#kareem black

[yankeeblue]

KD Aubert in XXL Magazine October 2002 issue. Photographed by Kareem Black.

(via rapstylearcheology)

[fuskida]

Amanda Lepore 2010 | photography by Kareem Black

[lesravageurs]

Ravageurs laugh. | Kerry Washington and Jamie Foxx by Kareem Black

[hmmmmmmmmmmmmmnah]

look, ok, I am so into the height difference. it Gets me.  photo credit: Kareem Black for Out Magazine

[kareemblack]

Jenny JWOWW Shot by me!

[kareemblack]

I've been a professional photographer for more than a decade now. I'm so lucky and I really can't think of a better job. I've been all over the world, met people that I would have never met otherwise and my work will be seen by many people that  I'll never meet. I'm thankful everyday that I do what I love but sometimes I get to work on something that  is so very special and and touching to me and I wanted to share one such project with everyone. In October 2015 I got to work on the re-imagining of ROOTS for A+E and the History Channel. I was assigned to shoot portraits of the cast on location in New Orleans. For those who are unaware, ROOTS is miniseries based on Alex Haley's 1976 novel. The show paints a portrait of Haley's family tree as he retraces his roots back through civil war times, slavery, the middle passage and eventually back to Western Africa. As an African American artist the weight, gravity and significance of being asked to be a part of the retelling of this story and the re-imagining of this particular project was not lost on me. The original version of ROOTS aired before I was born and I ended up seeing it before I could understand its importance. I traveled to 3 separate plantations in Louisiana to take the portraits of the actors on 6 separate occasions. It is important to note that the plantations that I was shooting on were actual plantations that were in operation during slavery.... I like to consider my self a person that is pretty good with language but I don't have the words to describe the feeling of being in those places. I'm not religious but this assignment went from a being a job to feeling like some sort of a "pilgrimage".That's how it felt just being in those places. Seeing people dressed as they would have been in that period, as slaves , masters etc. made the experience that much more intense. Just being there gave me a lot to think about and enriched me as an artist and a person. I've had a lot of very interesting experiences in my life and this ranks up there as one of the most fulfilling and thought provoking for me. Big thanks to all the people at A+E  and the History Chanel for thinking of me for this assignment and also retelling this story so a new generation can experience it. Here are a few of the portraits from this project. Feel free to head over to http://kareemblack.com/ROOTS/thumbs to check out more ROOTS images.

[kareemblack]

I've been a professional photographer for more than a decade now. I'm so lucky and I really can't think of a better job. I've been all over the world, met people that I would have never met otherwise and my work will be seen by many people that  I'll never meet. I'm thankful everyday that I do what I love but sometimes I get to work on something that  is so very special and and touching to me and I wanted to share one such project with everyone. In October 2015 I got to work on the re-imagining of ROOTS for A+E and the History Channel. I was assigned to shoot portraits of the cast on location in New Orleans. For those who are unaware, ROOTS is miniseries based on Alex Haley's 1976 novel. The show paints a portrait of Haley's family tree as he retraces his roots back through civil war times, slavery, the middle passage and eventually back to Western Africa. As an African American artist the weight, gravity and significance of being asked to be a part of the retelling of this story and the re-imagining of this particular project was not lost on me. The original version of ROOTS aired before I was born and I ended up seeing it before I could understand its importance. I traveled to 3 separate plantations in Louisiana to take the portraits of the actors on 6 separate occasions. It is important to note that the plantations that I was shooting on were actual plantations that were in operation during slavery.... I like to consider my self a person that is pretty good with language but I don't have the words to describe the feeling of being in those places. I'm not religious but this assignment went from a being a job to feeling like some sort of a "pilgrimage".That's how it felt just being in those places. Seeing people dressed as they would have been in that period, as slaves , masters etc. made the experience that much more intense. Just being there gave me a lot to think about and enriched me as an artist and a person. I've had a lot of very interesting experiences in my life and this ranks up there as one of the most fulfilling and thought provoking for me. Big thanks to all the people at A+E  and the History Chanel for thinking of me for this assignment and also retelling this story so a new generation can experience it. Here are a few of the portraits from this project. Feel free to head over to http://kareemblack.com/ROOTS/thumbs to check out more ROOTS images.

[kareemblack]

Heres a fun skype interview I did with the good people over at papercutmag.com