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Yesterday I went out to take photos at the Schools Not Jails protest. A large group of people rallied at Central Booking, where several speakers talked about the proposed new Youth Jail, which is being built at a high cost at a time when the city is cutting Youth programs like rec centers. Then, they marched to the site of the proposed new jail, entered the property, and erected a symbolic schoolhouse, complete with (small) library and teachers.

At the same time, a tent was erected on the sidewalk, which was to serve as a place to teach those who did not want to enter the fence (and thus be at risk of arrest). The plan was to have a week or more of activities and workshops on site… the police, however, arrested those inside the fence, and took down the tent. But there are still activities onsite, from what I am told.

I apologize for my poor writing skills, you can glean MUCH more from this piece by Fern Shen on Baltimore Brew.

And to see the rest of the pictures I have posted, click here to go to my Schools Not Jails flickr set. There are two pages, and they are ordered chronologically.

In the past few months I have become involved with (In) Parenthesis, a Baltimore-based photography collective. Our goal is to broaden knowledge about current issues in the field of contemporary photography, and our first curated show, Fields of Vision, is on display now at CaseWerks Gallery (1501 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore).

The Baltimore City Paper (who I work for often) wrote a story up about the show, which you can read here.

Photo L-R: Marian Glebes, Dean Alexander, J.M. Giordano, Jill Fannon, Sean Schiedt, Josh Sisk. By me & Rob Brulinski.

Great show, best night. I stage dove, in fact all the photographers stage dove… wait, EVERYONE stage dove. Denny’s dad held it down at the front for the whole show! So much fun, what a good send off for one of the best bands the city has ever seen. Thanks for the memories, guys.

• See all the photos from Double Dagger’s last show, including a couple of openers Dan Deacon & Future Islands.
• BUY PRINTS of photos from the last Double Dagger shows (CCAS, DC, NYC, Baltimore)

If you are interested, you can also:

• See pictures from Double Dagger’s last show @ CCAS
• See pictures from Double Dagger’s last NYC show @ DBA
• See pictures from Double Dagger’s last DC show @ Black Cat
• Look at my Double Dagger photo retrospective with photos of them over the years.

The Baltimore City Fire Department responded to a fire in an apartment and pulled a man out of his apartment. I took a photo of the fire fighters trying to help him, but it just doesn’t feel right posting them, so I am refraining. He looked to have some smoke inhalation, I hope he is okay. The BCFD did a great job today, totally stopped it before it got out of control. Massive props go out to them.

• See more photos here.

Spotted this walking down the street in Station North. Apparently there had just been a big fight. The police broke it up. Moments after I took this, the owners of a nearby business washed the blood off. Made me think of how many other messes like this get cleaned up all around me, all the time.

Outside of the Grand Prix, a group of citizens gather to protest the handling of the shooting of Officer William H Torbit, a Baltimore City Police officer who was shot and killed by fellow police in front of a nightclub early in the morning of January 9th, 2011. Last month, an investigation cleared police involved in the shooting – which involved 42 shots fired in front of the nightclub, of any criminal charges.

This past weekend was the first Baltimore Grand Prix event, currently planned to be held every Labor Day weekend for the next 5 years. I was there for the City Paper and managed to try and soak up some of the race, my first. It seemed very crowded, at least on the actual race day, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I heard some grumblings that some of the businesses of the Inner Harbor were seeing less foot traffic due to the race, but it’s hard to say. One thing I can say for sure is that people were covering every possible surface:

• Click here to see all of my Baltimore Grand Prix shots!

Just got back from Miller’s Island with J.M. Giordano, he was out there on assignment and I tagged along and snapped some incidental shots… Not great shots but it was raining so hard I literally couldn’t see! The wind and rain here was way stronger than in the city – when we got back in the car we heard they were starting voluntary evacuation of the island. It flooded badly during Isobel. Stay safe out there.

Driving to a City Paper photo shoot, me and my friend (and talented photographer) J.M. Giordano saw the above… some driver who was foolish enough to try and drive through several feet of standing water on North Point Boulevard. I ran out through the rain and grabbed a few pics, the best of which is above.

I worked with Sam Sessa at the Baltimore Sun on a piece about the breakdancing scene in Baltimore. The monthly party 4 Hours of Funk (at Wind Up Space) and the weekly Dig (at Joe Squared) are both hotbeds of breaking, as well as popping and locking. Both parties are fun, even for the uninitiated like myself. It’s pretty impressive just to hang back and watch their moves.

• Revival of breaking brings a blast of new energy to Baltimore – Baltimore Sun article
• See all my breakdancing photos on flickr

The top photo is of the Westhope bridge, the last bridge across the Souris (Mouse) River. They have built the bridge up 4+ feet with rocks and sandbags and so forth. 10′ is considered a flood. It’s at 20′ in this photo and rising. The area with the guard rail, just past the speed limit 10 sign, is the actual bridge. normally the river is no wider than that.

The other photos show how the telephone/electrical poles are starting to tilt over, and a swimming muskrat (for the cute factor).

• See many more photos of the flooding near the Souris River here

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Video interview with me by my old friend Denman, on Jesse Tittsworth’s site. I think it came out okay, check it out if you have a free moment.

Yesterday, I got the photos back from last month’s photo show at the Windup Space. Before I do anything else with them, I figured I’d give people a chance to buy prints from the show. All are mounted on standout boxes, so are ready for hanging. Here’s what I’ve got left: Read the rest of this entry »

NYC rapper Prodigy, best known as half of the influential hip-hop duo Mobb Deep who created such classic records as …The Infamous and Hell On Earth in the 90s, spoke last night at Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library. On tour supporting the release of his autobiography, My Infamous Life, Prodigy had quite a bit to say during the roughly 60 minute Q&A, hosted by AJ from 92Q’s Rap Attack.

I’ve been a fan of Mobb Deep since 1995, when I moved to NYC and was exposed to their sophomore album, …The Infamous. I still consider this to be one of THE classic records of the 90s and it’s one of my favorite albums of all time. He also has a successful solo career as well with albums such as HNIC and 2007′s underrated Return of the Mac. In recent years though, Prodigy is more well know for a series of beefs, an abortive signing to 50 Cent’s G-unit label, and his 2007 gun possession conviction which led to him being incarcerated for 3 years.

Prodigy talked about this all, and more. Some highlights: Read the rest of this entry »

DJ Excel, DJ Booman and Bmore Original helped organize what I hope becomes a regular event, a record pull at Club Reality in Baltimore City. Labels, artists, DJs, Producers, and media from DC/MD/Va got together and talked, met each other, networked, performed, and had a dialogue. A cool event and very chill, low-stress, very little drama. Follow the record pull on facebook, or check out the new website.

• Check out the rest of my photos from the first DMV Record Pull
• Follow me on Twitter

Here are a few shots from the hanging of Kyle and I’s photo show, Full Speed Or Nothing. It’s at the Windup Space in Baltimore, and the opening is this friday (4/15)! Come out! For more information, click here, or click over there on the left.

Al Shipley over at Urbanite just did a nice little write-up about my book. The thing basically sold out the first run, only a couple left, but I am about to do a second run, with some expansions and some changed design elements, so feel free to purchase one – but if you want the new & improved version, it won’t be out for a bit yet! If you don’t mind the OG edition, go ahead!

the other day i managed to be walking by when a car caught fire on my block… though caught fire is sort of a misnomer, this thing went up like a match… it was spooky/scary how fast it went from smoking to an inferno. i always sort of thought movies exaggerated how fast a car can burn up but they don’t…. there was no explosion, though. one thing i never thought about a car fire is how the door panels and tires kept popping, making gunshot-like sounds. i guess it’s the air inside getting hotter and expanding… pretty crazy.

you can see more photos of it here. one was in the baltimore sun as well.