Mid-July freewrite!

What’s up, Hive? I’m kind of surprised I managed to sneak in a blog post here tonight. I’m in the middle of a wild week including photo shoots, finishing work on a second issue of Intifada zine, a wedding, a promotional shoot for an upcoming coffee shop […more on that shortly], all in preparation for a trip to the east coast to visit family in Pennsylvania. I don’t know. I’ve been staring at a screen and living inside of Photoshop and Luma Fusion and I guess it just feels refreshing to break out notepad and jot down what’s going on for the sake of self reflection. Things have been going really well, Alhamdulillah! Community, income, family, art, activism, cooking, mental and emotional health and spiritually — for once, all seem to be harmoniously aligned.

Like I said, there are a lot of art projects happening at once right now. I’m working on the Palestine zine with my friend Christine. That’s taking up a ton of energy and has for months. We have some incredible contributors, including Dr. Maura Finkelstein, niece of prominent Jewish activist, Norman Finkelstein, my friend Willy, a nurse that has been to Gaza three times as a volunteer throughout the ongoing genocide, and my friend @girlofgaza who has written several journal entries over the last two years. This issue will be printed professionally […this’ll be way easier on me, rather than cutting and stapling thousands of copies by hand]. I’m really proud of how it’s turned out and will be looking forward to submitting it to the printers this week.

The recent project that has also been cathartic for me is working on a promotional shoot for an upcoming coffee shop in the Twin Cities that’ll blend both Palestinian and El Salvadorian cultures with a variety of teas and coffees. The owners are close friends of mine and have been working tirelessly to launch their business and they hired me to capture the photos and videos of the brand. As you’ll probably see in some of my recent Hive posts, I work for several local restaurants and businesses, one of which I felt really misused my skillset by having me shoot a style that just isn’t my own. Everything I recently shot for Sip of Silk, the new cafe opening soon, completely trusted me with my approach to video and photography.

My friends have been working with the owners of Wesley Andrews, another coffee shop here in uptown and hiring them as a coffee consultant, they were also about to use the space for this first shoot. Over the years, I’ve really gotten better at shooting video and it’s rewarding to see these sharp, enticing shots. When I made the decision to stop shooting dark pinup photography, I didn’t know what would be ahead of me and although this isn’t as exciting, it’s work that I still am challenged by and can be proud of. In about a year’s time, I’ve managed to contract with most of the prominent Muslim and Arab owned businesses in Minnesota which is nice considering I’m a white guy with a throat tattoo. Thanks for reading!