Creating Your Vision Photography Workshop
David Lee Black Studios
The Aloft Providence Hotel
191 Dorrance Street
Providence, Rhode Island
Feb 5, 11-1pm
Meet and greet: 10:30 am
Details:
This uniquely experiential event is in an ongoing series of wonderful workshops. Together we are growing a community of supportive and talented artists of all skill levels who connect through photography and a love of art.
Creating Your Vision involves talented models interacting with the art of a unique space.
For this event, we are thrilled to return to the Aloft Providence Hotel! This innovative, untraditional atmosphere, perfectly placed within the Providence Innovation and Design District along the Providence River has gorgeous light and a funky stylish interior and courtyard. Weather permitting, we will walk across the street to the Michael Van Leeston Pedestrian Bridge with commanding views of the Providence skyline.
"As we approach Black History Month, this February we are going to celebrate the beauty, diversity, and complexity of Black culture. This month is a way to uplift and highlight those in the community not only for the color of their skin but also for the stories and experiences of those in this marginalized group. It is important to remember that February is not the only time where there should be efforts to collaborate with members of the black community to fulfill a quota of bringing "false diversity" to an often-white portfolio. This should be a learning experience for those that are not familiar with collaborating with different skin tones, hair textures, and cultures that occur in the vastly unique communities that fit under the umbrella of blackness. The models and photographers should be able to work together and offer helpful tips and tricks throughout the session. Photographers, please be open and listen to the models' critiques after the photos are taken.
Let's make this workshop an amazing production of rich culture, and expression on Sunday, February 5th from 11 - 1pm with the talented and beautiful models, Destiny Manston, Len Cabral, Sidy Maiga and his son Ira, Melanie Moore, and other special guests!"
~Destiny Manston
Although this is mostly an experiential event, participants will be offered tips on composition, lighting, technical details and creating their own vision in a storytelling way. This event is open to all regardless of ability or camera gear. Even a camera phone is fine.
Free instructional handouts and refreshments are provided.
There will also be plenty of helpful guidance and suggestions to enhance your passion for artful photography.
Feel free to invite your friends, and family or share this invite!
What to bring:
Camera
Your creativity and open mind
Cost: $50 (cash, check, Venmo, Paypal)

HERE IS THE LINK FOR MORE INFO: ​https://fb.me/e/3m8fvy4T5

“Still Pointe”


But once in a while the odd thing happens,
Once in a while the dream comes true,
And the whole pattern of life is altered,
Once in a while the moon turns blue.


~WH Auden




Ribbons pink and loose, these gifted “dead” pointe shoes from countless ballet photo shoots have long awaited another chance at an artful life. These shoes didn’t come from a pain-free or dreams-come-true life. Handmade, these bits of lace, cardboard and glue made the journey from hours of a paroxysm of perfect twisting, twirling and tiptoeing across the stage, peering down at the dancer’s feet and mistaking their lean mysteries for possibilities in syncopation.


This end of the ballet, an assemblage of memories almost famous, lives on . . . elevated and proud, instead of a gradual sinking to the floor.

“Guardian” Interview
1-26-2023

Assistant Editor at Up & Coming Weekly



David,
Here is my list of questions:
1. What made you want to enter for the exhibit Soul & Spirit: Celebrating Black Joy?
2. Tell me about the piece that was accepted?
3. How important is it to you to show Black Pride in your art?
4. What do you hope people will take away after leaving the exhibit?




Thank you for the opportunity.

1. The very title of “Soul and Spirit” resonated with me as an artist, exploring creativity on a daily basis. Often the process requires a connection between creativity and spirituality.

2. “Guardian”, my photograph accepted into the exhibition, was a soulful and spiritual journey into itself.


 “Guardian”


“On the left side of a strong woman, stands a strong man; he is strengthened by her character.”


~Ellen J. Barrier


Powerful, beautiful and compassionate, the models, Melanie Moore and Freyo Greene, portrayed all of these traits in the historic Graduate Providence Hotel of Providence, RI. Not so randomly during the shoot, the bartender from hotel pub walked by and I asked him to pose and this moment was created. The backstory is, shortly after this shoot, he was tragically lost from us but his spirit remains.


3. Showing Black Pride in this piece is very important to me. Art is supposed to be a mirror of the world, representation matters and Black pride builds communities. Our society needs to see more color and hopefully, in my own individual way, the vibrance and mystery in my photograph, “Guardian”, demonstrates that.


4. We humans are rather clever animals. We've managed to teach ourselves how to express ideas, as well as emotions through art.  It really is amazing to think about. Perhaps the takeaway from this exhibit (and most good art), will be to embrace the emotion felt by the exhibiting  artists that worked hard to encode through color, shadow and harmony to be decoded and experienced by the observers.  That is arguably one of humanity's greatest accomplishments and I am proud be to among such talent.

From the Creating Your Vision photography workshop at The Dorrance, Providence, RI

From The Shop Series  . . .

"Learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin

Learning to walk again
Can't you see I've waited long enough 
Where do I begin?"

Foo Fighters

Pic by Donna Moore Wright from the Creating Your Vision Photography workshop series

The mind out of time returns synchronized.

~Alan Watts