As the Official Photographer for the San Francisco International Hiphop Dance Fest, I work with Micaya (the creative producer), the graphic designer and the featured dancers to come up with concepts for the look and feel for each year's festival. Then I take our preliminary discussion and turn it into action: gathering lights, equipment and behind-the-camera ideas to execute. My part of the process is our starting point of collaboration---and after the designer and Micaya work out the final treatments, I get to see that work on Muni buses, in printed programs and advertisements all over San Francisco.
I also take images at the show itself, in low light with fast moving dancers. It's a difficult challenge, but one that I enjoy, especially when the results dazzle. Later, these images are used to promote the show in print and to populate the festival website.
I was also the project leader and sole photographer for the 2009 Men of the San Francisco Spikes Soccer Calendar. It raised more than $3000 and brought the team local acclaim. I donated my proceeds to the No on Prop 8 campaign to fight against homophobia and bigotry.
