Wonder Twins!

Gotta take it back. My photographs of Erykah Badu & Janelle Monáe!

New Amerykah, Pt.2: The Return of the Ankh is now available on iTunes.

Get some.

Erykah Badu's Window Seat

It's so important to be an individual. To be yourself. Truly. Erykah...Wow. Completely stripped down, bare for all to see, you've stated loud and clear what we must fight for. I give a standing ovation to the boldness and bravery of this art. Shot guerilla style in 2 minutes, no crew, no actors, and at the same place JFK was assassinated in '63... It's speaking to me on so many levels personally. Leave me questioning a lot of things within, as I continue to search and grow and become who I was truly meant to be.

Get out of the "groupthink" mentality, people. Wake up! Spend time with yourself. Love yourself. Talk to God. Embrace your uniqueness.

Be a leader.

How did you feel watching it?

PURCHASE New Amerykah, Pt. 2: Return of the Ankh

Hartelijk Bedankt, Eline!

Eline, from the Netherlands, was inspired by my "Mixed" photo and made her version of it in the image pictured below. What an amazing imitation of my art work. The likeness to my style in "Mixed" has been executed to a "T"- from the hand placement, skin and eye colouring, the effort here is fabulous! I'm deeply touched by the act of the photographer and piece of art created here.

Hartelijk Bedankt Eline! Thank you very much in "Dutch"

Feel free to check out more of her pictures here.

Jim Marshall

You live forever.

On The AC Train/ All The Way Turnt Up

On The AC Train from Nastassia on Vimeo.

Thank You Elle Mag

Elle Credit from Nastassia on Vimeo.

Artists Wanted in NYC

Fun little video of my awesome night at The Artists Wanted "The Power Of Self" art reception in New York City!!!

Artists Wanted in NYC from Nastassia on Vimeo.

Edited, photos and video taken by Nastassia A. Davis
Music by Incognito "Step Aside"

The best birthday gift.

My sister, Leyla Davis, likes to draw. She took up a basic 101 Art Foundations course and applied what she learned to a series of paintings - one of them being this piece above. I cannot express enough how amazing this made me feel today, on my birthday. And it's not because she painted one of my self portraits, but because she choose to express herself in a way I didn't know she could.

Wow.

Leyla, I am so proud of you and of this. And thank you so much. This means everything to me. More than I can truly express.

I want to see MORE! I encourage you to keep this up.

Love your sister,

Nass

Honorable Mention in "Artists Wanted" Contest!

When I entered this international self portraiture contest, I did not know what to expect. New to photo competitions, it was actually a lot of fun to apply and openly show support to all my talented flickr girls who also entered. To be honest, winning the grand prize was not that important to me. I mean, don't get me wrong, I definitely wouldn't be mad if I won 7K! However, I wanted to venture into something different to see what would happen. To this moment, seeing my name (or rather "alter ego" Ms. Aarika) listed as an "Honorable Mention" among other respected professional photographers in a international photo competition, blows me away! I can't help but to reflect on this time last year as I was preparing for my first full art show in my hometown of Atlantic City. I'm extremely grateful to God and very proud.

I want to also take this time to congratulate all the winners, especially Hilary McHone, Brooke Shaden and Lisa Sieczka, who I've connected with personally. Keep shooting and inspiring ladies!

Looking forward to hopefully meeting everyone at the "The Power Of Self" reception Friday, March 12th at 201 Mulberry St in Manhattan, NYC!

Shanta's Portrait Session

The above pic is of my beautiful prima, Shanta Covington! First, I'd like to thank good 'ole twitter for bringing us together again in the past couple months and much closer than we've ever been in our lives - before our photo session, the last time we saw each other was at Mom-Mom's going home service. That was 3 yrs ago. By the way Shan, Mom-Mom would be so happy that we did this. She loved you so much. :) Anyway, I was SO excited to work with her, and as instructed, she came well rested and worry-free. She worked it out! Second, thank you Gia for coming to style and "beat face." lol God bless that circa scarf! You're one of my most stylist girlfriends. I knew you'd come with the goods. And lastly, thanks to Weldon in Atlantic City who saw me struggling with my camera equipment to the bus terminal, thanks for dragging my studio - I didn't miss my bus trip to NYC because of your help! Thank God.

Aside from these images, there's a creative concept I also shot that same day. I have yet to find a space to do the separate additional shooting necessary for it. Ugh! Once it's done, I'll post if everything turns out the way I've imagined it in my mind.

Last Call for "Power of Self" votes!

If you haven't already, click here to rate my portfolio in "The Power of Self" photo contest. Thanks to those who have. (You may vote more than once.)

"Haiti"

Moving piece on Haiti by NYC performer Carvens.

Filmed by photographer Steven Amanuel Duarte.

Yele Haiti

My heart hurts...
Pray for Haiti.

Photo Contest! Vote for me!

Okay, I got a direct message via twitter about this contest, then my girl Jovian (blog--> http://jovianzayne.wordpress.com) sent it just a couple days after, so I thought I'd give my chances at winning something cool a shot. After many failed attempts at setting up an account (ended with "Iamthegreatest" because site wouldn't take "msaarika" or "nastassiadavis") I FINALLY got my stuff in. It costed me $50, as it was $10 to submit an image, so I chose what I thought was "my best work" to date - 3 or more is recommended by the site. Whether I win or not, I'm just happy that I followed through and actually entered.

To vote, you must rate my portfolio (preferably 5 stars *hehe*) but I'll certainly be happy with whatever I can get. The winner gets 7K so wish me luck! And best of luck to all the lovely artist that entered as well!

You have today and tomorrow to vote.

Thank you for the support!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Gabourey Sidibe, The Definition of Beauty.

Confidence. It's something that many of us, especially young girls, do not have today and is incredibly important to our overall well-being. It is the one thing that will shoot you to the top of success and keep you thriving among the stars. This post is inspired by Precious' amazing leading actress, Gabourey Sidibe (a.k.a. Gabby). If you've never witness this girl in an interview, youtube her now to see what true confidence (and beauty) is all about. She is such an inspiration to me; I admire her greatly.

Check out these photos from her latest Harper's Bazaar photo-shoot (via necolebitchie.com) and what she has to say about her self-worth and confidence:

On her Self-Worth

I feel like a model. It justifies everyone in my life who told me I wouldn’t be anything until I lost weight. It justifies that little girl who cried because she didn’t think she could be in front of the camera. And it’s for other girls who feel like they can’t do this or that and feel like they’re not pretty and not worthy of having their photo taken.

On her Confidence

People always ask me, ‘You have so much confidence. Where did that come from?’ It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It doesn’t have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see. Your body is your temple, it’s your home, and you must decorate it."

Watch behind the scenes footage and interview of her Harper's Bazaar shoot below:

Find the full article at Harper’s Bazaar

Also want to send a huge congratulations to Mo'Nique and Gabby for winning Golden Globe nominations for their amazing performances in "Precious". Best of luck ladies to a well deserved recognition! The Golden Globe Awards will be telecast live on NBC, Jan 17th.



(images courtesy of the movie "Precious")

Daniel C. Pickett Shoot

Met with up-and-coming film producer, director and screenplay writer Daniel C. Pickett, for a photo session a couple weeks ago. He came with a light bulb, black suit and a script and we spent about 3 hours shooting at a studio in Northfield, NJ.

Definitely keep an eye out for this fellow creative. For more info, find him on danielcpickett.wordpress.com

Featured on "FLY GIRLS" Blog

I've recently released the color version of my originally titled "Misfit" black&white photo.

My friend Jenny found it featured on a really awesome blog. Here's the link. It's a few posts down.

Thank you Andrea Pippins, the creator of FLYGIRLS, for the love!

Stereo Crowd Shoot (NY)

Last week, I did a photo shoot for "Stereo Crowd" in Queens, NY. I've been up on these guys for a minute since seeing them live at The East Harlem Riviera last year. It definitely felt great reconnecting, meeting new band members and the photo experience in general was so much fun! Everyone was so patient and took my direction wonderfully. I'd only done the lighting technique on myself alone at home with a self timer, so I wasn't sure what would come from this session. We began shooting around 11pm and finished around 3am. No make-up artists, stylists or photo assistants on set, just Stereo Crowd, my camera, light and me. Gracias books, chairs ladders (and Stereo Crowd!) for helping to keep my camera steady since I didn't have a tripod. (And a special gracias to my buddy LA photog Jon Genius for the light he left behind. I used it on Chavon! :~)

Here are some finished images below:

To get more info, visit StereoCrowd.com. Follow on Twitter/StereoCrowd.

Blackface in 2009 Fashion Shoots

Date with light paint

I love me some MJ (as most of you know), so the concept in these next set of photos shouldn't come as a surprise. Michael Jackson's estate released the much anticipated un-released song "This Is It" in preparation for the movie coming out next week. So to celebrate The Late Great Michael Jackson and the beauty of this new song (Mike actually recorded this around "Thriller". FYI), I decided to create these pictures using the same technique I did on the photos I shot last year here with the ones you see below. The blurs on the face are nice to a degree, but after staring at them for a while, I'm ready to see clear facial features.

The following night I re-shot and got this.


"Blooper" Images from the night before-





Take a listen to "This Is It"