B.K. Adams + Surly Moonlander

I'm a big bike-noticer, so when I pulled up to the neighborhood cafe and saw this monster of a bike last week, well, I noticed - a big black Surly Moonlander mountain(?) bike with a smattering/splattering of bright paint perched on a pair of absurdly large tires. It was impossible for me to miss. It was also immediately obvious to me who the likely owner of the bike was, local sculptor, painter and (A)rtist B.K. Adams. If you are here in DC I'm sure you've spotted a few of his 'I am Art' stickers, a black and white stenciled portrait of himself wearing his signature welding goggles, and it wasn't long before B.K. was out and showing off his new ride.

Note: I'm not certain that this bike was the Moonlander model and not the Pugsley, but I have a hard time thinking that B.K. would pass up a chance to ride around on a bike that looks like this AND is named Moonlander.

Butch - Portraits of Neighbors, Ledroit Park

Elm Street's caretaker, Butch. One day I'll need to ask him about his moniker.

Washington DC Wedding, Ryan + Candice

On Saturday I assisted for my friend, Nick Stroccia, with a wedding on Capitol Hill. Here are a few of my favorites from my camera. I've always found "second shooter" responsibilities pretty low key - tote some gear, take some pretty photos, stay out of the way! Nick is always super professional. He handles more weddings than I do each year, so it's also a great way to pick up a few tips. And what a beautiful, sunny day!

Chuck Brown's Wake - Howard Theater, 29 May 2012

Is it correct to say that hundreds turned out - or was it possibly more like thousands - to pay their respects to Chuck Brown, Godfather of Go-Go music, at the Howard Theater earlier this week? For me the number was not clear. What was clear was the amount of love that the people of Washington DC shared for this man. To celebrate a person's life at the time of their death can sometimes sound like a cliche - On this day that is exactly what took place and in a way that would be hard to measure.

A few more from the set here

Darryl - Portraits of Ledroit Park Neighbors

Looking out the window last week, I saw my neighbor Darryl getting his hair cut on the sidewalk, so I grabbed my camera and ran outside with 4 shots left on an old roll of film. “If you're going to do that on the sidewalk I'm going to need a photo,” I remarked.

Darryl was born and raised in Ledroit Park, and he takes a lot of pride this fact, and he has a certain “old school” mentality that you really just need to respect. I’m sure the haircut is just another demonstration of this thinking. He loves the elders in the community and always has a story about growing up in the neighborhood. On that day he told me about his high school football team and the asphalt practice field they played on. “We were the toughest kids in the city, and no one wanted to play us,” he told me

On previous days Darryl pointed out some faded, barely legible text scrawled in spray paint on one of the houses on the block. Today you would probably not notice the words “Soul Brother” as you walked down the sidewalk, but Darryl remembered when houses were tagged during the MLK riots in the hopes that certain houses would be spared.