Pushing Forward

All of us will experience hard choices, stressful events, and difficult situations that will impact us in one way or another for the rest of our lives.

Hard times happen. They teach us lessons, make us stronger, and give us a deeper sense of self. After all, would be sitting in the sun mean as much if you hadn’t of experienced the storm first?

After every storm there is calm, and then the sun shines. If you keep remembering that, you will make it through.

Give yourself the opportunity to feel and process every thought and emotion. This is what the experience calls for. We all know what happens if we bypass or bury our emotions. We must allow the process to happen and give ourselves the space and time to feel everything.

Now I take as much time as I can being positive. It is not easy on a daily basis,but I choose to have a happy life even when circumstances say there should be none. I am full of light and joy for each day to me is a new way to see out of the darkness. 

Rudy Aguilar Thank you for allowing me to go along with you to shoot that night in West Asheville. It is always so much fun just being around you man!

EMMA D, I'm so thankful to know you! You are a walking dream :) Look forward to creating with you again and again!

I AM BLACK AND BLANC Art Show @ Izzy's on Lex

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It's still silent...

In almost every direction...I see lines. Smooth shapely gorgeous lines, chiseled strong powerful lines, crazy wobbly nonconforming lines. They are all magnificent in structure and hold tight to the colorful world in my head. 

My show at Izzy's on Lexington is about those lines. It's a simple and beautiful journey I see. 

I look forward to revealing a new series that I've been working on behind the scenes. This is a fun series for sure! Looking forward to testing new lighting and timing techniques, to paint a photo with little added editing. Look for it around April.

I want to thank Izzy's for hosting me! Everyone was comfortable and Chris is an amazing gentleman! Thanks dude! 

 I want to thank everyone who bought pieces from me! It means so much to feel respected and supported by you. It fuels me as well as other things I love. So much love and respect back to you! 

ASHEVILLE REFUGEES

They never gave you a chance. The world of the homeless, is not a world at all. It's chaotic on the best of days. A damp spot on a rainy day, is cozy. Your cold pizza on top of the trash can, is a 5 star meal. No, the life is not something I think most people seek out, but it arrives on the doorstep. Only to escort them out of their homes into a different kind of dark matter. The ground beneath some even disappears.

In these times, even the mentally ill get sent out here. And there's barely any help to make sure they have access to needed medications. Do you know where medication can be found? In the county jail. 3 hots and a cot is the saying. Without question some will deliberately aim for the 'safety' of jail. It's "Club Med" for the homeless. All just to feel safe. 
What if you were sane and had a home, but it wasn't safe to lay your head there? What if your only option was to leave? Take a minute to put yourself in those shoes. 

The only human part I can see how I will live a beautiful life is to say, yes, as a country that boasts so much about being the best I have yet to feel for a sustained time that it is. For a moment, when 9/11 was happening we all bonded, wanting so many lives to be saved. That moment was immediately extinguished as many questions were raised regarding who did what and for what reason. The divide was clear immediately, again. During WWII a lot of Americans did not want the Jewish people to come to the US.

I see history repeating itself time and time again. And I have only been here a nano second. It's sad to see it all play out the way it does. Hence, this is why you see me happy a lot. Yes, there are things in my life now that could make me sad or depressed. I choose to have a beautiful life. I wish this for all life. If we are so powerful as a nation, why can't we do both? Seeing folks living on the streets day after day is heartbreaking. People sometimes need help in this world to make it.

For the people who say, "They will let terrorist in!"

Have you seen the news lately?

We have to figure out a way to help the world. Help people where they live.

MAD MAX TRIBUTE SHOOT

“What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”

— T. S. Eliot

Finding myself running into the fantasy of this story as a child was easy for me! Mesmerizing!

 The scene was something I have never imagined. Wheels turned like the gears on some of those classic cars brawling around and bashing each other in fire and death! I loved it! 

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“Remember: no matter where you go, there you are.”

— PIG KILLER

I was entertained of the idea of a lost world. MAD MAX was the first time I saw the world for what it could be. How close to that reality are we? Scary how it is all so plausible and destined. Not for me in my head. I choose to see a thriving and surpassing land for those we leave behind. Using fossil fuels as if they just appeared. Sometimes living on this earth feels foreign. Alas, it is not the enchanted green utopia that I dreamt of.  MAD MAX was so out there it just felt natural to put myself into that creation.

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So I can not help the urge, the force that is in me to create. It's mostly what the engine runs on. So when I tell my friends the idea, they come together! So powerful the force. My right hand Tracie Mackenzie Simpson, my wife, my rock, My Love! She is able to tell me what I am thinking when I think in colors and textures. She is my Art Google! Amy L. Neill (OX+CO), Co-Creative Director and second eye of this shoot. Thankful for the direction and input on this shoot. I do not doubt your words! Danielle Miller was stylist and provided the wardrobe by Royal Peasantry. Your works are always different and so flattering to the female form! Thank you for bringing Sophie and Gyan to the set to help me see the vision!  Bailey Townley was the model for this shoot! This was our first shoot...No, It will not be the last! Amy Day Dougherty was the Lead hairstylist and owner of Nebula Beauty Lab, I have worked with Amy before and her OUT IF THIS WORLD Daughter Veda! PHENOMS Folks!!! They are so fun to be around with them just being themselves. When you say,"Go!" They Get it!. Eric France second camera. I love Eric's works! The man goes dark and it looks good! So it was a no brainer to have him along with me on this shoot.  Koa is the boy in mud. He came through like a champ! This was he's first shoot and he was slightly nervous! Sir!, You are a rockstar!!! Michelle Ford provided some of the head pieces.  Want to see beauty. Check out her works! Olympia LeHota thank you being such a gracious and gorgeous model!  Jonathan Higgins was videographer for this shoot. So professional it makes no sense! Thank you for capturing this Amazing Day in my back yard! You are one talented MF!  Yes Folks, All of it was shot in my backyard. You look at it and you don't really see anything special...but I did. An Idea became reality really quick and I'm so THANKFUL for all of you that helped me execute this idea with the timing it needed! 

Micah Mackenzie-Creative Director/Director of Photography

Tracie Mackenzie Simpson-Producer/Assisting Director/Set design

Amy L. Neill-Co Creative Director/OX+CO/@oxandco/#oxandco

Danielle Miller-Wardrobe/Model/Stylist    

Amy Day Dougherty- Hair

Eric France-Second Camera

Michelle Ford-Head Pieces

Bailey Townley-Model

Olympia LeHota-Model

Johnathan  Higgins- Videographer 

Veda,Koa, Sophie,Gyan - Children Models

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Damn. I love Australia!

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS! I'd like to know what you think :)

Transformations

“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”

— Napoleon Hill

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To be apart of a ritual where you are allowed to witness a transformation was a recent honor of mine. I always appreciate the creation of new works. When something is not understood it makes me want to know more about it. There is no bigger or more profound power than the power within ourselves. Own your time here! Hesitate and you will not know what life is. Run right at it like your know you will win even when you are slipping just to get up! Powerful Session!

There will be a shift in all of our old processes or we shall not evolve. Period.