On a nice warm sunny southern California Sunday (April 21^st) thousands of residents of Los Angeles and surrounding cities participated in the sixth annual CicLAvia.  There were bikers, walkers, skaters, skate boarders, runners, and walkers of all ages traveling this years’ bike route that started in downtown Los Angeles and ended 16 miles later at Venice Beach.

My family and I rode from the Farmers market on Venice Blvd. & Grand View to Venice beach were countless numbers of bikes with their bikes were being walked, ridden, parked, locked, and stacked all over the place. There were bikes and bikers mixed in with the crowds of tourists and spectators normally found on Vince Beach in spite of the “NO BIKES” signs posted all over the boardwalk area.

Make It Last Forever was the title of the Eleventh Annual “Black Marriage Day” Awards Celebration that took place March 23rd, 2013 in Torrance, California. This annual event is hosted by H.A.L.O. (Helping Angelenos Live Optimistically) Founders Dr. & Mrs. La Grande, Jr. and Sonja Mason.

H.A.L.O.’s priority is to provide classes, lectures and workshops that will help couples, individuals and families to enrich their lives with the methods and skills embodies within their programs.

They have become more involved in parent education, family enrichment and relationship skills for singles and those that are not married but in a relationship. They remain steadfast in providing super services for committed, married and pre-marital couples.

During the event they presented videos related to “Black Marriage” along with award presentations to a Military couple , newlywed couples, encouraging couples and long standing marriage couples.

Retired Superior Court Judge James “Jimmy” Reese gave his words of wisdom on sustaining and long lasting, loving marriage.

Retired Judge Jimmy Reese

At the end of the event Rev. Larry Ginn performed a renewal of vows to all married couples in attendance followed by  Jumpin’ The Broom Ceremony.

Plans are already under way for the 12th Annual Black Marriage Day taking place on March 22nd, 2014.

Please visit H.A.L.O.  and take a look at the classes and events offered during the year or call 866-263-9954 for info, and make plans to be present for another great event!

Sitting on the porch, basking in the morning sun, feeling the gentle caress of the wind as it teases leaves and plants. Birds are singing happily as spring is just around the corner while blooming Jasmines broadcast ever so gentle fragrances.

Below are two videos for “George The Chair” The first is the story behind the making of “The George The Chair” story. The second video is a photo slide show  with Blues music in the background.


 

Last night, February 14th, 2013 (Valentines Day) my wife and I were privileged to attended a 55th Year Wedding Anniversary Celebration for Mr. Sam & Joyce Mathews.

I interviewed the couple before the festivities started as they will be included in the next book in the series of  ”Always & Forever, Love ”  books entitled: “Always & Forever, Love” subtitled: The African American Experience, A Celebration of 20+ Years of Marriage.

During the night my wife and I; along with family and close friends were treated to background info on their 55 years of marriage, great entertainment, (Mr. Mathews on horn along with a vocalist, and piano player performed) and great food.

Family and friends read dedications and the couple was presented with a plaque commemorating their 55 years of Successful Marriage!

I hope your Valentines Day Celebration was equally as enlightening  and entertaining!

Living close to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is great when you travel a lot or have to pick up and/or drop off passengers, but living close can be a very noisy affair. LAX is the sixth busiest airport in the world and third busiest in the United States. Every flight landing at LAX on the northern most runway passes over my house in Inglewood, Ca. Standing outside or on the porch talking on the phone can be a challenge with planes in the landing pattern overhead on their way to LAX.  The sound from the TV is often overpowered by the noise from the airplanes even with the windows closed.

With flights passing overhead, every few minutes until 11:00 P.M. the noise level is very high, so high the city of Inglewood  along with Los Angeles World Airports has been working on mitigating the impact of aircraft noise pollution on the community, by sound proofing homes in the impacted areas of the city.

I’m very pleased to say that our home was part of the latest round of sound-proofing efforts. Our house was built more than sixty years ago just as most homes in the area were and we still had the original windows and doors from the period.  Our house had no insulation and we still had the floor heater that was installed when the house was built.

Below are photos from part of the process of sound-proofing showing installations of windows in different parts of the house, the removal of the old floor heater,  and installation of the new Carrier heating and air conditioning unit.  There were approximately 22 windows replaced with Milgard vinyl and casement windows and new bars. The front and side doors were replaced with acoustically rated noise reducing solid core doors. Glass doors were installed in front of the fireplace to keep air from coming into the house.  The rear door was replaced with a double paned sliding patio door. Central heating and air was installed powered by a Carrier unit lifted by crane onto the roof. Insulation was shot throughout attic.

Now, when we are inside enjoying a TV program we are no longer bothered by the sounds of planes flying overhead, and our house is much warmer because of the Milgard windows and central heating.

All of the trades that worked on our house were courteous and professional. The officials from the City of Inglewood kept us included, updated and informed in the process all along the way. This was a much needed improvement and upgrade to the house and it really affects our quality of life as it relates to airplane noise, heating, cooling and insulation.

I’m a professional photographer. Creating photographic imagery is my passion; it’s been that way since the beginning, (the age of 12) and more so after I finished Art School having developed my own style of Black and White Portraiture.

In order to stay viable and current with digital technology; in 2005 I purchased my very first digital camera.  The decision to go digital was the first real admission to myself that the world of photography, in my opinion had gone through the most significant change since color film, and I was forced to deal with it.

No longer would I go into the darkroom to process and print Black and White film, make prints or send my color negative and transparency film to the lab.  That world was gone for me.  As I thought later, this transition was right on time because I no longer had 8 to 16 hours to spend in the darkroom, as I now had a family that needed my time also.

As I thought about the change the world of photography had gone through I contemplated my continued involvement in the profession.  I knew that in order to stay relevant I’d have to reinvent myself.  The thought of a remake of my career and professional life was a major turning point!   Now, the question was, “With this knowledge, how was I going to accomplish this reinvention?”

My thoughts and ideas in regards to photography had changed over the years.  The desire to work on projects that were personally satisfying became an increasingly important consideration as it related to my sense of accomplishment, success and fulfillment in relation to photography.

As I thought about what would keep me excited about being a photographer I couldn’t get away from the fact that I’ve always wanted to write and publish a book. Although I had made a significant attempt to write a book on my bicycle trip through West Africa years earlier, it crashed and burned leaving me no closer to fulfilling a dream.

As I decided to embrace the change that presented itself within technology, myself and career; I also made up my mind that I was going to reinvent myself and my approach to photography by becoming a published author.

I didn’t realize that I had been preparing myself for this change for quite sometime because in 1999 I chose to forgo exhibiting my photography in galleries and museums for a presence on the internet in order to gain the eyes of a world wide audience.

I’ve never considered myself a writer, but in order to explain myself and my imagery to viewers all over the world; I had to write. My grasp of the art and technique of writing is not at the level of a Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, or Ralph Ellison, but we all have to start from where we are. When I made the decision to become a published author I had enough experience with the written word to make a significant attempt and the desire was strong enough to keep me moving forward.

Three years later, after finding 50 married couples, interviewing each couple and writing a 1 page interview, with an accompanying current full page photograph, and traveling to 4 different states; I self published my first table top photo book titled: “Always & Forever, Love” subtitled: Success Stories of Marriages 20+ Years Strong.

I successfully completed a long standing dream of becoming a published author, by deciding what I wanted to accomplish, starting from where I was with what I had, embracing digital technology and learning the process, all the while seeing the finished book in my hands!

I’m well on my way to reinventing myself, with a new found excitement for photography, digital photography, digital technology, writing, printed books and e-books!

I’m enbracing change!

Otis G. Sanders is a professional photographer with more than 20 years experience of satisfying clients, and published author. His work can be viewed @ http://seventhson.org, http://seventhson.org/blog, http://otisgsandersphoto.com  His current publication: “Always & Forever, Love” Success Stories of Marriages 20+ Years Strong can be purchased @ http://alwaysandforeverlove.org, Amazon.com http://tinyurl.com/87h7zyx Available also as an e-book on all e-reader platforms.

2013! A NEW YEAR!!

364 Days and counting; to a new opportunity to live life to it’s fullest.  Each year those of us who are here are given the opportunity to virtually wipe the slate clean and start from where we are to do more and be more than the previous year.  Sometimes that means just getting a little more done, working a little harder, being a little kinder, more loving and considerate than we’ve been in the past.  Those things and more can happen in each of our lives by doing just a little more, consistently over time.

Things in life, unlike the movies seem to happen at a snails pace, but that pace starts by doing that one simple seemingly unimportant thing again and again over a period of time.  By doing any one thing over and over again we get better at doing it while it does not seem to be such a chore, and that makes it easier to do.  Before you know it, you’re better at doing it, it has become a habit, which means we do more of it, and that in turn helps us get to the next level.

Remember to start from where you are right now!

Happy NEW YEAR!

As someone that experienced a day in the life of an average wrestler, I now realized that they have the hardest sport in the WORLD! I don’t think that I can stress how hard they work on a daily basis. It’s just something that you have to experience for yourself. When I first stepped foot on the wrestling mat, I didn’t know what to expect. I just wanted a workout. But I didn’t know that I was asking for a beating.

We started off with a lot of ground drills that made my arms feel like they were covered with gasoline and someone had lit a match a placed it right on my elbow.

Afterward, I had already made a puddle of sweat on the mat and it was just the warm-up! I wanted to get some water, but I didn’t want to be the only person getting a drink so I just waited until the entire team went to get water. But after what had seemed like endless exhaustion, I asked someone when we were going to get water. He looked at me and laughed saying, “we don’t get water during practice.” I just walked away. My mouth felt like the Mohave Dessert and my throat felt like I hadn’t drank any liquid in years.

In my thirst, our instructor told us to do 100 pushups. So as a group, the other football players that were there and I did 4 sets of 25 pushups. As soon as we did the 100th pushup he told us that we had 10 progression pushups. Puzzled by this foreign exercise, I asked what “progression pushups” he replied, “You go from standing, to pushup position and touch your chest as close to the mat as you can get it without laying down. Then hold it until I say up. Then you stand back up and that’s 1. And you do as many pushups as the number you’re on. When you’re done, you’ll have done 55 pushups.” I knew then, this was going to be hardest part of the day. When I finished, my chest, triceps, and abdomen felt like they had all died. All I wanted to do was go home eat and go to sleep.

So, when it was over; I went home, and did just that!

It was the fourth quarter in the 3rd round of the playoffs with 30 seconds on the clock and we were down 14-0. As I watched the clock wind down second-by-second, more and more sadness seemed to overwhelm the entire sideline.

Due to the past seven or eight years of being eliminated in the 1st round of the playoffs, we had an exceptional year. But all the hard practices in the heat of the summer and coolest of the winter didn’t quite get us over the hump of the 3rd round.

As an individual, I wanted to stay strong and keep my eyes dry . . . at least until I got home behind closed doors. The team, on the other hand, did differently. As the last few seconds ticked away, I looked down the sideline and saw well over half of the team in tears or well on their way.

As the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game, I dreaded having to go back to the locker room. It seemed like one of the longest walks I’ve ever taken in my life. I was one the first to take a seat in the locker room. The bitter taste of defeat was very thick in the air and the stench of it was so great that it had an onion effect and brought tears to my eyes. I quickly wiped them before anyone could see, but it was unnecessary because everyone had already begun to cry well before me. I had gotten myself together and told myself that I wasn’t going to cry anymore tonight. Then the linebacker had entered the locker room, and asked for the attention of everyone. In tears almost to the point of him having to pause to swallow the stray tears that headed for his mouth so he wouldn’t choke, he began to speak.  “I j . . . just want to say that I love all yall. We became more than a team. . . .We became a FAMILY! I KICKED IT WITH YALL MORE THAN I KICKED IT WITH MY MOMS MAN!” That line itself brought tears to my eyes. He continued, “we gon’ be a family forever too. I’m not gonna be like those other seniors that only come around sometimes and just say hey. I’m gon’ keep in touch man. If yall need ANYTHING, just ask! That’s all I have to say coach.” He ended his speech there and sat down.

Afterward, the team split into groups for offense and defense. By then I had stopped the flow of tears from my eyes, but everyone else was still bawling. Our offensive Coach, calmed most of the people down before he started to speak. Then in an instant, he burst into tears! And that made me cry even more. Seeing a grown man cry is a powerful thing! “I know it hurts, because I went (he paused to try and hold a few tears back) through the same thing when I played here back in 2002. But life goes on. It doesn’t end with football, it begins with it.” Then he started talking to a few people individually helping them to calm down or encouraging them to use the pain they were feeling at the moment to help them train for the next season.

He walked up to me and simply said, “Well, you know what you have to do now” referring to working in the off-season. I sat and reflected on the season for a moment, then got on the bus. I guess that there’s nothing to do but look forward to next season.