Swears like a sailor on their fourth bottle of Jack Daniels.
That’s Pat! He’s a cool dude.
That image was from the time my group of friends decided to go on a roadtrip to the mall. A good time to take the camera out and found that perfect image.
But with that said, the semester is over and things are back to how they’ve always been, however, with the exception that I’m still growing. The objective of life should always be to grow to be a better than we were the day before, and that’s been happening, however this summer I’ve decided to make it my focus on the artistic and creative side. To really do new things, to get down and dirty in uncomfortability.
It Isn’t Easy…
Figuring it out by yourself, especially when you you come from almost nothing, in the American sense. Being the first born makes it even harder; older brother, a son, first University student in my immediate familly. There’s a lot of weight and responsibility I have put on myself, even when told not to, yet I’ve been making strides to be a positive example. And with that being said, here’s a also a related photography video that’s on my Youtube channel.
A lot of life and a lot more thinking but I may have figured it out. Meanwhile, folllow me on my Instagram @universalnobility (that I’m rebranding) as I continue. Until the next post though, be safe, live life, and have fun!
Back in black, with another post. As I still try to find my flow and style, and consistency, one thing I have to remind myself is this isn’t just a photography blog. It’s an outlet, for creativity, and theraputic release of thoughts – hence the name Alifeofjimmy (that’s me). An attempt for me to show the world through my eyes as an individual and artist, but also as a black male that coexists with the forgotten parts of American society. To tell my story, their story, but also grow. It’s a strange complicated algorithm that I’m still figuring out but as long as I keep at this, I’m on the right path. Of course, with that being said I still have to post a photo.
SO ON TO THE PHOTO
Twisted – The Empty Road ; EOS 350D, 155mm, 1/400, 200 ISO
The Weekly Photo Challenge has run its course but regardless, the theme of the final one was Twisted. And for me, this was the perfect image that fit the theme when compared to where my thought process was when I took it.
That day I had to get out of my current place of residence (that’s for another post) and ended up doing a photo-walk of sorts. This photo was the precourser to those series of images (also for another post) that all fit the theme of where I was mentally, have been, and still am. The road is a straight path except it isn’t completely, it’s a manmade construct coexisting in nature’s world and rule. In our minds as we drive by it’s a straight path but upon closer inspection, it has slight bends, and twists, it isn’t perfect.
Incoming Sadness
For me it relates to have I’ve felt about life, in a way. That photo-walk I mentioned before is a series of images of me walking in the opposite path on my way back home. And regardless of the direction, the theming reigns true. That empty road is one I’ve traversed many times, in a metaphoric sense and somewhat literal. I’ve gone miles on foot just to get where I have to get, but also journeyed far in life, albiet almost entirely on my own, dealing with the ever constant twists and bends that come with it – on a path that feels like it’s been going out into infinity, with the horizon shrouded by the trees thus the path ahead is still a step into foreign lands, thoughts, experiences, yet as I push on the weariness continues to grow. The vibrance is hard to find, just a monochromatic dull.
It served(s) as a retrospective for myself. I’m tired and want to quit, like if life was a video game with the hope that there truthfully is a restart button. on the outside people see an intelligence 26 year old, tall, musular and athletic, focused. But on the inside it’s a swamp of two decades of repressed emotions.
And that’s where the shameless self plug comes in. My pride doesn’t let me quit – not yet, because there is a story to be told, a vision that I’ve long had. Even if it was to all end soon, I’d at least want the world to know that I was here. That we were here. So I’m using my Youtube channel again, no longer as a dump of nonsense but as a path to evolution and growth, per say. For almost a decade now I’ve been the man behind the camera but never in front of it, “you need to find your story before you tell others,” an older resident of my city said to me during a conversation last year. And in the way, this blog, the channel, my instagram (currently taking a break) is my way of still trying that.
Cause before I can try to reach out to others that are voiceless, I need my own voice. I think. It’s all a work in progress.
By the way in case anybody is interested, here’s the latest video. It’s kind of comedic but has a second half that tells a story. A few videos ago I posted something about finding one’s story, which was really just a video I made for myself . This is kind of working towards it – using each and every media post as stepping stone. As I said, it’s all a work in progress. And always, if you like what I’m doing or just find it itneresting, feel free to share as I keep this ship steady and hopefully add to the international word something different than what popular TV media shows them.
It’s one of those things that you can’t escape, living in America. The notion that this country wasn’t created for you to be seen as an equal, simply because of the color of your skin. The “white man” isn’t the cause of everything but the contrasy between our societies, especoaybthe privilege ones, is evident.
This evidence has created the inspiration to write and document the stories of the those who are as my peers. I don’t see myself as just a photographer, but as a story teller through photos, a creator, a minority voice with vision, and an uplifter. A force of positivity and creativity that gets inspired by my reality and those who are doing it bigger ala Kendrocm, J. Cole, The Roots, Childish Gambino, and so on. Going beyond race we as humans aren’t victims of our circumstances or history, despite how bleek things may temporarily seem.
Follow my Instagram @ universalnobility to stay up to date.
Happy New Year to everybody. Even though time is a silly human construct, lets use this one to fix something that went wrong and improve on what went right.
Being busy with school and life, mainly life, has been an obstacle when it comes to creating and releasing content. Not bringing my workstation to this dorm with me means I’m definately lacking in just stock work that I can bring up, moreover lacking in some of my portfolio content that I’ve created but forgot to upload. From September through October I rarely took my camera out for anything, no actual shots or even practicing which isn’t a good thing to do.
I’m finally at it again after viewing some good portfolios and finally looking at my Flickr again, as well as uploading a few White Tail Deer photos that I did manage to take. But in short I’ve been lacking, not contributing to the 10,000 hours at all which is a shame as this isn’t just a hobby for me. However I have been shooting photos for the school’s football team the last two weeks, and this from last night. An attempt at clear night photos which aren’t easy. Either ways I’m going to try to keep up with the content, check my Flickr portfolio out as well as I upload different photos on there and this blog.
Since this blog is AlifeOfJimmy, featuring me, Jimmy, I can post whatever I want in relation to myself :’). Well with that, I’m a firm believer of posting more than just one’s successes which helps as filler posts. This is an old photo from January of this year. It was cold, it was getting dark, and the idea of a panaroma came at the last minute after a day of snow shooting. Did I mention that it was cold, and getting dark…and cold? Plastic and metal surprising aren’t the greatest things to hold in gloveless hands.
But I digress. Were the shots blurry? Partially. How many shots were there? A LOT! Did I combine them manually? Funny joke – no. And well behold the result.
I can always go and fix it myself if I want but I’ll probably give it another 10 months to deliberate over. Also I have to figure out why my larger photos don’t enlarge, it’s pretty lame to have a big one like this that just stays…small.
Wednesday on a whim I decided that I’d go outside and capture our small Capitol city. Trenton is historic, third oldest capitol in the States and established in 1792. The site of a major battle in the American Revolution, a key hub city in the 50s, and an industrial manufacturing giant at one point in time.
Now it’s changed with the times. More urbanized, more poverty, more bureaucracy, and more forgotten.
Downtown Trenton on a sunny day
But not to me. There’s always something to find or see, you just have to look. It’s not a bad place, it just got caught up in the motions & the politics and began to stagnate. It happens to the best of places, however all that needs to happen is a cultural renaissance. Kind of way I created my page which I’m going to link to. My page post
It’s a small page, just me. The smart thing would be to keep it separate but my username kind of gives things away. I don’t really know where I’m going with it or how I’m going to do it, I have these ideas but the real reality is that I’m just a 25 former drop out turned college student without a dollar in his pocket trying to create change without even knowing where I’m going myself. It’s a work in progress, kind of like Trenton, but I’ll continue doing spotlights of during things and see where it takes me.
Mural on South Broad & Front Street
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‘Till next post, stay real and stay beautiful!
ALifeOfJimmy 