Ivan S. Harris Photography working NYE12

Special Thanks to Philip Hamer for shooting this awesome footage while I was working Hardrock NYE12.

Check out the video.  Ivan S. Harris Photography has Big Things coming this year!

Red Tails: A Story Of Hollywood Magic

Red Tails produced by Lucas Films is the story of The Tuskegee Airmen, an all black pilot training program in World War II.  The plot thickens when the airmen are called to duty from the training program.

George Lucas, creator of Lucas Films, has always been my hero seeing as he is the genius behind Star Wars and Indiana Jones and 1 of 3 reasons I became a photographer.  

To me George Lucas is the true meaning of a creative genius because he had an idea and the drive, perseverance and passion to see his vision all the way through.

Did Mr. Lucas know Star Wars would become a cult classic?  How could he be sure that Indiana Jones would have 4 installments over the course of 20 something years?

The fact is George Lucas believed in his projects and that's usually the first step in becoming successful.  I believe being an artist means creating a vision and having the courage to put that vision out there for people to embrace, criticize and consume on all levels.

Now Lucas Films latest project Red Tails apparently has had some issues with the release of this movie going all the way back to the mid 1990's as to whether the plot with an all black cast can be successful in the box office.  

Also, an another issue has been raised as to whether or not an aspiring minority artist such as myself will ever see another opportunity to create a vision and be produced on a large Hollywood scale.

The interesting thing is Tyler Perry and Spike Lee have both been successful black directors/producers in Hollywood but not necessarily by ordinary standards.  

In my opinion, Tyler Perry serves as a laundry mat airing out and exploiting certain Black community issues to a mass audience that may not understand that all Black people are not as depicted in his movies.

On the other hand, Spike Lee's director/producer approach is that of directing more militant or black orientated films and plots rather than just providing a good story with a great cast and plot.

Both producers serve as black orientated directors where as I am looking to see more black producers and directors that tell a good non-racially based story line.  

Yes of course as an artists I believe we all want to incorporate and embrace our own particular culture within our art, but a lot of movies are made with all races in mind. i.e. everyone goes to the grocery store, drives to work and has relationships.

I have had plenty of conversations where the question is why must an all black cast have to automatically be labeled a "black" movie. Why can't a cast of characters regardless of race depict a good story line as opposed to be a racially orientated film.  

Truthfully, when you go to see a movie with an all white cast is it considered a white movie or just a good movie with a good story line?

I understand Hollywood is a business and numbers play a big part in what is produced, but the fact of the matter is no one truly knows what will be successful.  It's all the studio, producers and the creators faith, belief and gut instincts that determine what big budget movies get produced. 

Honestly, with the logic behind numbers, I can't believe in 2012 this is even a problem.  Hollywood makes BOX OFFICE FLOPS all the time using an all white cast and horrible story line.  

Why does Red Tails have a problem being funded and produced because its all black with a GREAT true life story line?  

People love all types of true stories regardless of race and Hollywood has proven time and time again that remakes of real life usually succeed.  So NOW all of the sudden true break through moments in American History have an issue or it can be considered a risk?

All movies in Hollywood are risks, who knows what will be successful but to say blatantly to black actors or ANY minority actors, producers and directors that the fate of this movie will determine whether we have a chance in Hollywood is really a load of hot garbage.  

Hollywood is magic, dreams, hope and luck.  But Hollywood is also numbers so Hollywood should know one sample can not and should not predict the entire outcome.

What's the difference with taking a chance producing a movie about a fictional masked, light-saber/laser sword yielding deep voiced villain, a whip slinging archaeologist searching for hidden treasure or a fighter pilot in training waiting for his chance to to serve his country in the plight of war?

The irony about these three stories produced by George Lucas is all three story plots you can insert ANY race in the role to tell the story. i.e. a good story line as opposed to racially background.  

Regardless of what color they are, every pilot has waited for their chance to get in the air and fight.  It just so happens that the fighter pilots in training waiting for their chance in the movie Red Tails just happen to be black.  

What's really interesting is when Hollywood magic turns into numbers and if Red Tails is successful watch how many production companies want to start producing more all black casted story lines. 

I guess that's the story of Hollywood, you're nobody until you're somebody, just an artist waiting for your big break.

To me the fate of this movie isn't a risk, its a chance at history and much like the plot, it seems like its 1944 all over again.  All anyone ever needs is a chance regardless of what color they are. 

Just like those pilots deserved a chance, this movie and more movies like it deserve a chance to be produced in Hollywood.  That is if you believe we were truly all created equal.  Hmmmm.

Story Credit: George Lucas on Red Tails Production Trials And Tribulations

It's All About The Art

People make mistakes.  People aren't perfect. People will let you down.  I mean these are things we all should know by now coming to the end of 2011.

What people may not realize is at times when we do fall, the human spirit resides in such a resilient place that as long as you have the will and desire to succeed, you will.

The truth is, when you make mistake, the best thing to do is to forget all other distractions and get back to the grind that got you to the top in the first place.

For T.I., redemption island lies within his determination to continue making great music.

TIP is already to a great start aligning himself with the likes of Dr. Dre for his new mixtape dropping New Years Day.

Can't Wait.

AJ Smith... -____-

As a San Diego Charger fan, I am happy for any former Charger players that find success with other teams.

With that said, I have to send a special congrats to Drew Brees passing Dan Marino's 1984 NFL single season passing record with a touchdown pass to Darren Sproles.

The irony of this is, most Charger fans can never understand why the upper management makes the decisions they do. i.e. trading off key players including 3 time pro-bowlers and firing successful coaches.

Truthfully, its a tough job and I wouldn't want to do it.

Furthermore, Charger Management should take notes from the New Orleans Saints.  And every other team should take notes from Charger Management for what NOT to do. 

I'm Just Saying.

Lloyd - Be The One ft. Trey Songz & Young Jeezy (Official Video)

I think you can always tell the time of year and season it is with the music that drops, and by the way it seems the music is trending right now it must be the winter, freezing cold, stay inside with a snuggle buddy season.

First, Rihanna drops her You Da One video and now we have Lloyd's new visuals for his latest single Be The One featuring Trey Songz and Young Jeezy hitting the scene. 

Seriously, I have been feeling this song since Lloyd's album King Of Hearts dropped back in the summer, and for the longest time,  I was wondering if he was going to release this track as a single/video.

Voila.

Lloyd singing the hook "Girl I wanna be the one to kiss you goodnight" most definitely solidifies this as a hot song to go right along with a cold night.

If you haven't done so yet, grab a winter snuggle buddy and cop that King Of Hearts while you both decide if the album is definitely something to _______ over.

I'm sure you and your snuggle partner can find something to fill in the blank with.  

Rihanna - You Da One (Official Video)

In the spirit of  "keeping it moving", and reveling in the essence of grinding, Rihanna might be the modern day Bad Girl taking notes from Diddy.  Rihanna can't stop and won't stop making hits for the people. 

Fresh off a successful album, Rihanna is not stopping the momentum.  Talk That Talk, Rihanna's 6th studio album, continues on right where Loud left off.

To be honest, I am wondering if she can stop.  A lot of times when an artist takes a trip on the success train, the ride becomes addictive.  

For the fans, I'm hoping that she continues on with her addiction to reigning on top, and seeing as I'm sure all of Rihanna's navy would love to be sprinkled with a little RiRi dust, it seems that would be a good thing for everyone.

The visuals that recently dropped for her latest video You Da One sets RiRi in black and white with blonde hair, a top hat and cane similar to that of a Charlie Chaplin, Vaudeville silent film. Seems like it would be fun on that set.

Anyway, as always enjoy and leave your thoughts.

Food For Thought: Are You Really "Grinding"?

Earlier today as I was editing photos for a client, I came across two interesting facts.  Fact number One, Cinemax and its parent company HBO show the same rotation of movies over and over almost worse than FM radio's hot clock.

Seriously, I think is is so frustrating to leave, go to work, come home, eat a sandwich, find business elsewhere and live life outside of your couch only to eventually come back to find that the same set of movies are showing just like when you left as if you pushed pause or something.

I figure after the free trial expires why would anyone continue to pay to see the same 8 movies?  Without going off tangent, seeing or hearing the same rotation all day and night sounds like listening to radio.

Fact two, after my Cinemax revelation from watching Eddie Murphy's 1987 film Coming To America for the third time in 2 weeks, I comprehended more so than just understood that Samuel L. Jackson has been working professionally at his craft for a long time.  Jackson played a small role in Coming To America as a restaurant stick up man who was apprehended.  

To go in depth of this understanding, one of the reasons I love watching older movies i.e. Coming To America multiple times is because I always like to catch something I missed from before.  I also like watching older movies so I can recognize an actor that is huge now that was an extra in the background back then i.e. Cuba Gooding Jr. getting his hair cut in the barbershop.

This time around, all I noticed was that Samuel L. Jackson is the epitome of grinding meaning working hard.  

It seems everyone always talks about how they are "grinding" and use the term profusely but its interesting to hear those same people say "I won't do this work or that job is beneath me" including myself.

If you take a look at Mr. Jackson's career, he has been professionally acting since at least 1972 but his break out role didn't come until 1991 almost 19 years later.

The irony of his 1991 break out role was that he played Gator the crackhead brother of Wesley Snipes character Flipper in Spike Lee's film Jungle Fever.   

After acting for 20 years how many people would say, "I'm not playing a crackhead. I'm only doing this particular prestigious type of role."

Without preaching or pointing fingers at anyone specifically myself, I am simply saying most people would not make it half way to Samuel L. Jackson's success level.  To those that did reach some success would probably bow out once they got to Jackson's mid-range success point stating they have done it all.

To be completely honest, I think if someone ever needs a motivational tool they should look at Samuel L. Jackson for inspiration.

Samuel L. Jackson is one of the most famous, successful and revered actors of our time.  Jackson is also by Guinness Book Of World Records stats the highest grossing actor of all time, which without question is an awesome feat by any standard.  Still Mr. Jackson continues to work hard and deliver quality projects.

I bet if we were to ask Mr. Jackson, who has been working hard (grinding) since 1972, I'm sure he would tell us his motivation after already accumulating all the money and accolades would be his constant search for his friend Oscar.

I have stated time and time again, finding great motivation can be the single difference between success and failure and of course we should all know there is always something else you can do and do better. 

Samuel L. Jackson is and has been grinding, so the real question is what is "y/our" hold up?

Drake - The Motto ft. Lil Wayne & Tyga (Official Video)

Drake ~ The Motto Featuring Lil Wayne & Tyga (Official Video) from OctobersVeryOwn on Vimeo.

Yesterday with much delight, the visuals for Drake's hit song The Motto dropped to the masses.

Drake, Lil Wayne And Tyga flew to the YAY Areaaaa to film Drake's latest single from his platinum selling sophomore album Take Care in ode to Mac Dre and The Bay Area Sound.

This heavily influenced NorCal beat produced by T-Minus instantly makes you move your feet into the hyphy movement while doing the thizz face along with all things Bay Area.

Speaking of Bay Area influence, if you look closely, you can see Lil Wayne ghost riding his whip.

Truthfully, I am big on credibility so of course I love the fact that Drake actually went to film in San Francisco.  I also respect that he has Mac Dre's Mom and Bay Area legendary rapper E-40 signing off on their stamp of approval of the video/track via cameo.

Anyway, check out the video and leave your thoughts.  I'm gonna watch the video again just to feel the energy and start jerkin' like I still have dreads. I know...

Big Sean Afterparty in San Diego

Big Sean of GOOD Music stopped through Belo San Diego nightclub recently after his Jingle Jam 2011 concert and what an after-party it was.

Chris Jones Presents, Calderon Productions and Z90.3 FM put on the official Jingle Jam After-party with Big Sean hosting and performing along with a special guest performance from new coming sensation T. Mills.

New Boyz and Flo Rida, who also performed at Jingle Jam 2011, came through the after-party to show love.

Ivan S. Harris Photography had all access to the after-party capturing T. Mills's opening act.  T. Mills who is also gaining notoriety didn't disappoint showing he can rock a crowd like the big boys.

Later on the headliner, Big Sean who was feeling the audiences energy performed 3 songs including his hit singles I Do It and  Dance: A$$, to a sold out crowd most definitely rocking the show.

Make sure you check out the  entire photo set HERE.

50 Cent - Wait Until Tonight (Official Video)

For a long time I felt that "blogging", like everything else, had become a commercialized mainstream entity of people trying to write to make a quick buck.

When I think of blogging in today's world, I think of an entity commoditizing on the next big thing instead of the simplicity of a writer writing about an appreciation for something that he/she finds value in, no matter what the value is.

The truth is, I stopped updating Stopsellingdreams.com because I didn't and still don't want to compete with other sites for the same 8 fluff stories in order to make a dollar.

I definitely don't want to base my website traffic and revenue off of Kim Kardashian's life which is what most blogs seem to do.

So now, what I'm gonna do is Blog what The HELL I want to no matter what the popular masses ask for.

I feel like this is a perfect time to revive www.StopSellingDreams.com.

And speaking of come backs, it seems 50 Cent has come back with a new banger, so the correlation has made me think StopSellingDreams.com can also bounce back.

With that said, 50 Cent has not been relevant for some time, but he is still a force and is still Ferrari Filthy Rich 50!  Of course when one builds a successful brand, one can always come back as long as that person has the passion, perseverance and desire as well as the courage to stick to what made that person become successful.

Although this new cut is nothing new seeing as everyone including K-Ci from Jodeci and even Ja Rule have previously sampled Bobby Womack's If You Think Youre Lonely Now, "Ferrari's" new twist (Nothing is new under the sun) on this old jam is just that 2012 flavor that 50 needs.

I'm digging this song, and apparently the masses do too which has lead Fif to create visuals for his track "Wait Until Tonight" from his latest "the Big 10" Mixtape.

Check it out, leave your thoughts! Oh and yes...just like 50, Stopsellingdreams.com is BACK!