when I introduced myself and found some of my best friends that I'm still close with today.
In high school, I became friends with people that were a year ahead of me, so when they graduated, I felt lonely, so I stopped breaking. Once I hit college that's when I went to my first Bboy jam at @silverbackbboyevents 2015. At that moment, seeing the people that I would watch videos of, it motivated me to get back into it.
I found some people I grew up with who still break danced and asked if I could join in their sessions. The more we practice with each other, the closer we became, enough to be a crew called @cyphersyndicate. Till this day, my crew is considered like a second family to me.
At this point of time, it's been 2 years since I've consistently trained and battled at jams. I still have a lot to learn before I can feel ready to earn a win, just give me like another 3 years lol.
Breaking is all about promoting individuality, being ourself and becoming part of something bigger. There Steven o boundaries in this dance culture, thus giving you the opportunity to showcase your best self and to represent your name/alias with pride alongside other creatives. The floor is a canvas for you to create your own signature art.
Because of breaking, it's helped me learn to be expressive and learn to connect with other individuals, regardless of me still being shy haha.
Shout outs to all my breaking peeps for pushing me to where I am today.
3of4: Inner Sanctum // 11.1.16 //
In frame is one of my good friends Rob. finessegodrob.
Another thing that helped me in life was Urban Exploring. Like I said in my previous post, I was a very introverted person, also meaning I didn't really go out as much as I should have. I would just stay at home and play video games and such. Now this was the young me, I don't necessarily play video games as much as I did back then. So I tried to go out more, with friends and socialize.
A couple years back my friend invited me to go explore a place in Philly, an abandoned train track. At first I was skeptical about the idea but I just went along with them anyways. The place was known as "The Viaduct". When we arrived around the area, we had to sneak through a fence, I got real nervous but I held that fear in and went through it. When we got there it had an amazing view of the city of Philadelphia. There were plenty of dope graffiti everywhere on solid surfaces, and unknown passageways. I felt a huge rush of adrenaline flowing in me, that this was pretty fun! At that moment I just wanted to explore more places.
Since that day of exploring, I've explored countless places with plenty of views, and a lot of history within them. In the summer of 2016, I've explored multiple places in 5 states with one of my close friends Darin, (we need to have another one next year haha.)
Out of all the places that I've Explored, this was my favorite. Not going to state the area it's in cuz there's no fun in that if I tell you ;). This was the most cleanest abandoned church that I've ever explored, and also one of my favorite shoots I've had so far.
Urban Exploring taught me a lesson in life to just be free to see what is unseen by the world. The world holds hidden beauties right under ourselves for us to just ignore. I've seen so many amazing things, but the world is limitless. There's so much to see and can't wait for when I get the opportunity to just go out and capture their beauty.
Enjoy your life freely.
4of4: Born Sinner // 11.1.16 //
In frame is one of my close friends Ben.
I'll keep this one short and simple..
I've learned a lot as time goes on, and you start to figure out who are considered good friends and who are not. I'm still pretty interactive with others, but I feel like I only have few friends that I consider very close with me. I don't really care for how much friends I have, I just care about the people I enjoy being around.
So for those who are my homies, shoutouts to you guys.