The Power of a Good Photographer (and cameraman, too)

When I first became friends with Durham rappers Toon and The Real Laww, Toon told me "You know, I don't think we'd be where we are at in our careers if it weren't for Saleem." Saleem, known around the Dirty D as kid ethnic, is an utterly fantastic person, amazing graphic designer and talented videographer who began shooting Toon and Laww a little over 1 year ago. The first time I saw him, he was making a promo video for our next Luchadoras wrestling match.

It was eight o'clock in the morning and he was on roller blades...with a camera.

What?

With no dolly to use, his girlfriend just puled him around by a bungee chord attached to his belt. And he made the amazing video below.

Needless to say, I am fascinated with his work. And I think I finally understand how important it is to have good promotional materials and solid networking connections.

Videos are desirable and easy for promoting, but posters, photos, and non-video 2D media hit a whole range of targets. First of all, if a poster is well drawn out and meaningful, people are going to want that poster, It's almost free marketing. Like Andy Warhol and his Marilyn Monroe prints, PBR and all the cool Pabst branding, if you can create neat image that appeals to the current art and pop culture, you are bound to draw some support.

And if you are a model, artist, musician, or just have any kind of work to show off, a good photo can be your golden ticket to a lot of different places--like future performances/shows/exhibits, the front page of a local blog or even the newspaper.

When I see photos taken by my favorite fire photographers, Paul Corey of Beguiling Shadows Photography, I say "Holy cow! Did I really look like that!" His shots are amazing.

Another beloved photog friend, Jon McClain, takes photos that are out of this world. Probably 'cuz he's and alien. Just kidding! But you can see for yourself at his current Raleigh exhibit (details below).

The moral of this story is keep up with photographers and videographers, back up your files, and drink PBR :) Also, support local artists.

Love,
The Amazon Queen

PS- About Jon's exhibit--Birds and Bees--at Cup-A-Joe in Mission Valley, Raleigh, NC. Jon says,  "Depending on how deep you want to go, it a collection of shots from here in town. I chased bees the first summers of my photog life, hummingbirds, next, and most recently, you and the other birds I've been shooting. I go there on wed from 3-6 and sat 1-4 just to hang out. And on Saturdays i try to do something to draw a crowd."

When You Mess Up, Just Shake Your Ass

It's the best recovery ever. Like the little memory-zapper Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones use in Men in Black, it will make your audience totally forget what just happened!

I drop my hoops all the time when I perform. It just happens. You go to the beach, you might get sand in your shoes. You dance with hula hoops, you might launch one at an innocent bystander from time to time...sorry!

I first began to realize I had something of a rear end when I was in high school. I played sports, was slender, and didn't have a lot of friends or go out of my way to make any. I dressed pretty funny. I wore a lot of clothes that I made to school. I made my first pair of pedal-pushers with a fabric that I thought was funny, not necessarily appropriate for pants, but dang I thought "Plantation houses?-Ha! What not?" I wore plantation houses up and down my legs (and I cleverly sewed one little house front and center in the middle of my crotch!) until one dreadful day when I was getting off the bus and they split down the ass. Yup.

But I diverge--I first realized the power of my booty when I was in high school. I was wearing a pair of superman-print pajama pants I had sewn in my apparel development class. We were either wearing our handmade garments to school that day on purpose, or I just did it for the hell of it (I can't remember) but I had gone to get something out of my car between classes. Leaning over the trunk to gather what was probably yet more ridiculous printed fabric, a car full of the hottest, most popular football-basketball-track star-super-jocks sailed by slowly... very slowly. I don't remember what they said, or perhaps they just made some animal noises, but as I turned around to see them my face turned bright red. From that day onward I realized....

Use the power of the booty we must!

It might not be the classiest thing in the world, but it is comedic (not because your ass is silly--but because it's unexpected) and it will help you and your audience forget about how you just screwed up. In a way, it breaks the ice. 

YOU: "Oh crap! I just messed up!"

AUDIENCE: "Ooooh. She just messed up!"

YOU (turns and shakes ass): "Booty power to the rescue!"

AUDIENCE (erupts with laughter and cheering): "OMG what just happened this is so amazing!"

And for those of us who choose to use other magic powers of distraction, there's an endless list of cool stuff you could do:

- cartwheel, handstand, fake fall, or some acrobatic trick

- use it as an opportunity to solicit support from the audience

- breakdance or other funny dance (maybe you have a signature move you like to bust out)

- something really stupid and funny (i.e. you drop an apple you are juggling, get into a disagreement with the apple that betrayed you, then bite that darn apple and show it who's boss just before you chuck it across the stage and grab a better behaved apple you have on standby!)

- playfully blame someone/something else (i.e. a member of the audience that is particularly raucous and involved, the pink elephant on the stage, etc)

You might have to use all the skills you have to recover--miming, acting, physical flexibility--who cares as long as it does the trick!

I like the cheap tricks and I feel the audience does too--you know it's a cheap trick, you recognize it's a cheap trick, it reminds you that we are all human and have to laugh at ourselves. The show must go on! Everyone has their own style and their own kind of recovery that will work for them. Mine just happens to be over-acting and shaking my butt.

Hasta la vista,

Christy the Amazonian Booty-Shaker