Jamal Harrington's Eye: January 2012

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Nona (Italian for Grand Mother)

Her name was Emma Biggi
She was my Nona, and I could not have loved her more. To know her was to know art. She was an opera singer and a great musician. Her two major tools were her voice and the piano. Her voice was so pure, while her fingers were so slick on the keys. This picture I created contains her actual signature (from her passport 1946), a professional picture from a date unknown, and some clouds taken by a camera phone. I went into photoshop, and just let my creativity take control. This is what I came up with.

Lady Flower

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Enough With the Pencil and Paper

My artistic ability was given to me as a gift. It was not something that I was taught, but something that came natural to me. I come from a family of painters, opera singers, and musicians. With this long line of artist in my family, I was bound to have some kind of talent. I started creating art by drawing characters and portraits. That became tiresome for me after while. My hands would hurt after each portrait I drew. Person after person would ask me day after day "Jamal, can you draw this cartoon character for me?" or "Hey Jamal, my daughter was just born, can we get a portrait?" With a god given gift, I would always say yes, but my hands would be telling me NO! Now today we live in a digital world, and thank god for that. Now I am able to create art, without creating pain. Check out my spin on digital art.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Part Time Model, Full Time Diva!

Her name is Dennice.
Smart, pretty, and has a true diva personality in front of the camera. She commands the attention without having to do much. She walks the runway as if it was built for her. She has class about her, and a face that has many looks. I was introduced to this young lady three years ago by a mutual friend. The minute she stepped in front of my camera, was the minute I fell in love. Every shot that was taken was perfection. Every angle she gave me was heaven. Like most of the people I work with, Dennice comes from the city of Philadelphia. She is a full time college student at Villanova, but she still finds time to model on the side. Dennice is not your average height when thinking of models. She falls into the Kate Moss category. Meaning she is little compared to the average female model. Yet, her height does not stop her from being a force. In fact, her height makes her a beast. It is true when they say "huge things can come in small packages". Here are just a few of the pictures that Dennice and I created together.

A Woman of Great Style

When we think of a stylist, we should first think of someone with an amazing personal style. When I think of that quality alone, I can not help but think of Shontae. This stylish woman works in the world of retail, which makes her no stranger to fashion. Shontae's home base is Philadelphia, but works up and down the east coast. Never styling for others, only herself, Shontae has decided to lend her talents to people in need of personal style. The idea to use her own personal style in a photo shoot was her idea, and she came to me to help capture the essence of that style. This was a test shoot to see how we worked together, and to see how her style came across on camera. The end result, in our opinion, was simply amazing. Check the images below to see what two creative minds came up with.