Today on September 16th, four days after my birthday. I got a chance to collaborate once more with Christian C. Gill, a photographer I met at the Sculpture Milwaukee “Paint the Avenue” event. He’s the iconic photographer whom captured the playful character of Yester the Jester. With Christian’s fine tailored three-piece suit, fedora, and expensive camera. We’d figured we could recreate some magic as if we’ve returned to the front of Carlos Rolòn’s decorated Chase Tower. Directly after said event, I sent him a text asking if we could do a photoshoot for my Birthday on September 12th. One rained out birthday and a drive to Milwaukee Public Market, later, we met outside of the fresh produce ready to get to work. I had the choice of our initial direction, either the popular ward everyone goes for their photoshoot, or a dark alley with an inviting mural. We went with ‘plan B’.

This beautiful bright orange mural was like a giant canvas behind me. Christian angled himself low – for broad and dominate shots, as well as high – for gentle and warm shots. Different from other photographers I’ve worked with, he brought his own camcorder to record my stylish dancing and hardcore parkour. For my first outfit in the shoot was simply the one I arrived in, a long white sleeved shirt, denim jeans, and my notorious snow white Kyrie’s. Christian wanted to catch me in every shot as natural as possible, unlike those models that lay draped over a Milwaukee dumpster. We captured footage of behind the scenes, and comedic shots to capture the essence of myself. My next wardrobe fix was a roaring patterned suit coat over my previous outfit. But now the game changed, with less than a half an hour remaining on the clock before part one came to a close, we wanted to shoot in front of any businesses along the intersection of North on Broadway’s strip without being considered a solicitor. With only a five-second countdown, I got in position, took the picture, then we were gone with the wind. Until Christian thought of an idea to pose face first on a painted wall in an alley. He was the only one to think of wearing this oversized African styled jacket, and knew it would work with the mood we were pursuing. I posed on stairs, alleys, and any other miscellaneous structures in the heart of Milwaukee that may fit the theme we were going for. But unfortunately, time was up after we divided and conquered the streets of MKE, until the next time.

Flash forward three weeks later and we were on the outskirts of the Calatrava for part two, funny enough we couldn’t get inside the museum because there were American Idol auditions taking place. I could tell that the event was singing in Christian’s ear to participate, with every distraction possible including a drone flying above us; we settled down and got to work. I arrived in my first and only outfit despite the many looks in my backpack, which was a smokey marble short sleeved sweater, and the classic denim jeans. I know, right: it was the perfect outfit for parkour. As the sun arose at 7 a.m. behind the Calatrava as if it were the spotlight over our photoshoot, we were stationed by the sculpture titled “A Greater Perspective” by Elmgreen and Dragset. Fortunately, our section was elevated close enough to the museum without getting any of the die-hard idol fans in the shot. I believe we really struck the motivational vibe in part two more than part one of the shoot, with the orange glow behind me, the sun casted a silhouette over me in action striding up a hill, but there was no hill, we were actually on a flat surface which gave off a tilted illusion. My favorite parts included me dancing in front of the light of the sun and channeling the hops of Jesus to clear various benches, poles, and walls! Christian had already envisioned in his mind the chronological order of the montage he was creating for the behind the scenes. I’m just relieved that my parkour tricks didn’t end up breaking his camera because of how close he was to my long vaulting legs. After we wrapped up, we said our farewells and went our separate ways, I left to go marathon the “Rocky” movies I’ve been slacking on, and Christian took a different route back to work that day; some say he’s the next American Idol!

Thank you Christian C. Gill for your unique photographic visions throughout our shoot, I’ve would have never thought of certain angles or camera tricks without you. I appreciate your kindness and generosity that deemed us highly compatible partners. Keep an eye on your Instagram direct messages because you’ll see me waging a rematch!