Hoop Kings

It's no secret that I love basketball. I love to watch it, play it, photograph it, and write about it. So it should be no surprise to see a book that celebrates some of the top men's players in the game. Great players make the game look easy and bring an artistic element to the sport that make it enjoyable to watch. Basketball is probably the only sport where you can see each player's individual style on a regular basis so I focused on showing how that style shines through on the court in a unique way with poetry; the way this player shoots, the way that player gets to the basket, how this player dunks, how many ways that player can score. They all make the game fun to watch and made this books easy to write. I will also add that even though I am a photographer and there are photographs in this book, I didn't do them. They were used with permission from other sports photographers. I wanted to focus on the poems for the book and I hoped that a painter could do things that I as a photographer couldn't do. Unfortunately, all of the artwork they submitted wasn't very creative at all and the designers had the idea to use manipulated photographs. At first I was a little leary, but when I saw the results I was blown away (especially by Shaq's life size foot). Enjoy   Hear poems from this book

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Hoop Queens

I must confess that I don't watch women's basketball on a regular basis, but an assignment that I had a few years ago at least got me interested in the players. I photographed many of the professional players mentioned in the book and it was a great pleasure. The women were lots of fun, had plenty of personality and could flat out play. I remember having a conversation with Chamique Holdsclaw about her new sneakers. I remember speaking Spanish with Ticha Penicheiro about her platform shoes that made her taller than me. I also remember seeing the ladies pumped up to play because I photographed them right before a game. On a separate occasion, I photographed a player in her high school gym and being a typical man (or boy) I challenged her to a 3-point contest. Bad idea! The first one to 10 won and she went first. I didn' even get to take a shot! Any fellas out there thinking these women aren't for real need to think twice...THEY CAN PLAY! Hear poems from this book

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Rimshots

This was my first book and it came about by accident. I had already done the photographs as part of a personal project that became a series called “Street Basketball in New York.” In the midst of trying to get a photographic assignment at a children’s book publisher, the art director (the person who chooses the photographers) suggested I turn the photos into a children’s book. I mentioned that I could write as well and Rimshots was born. Kids usually ask what’s my favorite book and I say this one simply because it was my first book. If there was no Rimshots, there are no other books. Hear poems or  See images from this book

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Short Takes

This was the last book done for the Basketball Trilogy. While writing Rimshots I had so much fun writing the poems, that I was glad to be able to create a book of just basketball poetry. For the photos I decided to capture snapshot moments from a game. The book is called Short Takes because when we recall a memory, we piece it together in bits and pieces. Instead of seeing the video of the event, we remember specific moments. For instance, if you played a great game of basketball with your brothers or sisters, you’re more likely to remember quick little images like the way you made your big brother lean this way while you went that way. Or the way the net swished as you hit your first basket. I also wanted to create images that reflected certain lines in each poem. Hear poems or See images from this book

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Perfect Harmony

My poetry takes a lot of influence from music in general, rap in particular. I listen to music to help me with rhythm, wordplay and tempo and it only made sense for me to do a book about music. The same editor who did Brown Sugar Babies mentioned that she always wanted to do something with the Boys Choir of Harlem. What exactly, she didn’t know, but she did know that she wanted to have them photographed and have the words be something creative. I decided to create a series of poems that would teach kids the basics of choral music and basic music theory. In the process of photographing the Boys, I learned a great deal about music myself and saw how hard these young boys work to become great at what they do. Since I knew that I would photograph them performing and at practice, I wanted to use a camera that would allow me to work in situations where the light was low. To help with the low-light I used a fast film that, when enlarged (made bigger), showed the dots that make up a photo, called grain. This gave the photos the effect of a painting where large dots make up the image. This style of painting is known as Impressionistic. I also chose to blur many of the pictures of the Boys performing to create a sense of movement in each picture. Hear poems or See images from this book

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