#ByeBye2016 ~ The Legends Are Passing The Torch – (Poetry + Pics)

Hello Friends,

Been a minute. Hope this blog post meets you in good health and great expectations for the coming new year. Compliments of the season to you.

2016 has been somehow somehow but we still give thanks to our Creator, we are alive to continue to pursue our passions and add value to the earth and fellow humanity.  This 2016 has seen a lot of deaths, famous people who have contributed their quota to life, old and young, some sadly gone too soon, people we know and people we don’t know. I believe our legends are passing the baton. Are you one of the ones to take it and keep the creativity flow going? Are you ready to create your own legacy, create something new, of value that you will be remembered for?  We’ve lost so many great ones this year. Especially in the arts and entertainment industry. Their works live on and their legacies remain in memoriam.

Below, I share with you a poem written by a talented young poet and master of words who I connected with on Facebook who goes by the pseudonym ‘Happy Prince’.  Read below, after this tribute video courtesy “Do You Remember?” Facebook page, which is a live video being updated as time goes by as we are sadly, being surprised daily of news of sudden deaths.  May the souls of the departed rest in peace. Amen!

Gone like the day,
Like its sun,
Your journey is like today,
Tomorrow it will not return,

Torn from existence,
Your race has known its end,
No matter the strength of resistance,
Your remains no longer on this air depend,

As you shook hands with death,
Your legend was born,
Ferried through all the earth,
Who says you are done,

Your light brightened the path of many,
Your voice knew no race,
You shared love with people diverse and plenty,
Leaving hatred no trace,

Let the sun shine,
Let the moon glow,
Let the birds travel at ‘half mast’ in a straight line,
Let the land whiten with snow,

Let eyes bleed tears,
Let voices shake with emotion,
Let dirges ring in both ears,
For another train has left the station,

You conquered though outnumbered,
We celebrate your bravery,
Your name will ever be remembered,
We will tell you’d story,

A story hot on history’s lips,
Generations will hear and learn,
The least of the secrets it keeps,
Even time will pen,

Rest in the light.

************** ************#Happy Prince ****************************

“no man is self-made” – Happy Prince

celebrities are fan-made, team work makes the dream work 

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On a beautiful note, I leave you with visuals of a round up photo shoot for 2016. Shot by budding Atlanta Photographer  – Simeon Fabunmi  and beautiful quotes to start off the new year.

I wish you the best of 2017 and may it be better than 2016! 

Simeon Fabunmi

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Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing… See you in 2017

xoxo

Tosinger

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Mutua Matheka (@truthslinger) | Photographer |#ForGarissa | #147NotjustAnumber | #Kenya

Very sad news from the continent as Garissa, capital of Garissa County, Kenya, East Africa came under attack.  On Thursday, April 2, a deadly Islamist militant group; al-Shabab massacres Christian students while praying at Garissa University College,  killing nearly 150 students, most of them at the prime of their youth,  aged between 19 and 23 at the university in the country’s east. A social media campaign reflects the outrage and grief of the people of Kenya and Africa at large.  We continue to pray for comfort of the families affected. Terrorism has to stop!!!

 

Mutua Matheka – Kenyan Photographer

Mutua Matheka, a Kenyan Photographer, documents the vigil/ three-day period of national mourning under the hashtags  | #ForGarissa | #147NotjustAnumber |. Families, friends, journalists and others also attempt to humanize and honor those lost, rather than have them reduced to a mere statistic.

Here are some of the touching images he captured –

| #ForGarissa | #147NotjustAnumber |

| #ForGarissa | #147NotjustAnumber |

| #ForGarissa | #147NotjustAnumber |

| Follow the Light |

| Do not be dismayed, neither should you be afraid |

Kenyans attend a candle lit vigil late Tuesday at Uhuru park in capital Nairobi in memory of the people killed in last week’s deadly attack on Kenya’s Garissa University College, on April 7, 2015. Via Time.com

Kenyans attend a candle lit vigil late Tuesday at Uhuru park in capital Nairobi in memory of the people killed in last week’s deadly attack on Kenya’s Garissa University College, on April 7, 2015. Via Time.com

 

May the souls of the departed rest in peace and the wicked desist from their ways.

 

Each Passing Day – Photo Exhibition at The Lagos Photo Foundation

The Lagos Photo foundation will be hosting an opening reception of Akintunde Akinleye’s solo exhibition entitled Each Passing Day, which will take place on Sunday, April 19th, 6PM at the Red Door Art Gallery, 51 Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. Nigeria.

 

Each Passing Day is a careful selection from the hundreds of thousands of single images, extracted from different documentary projects and spot news events, which were inspired by the Nigerian space during the last decade and now. 

This exhibition showcases Akintunde’s photography documentation of Nigeria by bringing together photographs categorized to reflect series of unrelated events and activities of the daily lives of ordinary citizens in Nigeria. 

The pictures depict a truthful rendering of each passing day in the life of resilient Nigerians and show the political, social and physical landscape in which we exist.

Akintunde Akinleye, is the first Nigerian Photographer to have been awarded a prize in the prestigious World Press Photo, Netherlands in 2007 with an iconic photograph of a man rinsing soot from his face at the scene of an oil pipeline explosion in Lagos, December 2006. An award fellow of the National Geographic Society- All Roads photo project, Akintunde currently lives in Lagos and works for Reuters covering breaking news, documentary pieces and human interest stories.

The Akintunde Akinleye Exhibition is brought to you by The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria with its joint venture partners and the LagosPhoto Foundation. 

Beautifully Dreaming… Positively Speaking

Tosinger

LAGOSPHOTO FESTIVAL 2015 (@LagosPhotoFest) : TALENT CALL

LagosPhoto Festival is the first and only International Photography Festival in Nigeria. LagosPhoto is on the lookout for photographers working in Africa and from the African Diaspora telling unique and interesting stories.

• send  5 low res images (preferably from one project), project synopsis, your CV+ bio + date of birth to: outreach@lagosphotofestival.com The subject line: Talent Call_your name
• Submission policy: Due to the high volume of submissions, they  will contact you if they are interested in working with you. They are interested in all genres of photography. Get in touch!

For more info, visit their site at http://www.lagosphotofestival.com/news/article/lagosphoto-talent-call-2015

ABOUT LAGOSPHOTO
Launched in 2010, LagosPhoto is the first and only international arts festival of photography in Nigeria. In a month long festival, events include exhibitions, workshops, artist presentations, discussions and large scale outdoor prints displayed throughout the city with the aim of reclaiming public spaces and engaging the general public with multifaceted stories of Africa. LagosPhoto aims to establish a community for contemporary photography which will unite local and international artists through images that encapsulate individual experiences and identities from across all of Africa. LagosPhoto presents and educates about photography as it is embodied in the exploration of historical and contemporary issues, the sharing of cultural practices, and the promotion of social programmes.

HAABRE, THE LAST GENERATION- “Hââbré is the same word for writing/scarification” in Kô language from Burkina faso. Scarification is the practice of performing a superficial incision in the human skin. This practice is disappearing due to the pressure of religious and state authorities, urban practices and the introduction of clothing in tribes.” © Joana Choumali.

Beautifully Dreaming…. Positively Doing…

Tosinger

FOR THE LOVE OF AFRICA – Photography + Dance/Film

Hello Friends,
Lovers of the Arts and Africa,

I am spotlighting two artsy fundraiser projects that are telling the African story to  dispel preconceived perception and media projections.

1.  Photography by Andre Washington –  AFRICA TRAVELOGUE

Africa Travelogue‘s mission is to share photographs and travel journals to tell the stories that showcase the intense beauty of Africa – in all its culture rich variety – in order to bring new insight valuable to seeing, understanding, and truly appreciating this magnificent continent.

The aim of this project is to magnify the importance of this kind of work that pertains to seeing Africa in a different light.

Andre Washington, Curator of Africa Travelogue says:

Andre Washington, Africa Travelogue

“Africa Travelogue urgently needs the help and support from friends, followers, and you in order to continue the work and mission of revealing the magnificent beauty of Africa.

I desperately need to raise these funds especially in a time when the entire continent of Africa will now face the lopsided stigma of the Ebola crisis. My work can and will provide an accurate balance in imagery and reporting”.

To learn more about Africa Travelogue and give your support by purchasing a limited edition gallery print or making a donation, here is the link and password to the private fundraiser for a limited edition print sale for Africa Travelogue:

http://www.fundafricatravelogue.weebly.com

Password: SupportAndreAfrica

You can also inbox or friend Andre Washington on Facebook for questions or more info to support.

Thank you so much for your support!

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2. Film and Dance – #TDMP: The Dance Movie Project. Africa’s 1st AFRO BEAT Dance Film.

On October 6, Lexxistalking Production, a film production company based in New York City, announced the launch of an exciting rewards driven Indiegogo campaign for ‘#TDMP: The Dance Movie Project,’ a new drama film set in Lagos, Nigeria that is based on real life events about the richness of Africa’s dance culture, the prevalence of diabetes in Africa and encouragement of African elders to nurture its youth’s natural talents.

Alexander “Lexx” Ore, Creator of #TDMP  says:

“I wanted to create an attention-grabbing story that shows the world what’s going on in Africa, particularly in countries like Nigeria where the prevalence of diabetes is on the rise. I also wanted to create a motion picture that would stimulate dialogue around the dance talents of African youths, particularly in ways that will exceed people’s preconceived notions about Africa . When completed, #TDMP will be the world’s first Afrobeat dance film.” – Alexander “Lexx” Ore

We hope that #TDMP will not only cultivate public awareness of the rich dance arts culture in Africa, but that it will also be the beginnings of a movement to inspire public health change. Additionally, when you support #TDMP’s Indiegogo campaign, you are proclaiming to the world that you believe that the raw talent of African youths should be developed and nurtured.

Watch video:

For more info, to support and stay updated on the project, please visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-dance-movie-project/x/390330

Beautifully Dreaming… Positively Doing

Tosinger

Welcome the PROdygies! An Online Community of Creative PROs by @abinibi

Are you a gfx/web/UI designer, make-up artist, photographer, costume/interior designer, (copy)writer based in Nigeria? Then PROdygies wants  to know you.

If you work in any of these fields: Make Up, Photography, Graphics Design, Digital Art, Web Design & Development, Interior Design, Architecture, 3d, Cinematography, Motion Graphics/Visual Effects, Crafts, Copy Writing, Fashion Design, illustration, Print Production, or related fields, then this is for you.

Would you like to showcase your work/portfolio daily on a platform that features top creative professionals in Nigeria? A platform that allows you to interact and collaborate with other PROs all over the country, where you can easily get professional feedback and appreciation. A platform that allows thousands of potential clients connect with you for paid services. Better still, search for job listings and freelance work related to what you do. Imagine being able to have your profile, experience and showcase of all your creative work/ portfolio on your personalized page URL (www.prodygies.com/yourname) and be able to connect all your social accounts to the page for easy sharing to popular social websites. Here’s the solution, – the movement starts now… www.prodygies.com is now live!

 

Sometimes, all your dream needs is a few people who believe in it, that is where Prodygies comes in, as an online social community for creative PROfessionals in Nigeria. Prodygies also gives PROtips for the creative business professionals.

James Abinibi is the Founder of Prodygies 

James ‘abinibi’ Alabi developed himself in Graphics and Web Design during his early University days while studying fine and applied arts. He started professional Graphics in 2001 and has since been transforming lives with his talents. With over 10 years experience in the advertising world, abinibi, as he prefers to be called, has become a major force to reckon with in the Design/Creative field across Africa as the CEO of abinibi multimedia. His passion to put Nigeria on the global design map is unending. The numerous design he makes are very inspiring and they make Nigerians all over the world proud. His passion has always been to inspire and encourage upcoming designers. When he’s not working, you can catch him lecturing at his abinibi creative academy where young individuals come to learn and enhance their skills creatively. This he believes will help empower and encourage a much more creative generation in Nigeria. He started abinibi Multimedia in late 2008 and has since received over 6 international awards and still counting. Some of them include America Design Awards, newwebpick top designers of the world, adobe kit web design awards, etc . abinibi is also a regular feature in publications across the globe. More on abinibi at http://abinibi.net/

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James Abinibi talks about the idea behind Prodygies –

March last year I had an idea for a portfolio showcase platform for Nigerians creative professionals on a daily basis… the idea came after #theNetworkNigeria conference – a platform for creative pros to network with other industry colleagues.Part of the itinerary for #theNetworkNigeria was a portfolio showcase segment which couldn’t happen due to logistics issues. Then it occurred to me we didn’t have a major platform like behance, deviantart, freelancers, etc in Nigeria… yet. So the Prodygies idea was birthed March last year: a social platform for Nigerian creative pros to showcase works, connect, get hired, etc Bringing the idea to life was quite a challenge and not enough words to describe them here (except a few of my close friends who witnessed some), but in summary it took 15 MONTHS! 15 Months after and not as best as I planned, but life has taught me NEVER to wait for a perfect condition before starting out. So last month, I put in some major efforts which would enable Prodygies go live this month and here we are today… At the moment, new features are being added and in the coming weeks we would have upgraded all the features as expected. After which the mobile app for ios and Andriod would be out. Our official launch event is happening on July 11, 2014. http://www.Prodygies.com/ is live. A social community for Creative Professionals In Nigeria!

 

 

Stay connected with Prodygies on http://www.facebook.com/prodygies
and follow at http://www.twitter.com/prodygies.
Beautifully Dreaming… Positively Doing

Tosinger

 

 

Sharpen Your Creative Skills : Photography

I thought I should share this great info with fellow creatives or anyone reading this who knows someone who will benefit from this , so do not hesitate to share.

CreativeLive is a site that offers free art and design classes. CreativeLive was founded in 2010 by Chase Jarvis and Craig Swanson, who partnered to create an online space where they could connect the world’s top creatives LIVE with a global audience of aspiring creative professionals.

CreativeLive empowers you to unleash your potential by bringing the world’s greatest experts directly to you, live. Featuring workshops in photography, video, design, business, audio, music, and software training; CreativeLive unlocks previously closed doors by making dynamic education accessible to everyone.

Anyone can watch live online workshops — for free — and interact with instructors in real time. The future of education is interactive, free, and live now.

The photography class will be broadcast live and for free on June 5 9:00am – 12:00pm  Los Angeles Time zone. You have to RSVP here . If you miss the free class or want to watch at your own time, you’d have to pay.. check the site for more info

About the Photography class

Learn how to take the kind of photograph you’ll want to print and pass on to the next generation. In this three-hour course, you’ll learn the principles of good photography and get the skills necessary to create it.

Advanced cameras are available at modest price points, but learning how to use them takes an investment. In Photography Starter Kit you will learn the the most essential functions of your camera and get ready to confidently put them to work. You’ll get the swing of basic photographic terminology and totally feel prepared to move on to more advanced classes.

You will also gain a solid understanding of must-know lighting and composition techniques. John Greengo will guide you through the process of positioning yourself and your subject so you capture the best photo possible with the camera you have – no additional gear needed.

If you want to take more memorable and inspiring photographs of your travels, your friends and family, or the great outdoors this class is for you. You’ll learn how to make average pictures amazing photographs and gain the ground necessary to continue your photography education.

Instructor

John Greengo is an award-winning photographer specializing in outdoor and travel photography. Shooting for over 3 decades, John has developed an unrivaled understanding of the industry, tools, techniques and art of photography. When he’s not traveling for a new shoot, John teaches photography to students from all over the world. John’s unique blend of illustrations, animations and photographs make learning photography easy and fun.

Another class on Photography:

“Story on a plate” on Food Photography & Styling with Todd Porter and Diane Cu. This is for the foodie creatives out there 🙂

Being naturally gifted is one thing. Honing the talent is another. Knowledge is power. Enjoy and thank me later..:)

Beautifully Dreaming.. Positively Doing..

xoxo

Tosinger

Photos and Haikus IV

Hi Friends,

It’s been a minute on the Photos and Haikus Series. Here goes feature IV on photos from another London based Photographer Femi Anifalaje of  ShotByFemo whose portraits, street photography and structural captures are one of a kind. His Instagram is quite whimsical too and can be followed here .

This one was originally titled ‘The Imperfect Dance’ so I decided to feed off that.

The Imperfect Dance

Rhythm of love, no color

And the beat goes on

If Jesus was black

With a ‘fro so big as mine

Would he look like this?

The thoughts of a man

Known to him and him alone

Life’s Escalators

For more of ShotbyFemo ‘s Photography like his FB page here

Beautifully Dreaming.. Positively Doing..

xoxo

Tosinger

Photos & Haikus III

Happy new year Friends..

Ring out false pride in place and blood …. The civic slander and the spite… Ring in the love of truth and right… Ring in the common love of good.

A verse from “Ring Out, Wild Bells” , a New Year’s poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Here’s Photos and Haikus III with photos that signify new beginnings, the rising of a new dawn. Enjoy and be inspired.

Photo by Femi Onatuga London, UK

These are works of Femi Onatuga, a photographer based in London, UK known for his scenic and wedding photography.

Here bursts the  Sun Rise

Calm start to a year of light

Peaceful  beginnings

Sweet red Morning Rose

Fragrant and fresh, nature’s scent

Bloom, beautiful year

Hand in hand we go

Uncertain of the future

Love will lead the way

Click the photo below to see more of Femi’s work

His instagram is also delightful at

http://instagram.com/femionatuga

Big Ben, London, UK

Beautifully Dreaming… Positively Doing…

xoxo

Tosinger

Photos & Haikus II

Hi Everyone,

Hope you had a great week so far and the weekend is looking good already. Here’s presenting Photos & Haikus II. These are shots from a photographer friend of mine, YinkaStudio based in New York ‘ {Chocolate Photography}  Here goes 3 photo selections for my haikus. Enjoy!

Cute baby alert

Chubby cheeks and smile so sweet

Light in his bright eyes 

Sweet creamy cookies

Tummy leaps for sugar treats

Delicious rainbows

Oh the book of love

Your name and mine I do see

I smile as you read

Click the photo below for more of Yinka Studio’s work

Click here for Photos & Haikus I

Until my next post,

Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing…

xoxo

Tosinger