Man this project is like 8 months in the making and one of the biggest ones that I’m most proud of so far! Me and Eric first met on the set of the “Walkin’” video which I directed (you can view the video on this site) and ever since then Eric has become one of my closet comrades in the past year. Truthfully, Eric be hating on me but he knows deep down inside that I’m the coolest guy that he’s ever met which is the only way someone could possibly deal with such a retard like himself

Anyway, here’s a little background on the making of this project. I was able to secure a restaurant for the photoshoot for the album sometime around late last year in which the primary theme was coffee (don’t ask me why, just know Eric is a little weird). The shoot came out great and we immediately knew that that was going to be the photography for the upcoming album that he was scheduled to release the next year.

After we finished the photography side of things we both felt that the cover needed to be something personal, different and completely original. A few days later after making the decision that we needed something different but not knowing what direction to go in Eric approached me with this “alien” that he had constructed out of construction paper, and that was the “Ah Ha!” moment that started everything else for the album. I ended up taking the picture from the alien made out of construction paper and adding graphics work to it, changing the color tones and making other small details to the final image until it is what it is now. We then showed it to a few people who’s opinions we value and their rave reviews sealed the deal as that being the official cover for the FLAlien:planetcoffeebean album.

After that Eric ended up giving me free range for the rest of the album artwork so I pretty much did what I wanted to do with the album and Eric basically just OK’ed everything off top. It’s nothing better and more gratifying than another artist trusting your vision and letting you be an artist yourself. I know as my career progresses the red tape will get thicker and thicker so I really appreciate and value these moments where I can still be a “carefree” artist.

All in all, me and Eric both feel that this project came out exceeding our expectations, from the music on the album all the way down to the artwork and visual presentation. This is a project that I know me and Eric will always cherish and I truly thank him for allowing me to be on a project that in many years down the line will be considered as a classic…

The FLAlien:planetcoffeebean album was released on June 12, 2010 and you can purchase it on Eric’s website at www.ericbiddines.com or by contacting T. Green at 561.628.3973.

I had the pleasure of working with hip hop artist Jacki-O a few months ago on a random shoot that was initially supposed to be used for an interview she had conducted. However the way things turned out, around the same time she was about to release a mixtape, book, and a few other projects that needed photography work added to them as well. To make a long story short things just worked out in both of our favors (after a few miscues) to where I was able to do a shoot for a female legend in the game while she was able to get her projects out with quality artwork…. as I would like to think

I really can’t express in words the positivity that I experienced from Jacki-O as a person. From my encounter with her she’s as real as it gets and is simply an all good human being in my eyes. Jacki-O is a very, very cool chick. From the grasshoppers she was trying to throw on me during the shoot to the home cooked meal her peeps cooked for me and my crew after the shoot Jacki-O is like an ant, meaning that you can’t get more down to earth than her. I have a lot of respect for her and I was able to see another side of her that I don’t think a lot of people get to see, especially if you only know her by what you see or hear on TV or radio.

Cheers to Jacki-O, her career, my career, our work together in the past, and our work in the future….

I also did a video mixtape trailer for Jacki-O’s “Griselda Blanco” mixtape as well that I haven’t been able to upload to this site yet but you can view it here in the meantime.

FINAL MIXTAPE ARTWORK:

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY:

When I first received notice of my acceptance into NYU I didn’t tell anyone for almost a week. I think for the most part I was speechless and overwhelmed in ways that I’ve never been. Even more so than being overwhelmed, I was scared. It’s almost a quiet eerie feeling when you realize that your dreams are coming true. You almost don’t believe it’s happening to you. It took almost a week for me to realize that it was. I think what it boils down to is that generally people experience far more disappointments in life than they do success and rarely do they ever get that thing in life that they most want. So when the realization of desired success actually hits you it’s almost like an adrenaline rush from a fight overshadowing the fact the that you have injuries, you don’t feel the pain until things have calmed down.

So when I finally told people they were excited and mad at me at the same time. Excited because of my accomplishment but mad that I took so long to tell them. In some ways that’s kinda the story of my life though now that I think about it. However, recently I’ve begin to accept the fact that I might be a little weird so I guess I’ll use that excuse as my scapegoat for future scenarios. I’ll probably go something like this:

“Hey Los, why didn’t you tell me you just won an Oscar! I’m so mad at you right now!”

I say: You have TV and a internet so I figured you would find out. Plus that was like a year ago….O and I’m weird too.

They say: Oh ok, cool. Well I’m so proud of you!

…..Yeah, it’ll go something like that.

Anyway, so in the Fall of 2010 I will begin a new chapter of my life at NYU Tisch. I been waiting for an opportunity like this for quite some time now and I thank GOD that he has given me talent to get this far, the drive to get better and the favor to get there.

In my admissions interview I told them that my goal was to be the greatest filmmaker alive. Now they won’t have to wait a week to hear the news that I am…

I haven’t blogged in awhile but let me update you on the latest project to utilize not only my photography skills, but my writing skills as well.

This story is kind of interesting because neither the photography nor the artist write-up was meant for Phatboi “The Global Zoe” to use for his album EP, but yet was meant specifically as use for as a spread in a underground magazine issue. Once I showed Phatboi how the pictures came out he immediately wanted to save one for use as his album cover, so we ended up sending the magazine some other pictures to use instead.

On the flip side, the whole reason I was doing a photoshoot with Phatboi in the first place was because I was also writing an article on Phatboi for the same magazine. Long story short, without getting into offensive detail, someway somehow my article didn’t make the magazine (most likely b/c it was too long but I haven’t talked to the editor about the article mishap since then) and when Phatboi read the article they used in the magazine compared to mine that was left out, to say the least he was upset.

Anyway, further down the line next thing I know Phatboi is distributing his EP around the state and when I finally get to see it not only is my photography on the front, but my write-up is on the back as well!

It goes to show you that people still appreciate when hard, passionate work is put into a project and as a human being you can’t help but to respect that and know that passion of work is a rare trait in people these days. In the end, my work didn’t go in vain and actually probably came out better because more eyes will see the CD than ever would have the magazine! Phatboi hustles hard so I know his work and mine will get into everyone’s hands if he has anything to do with it!

Much love, Carlos

ARTICLE WRITE-UP:

On January the 1st 1804 Jean-Jacques Dessalines, leader of the Haitian Revolution, declared an Independent Haiti. It marked a long end to French rule and slavery over the country in which Haiti now stands as the only nation to this day to be born from a slave revolt. Fast forward to a little over 200 years later and 700 miles northwest to the coast of South Florida and a new type of Haitian Independence, dubbed the “Zoe Movement” , can be seen emerging primarily through a art form that thrives off its ability to rebel and unite, hip hop. As with any new movement, a few stars quickly emerge from the multitude that follows with one of those young rap stars being an artist by the name of Phatboi, commonly known in the streets as “The Global Zoe”.

“The Global Zoe” stands as a most fitting addition to Phatboi’s name being that most movements are rarely heard outside of their walls of origin, but with this moniker, Phatboi immediately is letting us know that his music is much bigger than South Florida. On the cusp of the release of his new EP, “The Red & The Blue”, a six track teaser preceding the release of his official LP “Haitian-American” dropping in 2010, Phatboi quickly ends any speculation that his music is just a “fad” that can only be boxed inside the borders of the Zoe movement. With songs like “Do U Better” & “Beat It”, Phatboi shows us that he knows how to deliver music that strikes a cord with his lady audience while tracks like “Allergic 2 Dirt” and “Gotta Hustle” present the songwriting ability that’s lacking in most artistry of today. The only true reference to the Zoe movement is Phatboi’s feature on the summer hit “Imma Zoe” by Black Dada, which mainly manages to show that although he makes his music for everybody, you best not forget that his connections with the Zoe’s still run that deep. Like it or not, as long as Phatboi is around the Zoe movement won’t be disappearing anytime soon.*

PHOTOGRAPHY BEFORE:

EP AFTER:

I consider this my first album cover artwork I ever did and I’m super excited about how it came out! Me and Eric shot the photography for the back cover at a local restaurant who was gracious enough to allow us full use of their facility. Man it’s good to have connects! Anyways, we mainly were shooting photography for his official album that drops next year but decided to use this pic for his EP that’s dropping this week (Oct. 27th). If you don’t know, EP stands for “extended play” and it’s basically used as a teaser leading up to an artist’s official album.

Eric himself did the hand drawing of the “alien” that’s on the front cover which I think shows that he’s an all around talented artist, not just in music. It also gives you a sense of the character and style of music you’re about to hear once you pop in the CD, which to me is a MUST for true album covers. I’ve always been a fan of album covers and believe that they serve an important purpose in the overall marketing process of a project and I strongly feel that this cover conveys all the right messages to the supporting audience.

So this is it! I appreciate Eric trusting me and pretty much giving me free range to design and shoot the whole process, it really means a lot to me because I always wanted to shoot album covers. We already have the official LP album cover artwork in the can too so if you like this cover you’ll definitely love that one!

Directed by Hype Williams. The look & feel of the video along with the song puts me in a nostalgic mood. Love it.

Found my old blog page that I use to update back in 2008. Since this will be my new website for all things concerning “The Dirty Lenz Project”, I thought I would merge my old blogs here and delete that page. It’s kinda funny reading my thoughts from last year. Man time flies…

An amazing photographer by the name of Chase Jarvis has a phrase which he calls the “Creative Gap”. Basically, if you’re an artist of any type of medium I’m pretty sure you have either experienced this phase in your artwork sometime or another or might be currently going through it right now (like myself). The basic idea is that we all are inspired by other people’s work or ideas on a daily basis and in that inspiration comes a desire to achieve that such level of “greatness”. However, when we as artist attempt to mimic this level of achievement in our own work we many times seem to fall short of the end desired. Now, we have no problem clearly recognizing the talent of others at one end of the line and acknowledging our own capabilities to achieve work as good or even greater than the inspiration at the other end of the line (inspiration <--------> our creative genius). The problem or challenge lies in us filling in that gap to the point where our creative work mimics the inspiration that we follow. Most people give up on trying to fill that gap the first time they try their hand at art because they realize that it’s harder than it looks to imitate greatness. We (I included) fail to realize that everyone in life has a starting point in their creative genius. Picasso probably wasn’t Picasso when he first started out and neither will we be when we set out to try our own hand. Everyday we have to work, mess up, start over, work again, get criticized, struggle, cry and work some more until we slowly but surely inch away at the creative gap and begin to start seeing the idea on paper look like the one in our head. With all that said, I still think this video probably explains it better :)……

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.