STREET PHOTOGRAPHY #HaveCameraWillSnap

"A spontaneous moment, captured." That's my definition of "street" photography. This is hands down one of my fave shots that I had the privilege to capture this week. I happened upon a group of young bicyclists while out scouting shots and the choreography and symmetry in which they rode, in unison almost was awe'ing. I could barely reach for my camera quick enough. I pray they, you, me are blessed to ride through life in the same spirit. 

Location: The Yards Park, Washington, DC

Shooter: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi 400D

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EVER THOUGHT OF STARTING A BLOG OR NEED SOME TIPS?? WATCH THIS #TBT TO #BLOGGERWEEK ...

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when friend and DC based Photographer/Videographer, Jeff Brooks posted a snippet from this years Blogger Week during which I took to the mic along with fellow Bloggers/Vloggers, Yolanda Renee and Jonna Scott-Blakes. Click here to read the full scoop regarding the event and that which I lent a voice to regarding all things Blogging and building your brand. The dish was fantastic and the audience response even better. But the timing couldn't be more perfect for #TBT. Jeff is gearing up to launch his YouTube channel at youtube.com/photog4naturals, and I was terribly flattered to find that he posted a short and sweet snippet from my panel. Jeff's work is amazing.

A MOMMY'S LOVE ...

Being a Parent is continuously and consistently challenging. There is no rule book. No play book. No accolades. I can perhaps offer up that being a Mommy is ultimately what I make it. It's so interesting when I reflect at times how I always knew with every certainty even when younger (much younger), that I would be a Mommy and that I would be a Mommy of three. There was never a question. I never wondered if I wanted to be. If I could be. If I was supposed to be. I mean I just always knew. Now what I didn't know was when or with whom, that two of the three would be twins and that I would ultimately end up a single Parent but such is God's will. 

I snapped this picture with my two girls minus my Son (he was at Soccer practice), outside of their school yesterday following the first of two back-to-school nights. And for some reason, I just cannot take my eyes off of it! I am completely enraptured and not because of the quality or anything. I am far from a professional. I look at it and I just think love. I just see affection in spite of my 7 year old daughter giving the puckered lip look. I see just an abundance of what would've been unfathomable adoration and affection had I not ever become a Parent. My 7 year old resting her head on my shoulder and my 9 year old pressed up against me with her face to mine. My love for my children is limitless. My love is endless. It exists even on days when the last thing I wanna be in the whole entire world is a Mommy (please don't act like you don't have those days too). I'm particularly struck by the background. We were actually standing right in front of my child's school yet it doesn't show. This photo is totally untouched, completely unfiltered and sincerely genuine.

This is just one of those posts that really has no rhyme or reason. There is no point really. I just needed to "write" it out. I just literally felt compelled to share. Please feel free to share your thoughts in return.

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For #BagLadiesLIVE segments, showtimes and more, visit www.bagladiesradio.com. Click to follow me on IG and Twitter @ bagladies.

3 Words ...

www.tiffanyjosephsphotography.com 

Tiffany Josephs Photography ...(drops mic).

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For #BagLadiesLIVE segments, showtimes and more, visit www.bagladiesradio.com. Click to follow me on IG and Twitter @ bagladies.

Catch up on the dish you missed by going to www.bagladiesradio.com/listen. Scroll down to OnDemand and press play.

Behind-The-Scenes of my Photo-shoot with Tiffany Josephs Photography

I had been putting off updating my head-shots for far too long. Upon meeting Tiffany Josephs at INHMD-DC (click here for my previous published post), during which she snapped some gorgeous shots of me participating in a panel, I immediately hit her up about shooting my head-shots. My last shots I had short hair, an "even steven." I have locs now for the second time around and I'm a bit just a tad more "voluptuous." Yeah, that's the word.  Anywho, Tiffany although I asked, she graciously offered rather to shoot me. We nailed down a date and this is a sneak peek of some of the candid moments. 

What started out as one look, turned into three looks, alot of fun and fabulous results. It was nostalgic for me, flexing my "wardrobe stylist" muscle. I used to do it on a freelance basis ...Back in the day. And it's one thing to outfit yourself to go out or do whatever but for a professional shoot, the attention to detail and efforts to coordinate are on a whole other level. 

 Look #2 - I just feel like this shot totally captures me in my essence. I'm ALWAYS laughing at ...Sumpin.
Dress: Kardashian Kollection / Neckwear: Target / Earrings (Studs): Charming Charlie / Neon Pumps: Shoxie

Look #3 - I can admittedly say I was likely being vain in this shot. I love this jumper! Also another Kardashian piece. It's just effortless and flattering. And I love anything leopard print. This was the last look and we were just playing at this point with extra time and per Tiffany's instruction, "just throw something on!"
Jumper: Kardashian Kollection / Neckwear: My own stash / Earrings: Charming Charlie

Kudos to my hairstylist and Loctician, Salih Watts of LocLov.com.  I had an idea in mind when I saw him the day prior and he executed perfectly. I just love the angle of this shot and how it shows the definition of my locs. I was probably running my mouth in this shot about ...Sumpin.

Look #1 - I think I was just trying to make sure nothing popped out of place in this one. Blame it on the "voluptuousness."

Dress: Calvin Klein / Neckwear: Traci Lynn / Earrings: Charming Charlie

Look #2 - I look totally less the "voluptuousness" and trim and slim in this shot. If only ...The power of angle and lighting.

Look #2 - Your guess is as good as mine. One of those totally oblivious moments. This look was a total pop of color. I just wanted to go in a total opposite direction from Look #1. 

The grainy texture of this shot is amazing. I saw it an immediately thought of Spike Lee for some reason. Like "She's Gotta Have It look." I love it. Oh, and I look slim.

My good girlfriend and MUA, Stephanie McKenzie of PamperingJunkes.com, couldn't be on set during the shoot. We were initially only planning to shoot one look. So as we continued the shoot, I had to make sure my face stayed "beat" and nothing slid to the floor.

And to think, these are just the candid, untouched shots. What do you think? 

I can't wait to share the other shots. I will follow-up this post with a Part 2 that covers why I chose the looks I did and more. I ❤ Tiffany Josephs Photography. It was such a pleasure and a privilege to shoot with Tiffany. You will love her too. You can contact Tiffany via her website at www.TiffanyJosephsPhotography.com. Tiffany does a great job of setting the mood and establishing comfort and really works with you to achieve what you want. I can't wait to shoot with her again! The next time around, my kids will participate. Pray for me now :-).

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For #BagLadiesLIVE segments, showtimes and more, visit www.bagladiesradio.com. Click to follow me on IG and Twitter @ bagladies.

Catch up on the dish you missed by going to www.bagladiesradio.com/listen. Scroll down to OnDemand and press play.

What Bag Ladies brought you on Tuesday ...post-show recap.

Well, we had some technical difficulties but it takes much more than that to throw Bag Ladies off their game! We endured and thank you to those of you who hung on and endured w/ us as well cause if you did, you certainly were privy to a great show! It was difficult at the start to be experiencing the technical difficulties that we were b/c we were so EXCITED about the show. But although we were delayed about 10 minutes, we trust Blog Talk Radio was able to resolve the issues and we won’t have to worry about those difficulties moving forward. I, Lady Erin complimented listeners w/ my voice for a lot longer than I expected as a result. But like I said, we still did our thang!

As usual Madame Myra was hosting along w/ me but we were also joined not only by our featured guest, Nneka Hurley of NnekaSaranHandbags mentioned as per our previous blog post but also a guest host, JaTawny Muckelvene of JaTawny Vision Photography, http://www.jatawnyvision.com/ who is a locally based awesome Photog, Wife and Mommy of 2 which this Bag Lady can certainly relate to. JaTawny has photographed my fam previously and her work is absolutely amazing. So we had a great time kicking it and hopefully you had equally as good a time tuning in. And of course if you were unable to do so, we are now offering you the BTR playa right from our blog page so it’s up to you. Visit our show page at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bagladies and scroll down to OnDemand to check out current and past episodes which you missed or hit our blog and not only check out wassup w/ Bag Ladies but the latest episode. Yup, we are making every effort to give it to you as best we can and are always looking to offer more in addition to tweeting it up, facebook’ing and blogging …

Of course we did our What’s Poppin w/ the Paparazzi and some celeb tidbits we will continue to follow is Mariah and Nick may be expecting, Toni Braxton’s efforts to drop a new album and Monica’s supposed reality show. But we also featured my usual fave, Madame Myra’s Top 10 which if for no other reason, check out yesterday’s episode just for her. Additionally, starting today, we are bringing you a new segment called, What’s Sippin! We have mentioned that the concept of Bag Ladies mimics when you link up w/ your girls, kick your shoes off and just gossip and gab about everything under the sun and if you are like us, you don’t typically do so w/out a drink in hand so we thought a great addition to the show would be to profile various wines, liqueurs or other varieties that might be of interest. We were contacted by a few distributors and have been reaching out and started developing relationships. But it’s a segment that we are really excited to bring you and possibly even expand so please be on the lookout for more of that. This week’s show, we featured a black-owned Rum, Castries Crème, http://www.castriescream.com/, which is defined as a Peanut Rum that blends premium roasted peanuts w/ award winning St. Lucian Rum. Sounded good to us and we would hope that it sounds good to you! Both Madame Myra and myself had a chance to sip it or drink rather cause we definitely did more damage than just a sip and we both found it to be very pleasurable and it’s certainly something I would order when out. As I mentioned during the show, it has the consistency and texture of Bailey’s or Kahlua but smoother. I simply poured it over ice and drank it straight but it can be utilized several different ways to compliment various drinks so please check it out and there are numerous recipes on the site. I can’t wait to ask for it the next time out …perhaps on Saturday. It is very widely distributed …

And lastly, we had a chance to chat it up w/ Nneka Hurley of NnekaSaranHandbags, http://www.nnekahurley.com/shop/bio.php regarding her upcoming ’09 spring/summer collection which she will be debuting this coming Saturday, April 18th at Lux Lounge in Washington, DC. We discussed how she got her start, celebrities who have carried her designs, her current collection, her faith and how she manages basically doing it on her own while maintaining a full-time job, plans for the future and more. Nneka is great and it was such a pleasure having her join us! This Saturday’s upcoming event which Bag Ladies is very much looking forward to, follows:

Details regarding Nneka’s event:
Debut of NnekaSaranHandbags ’09 spring/summer collection
Lux Lounge, Washington, DC
6-8 pm on 2nd level (please note event will begin promptly at 6 and end at 8)
-Limited designs available for purchase-(cash/credit)

Don’t miss it!

Bag Ladies remains on air every Tuesday. Please take note that next weeks’ show will air Tuesday, April 21st at 7p.

"Nneka Hurely, Featured sip of the week and other matters"

Bag Ladies features Nneka Hurley of Nneka Saran Handbags to discuss showing off her '09 spring/summer collection and debut event this weekend at Lux Lounge, WDC.
http://www.nnekahurley.com/

Also guest host, JaTawny Mucklevene, locally based Photog, wife and Mommy of three, http://www.jatawnyvision.com/. And...Our newly introduced, "Sip of the Week", will reveal the true spirit of Bag Ladies!!

And more ... Tune into http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bagladies this evening at 6p.
Don't miss it!!