Before you read a word about Regie Gibson, please listen to his work - whether you're a poetry enthusiast or not, his work will blow you away. Have a listen to his recent TedxBoston talk, below, a mix of poetry and groove that mixes deadly serious topics with wicked humor via one beautiful voice:
Regie is a former National Poetry Slam Individual Champion, and was selected one of Chicago Tribune's Artist of the Year for Excellencefor his poetry. Poet, songwriter, author, workshop facilitator, and educator, Regie has performed, taught, and lectured at schools, universities, and theaters on two continents and in seven countries. Regie and his work appear in the New Line Cinema film, love jones, based largely on events in his life. I was introduced to Regie through photographing him for the Boston Author Project, and I feel very fortunate to now call him a friend.
Every time I enter an author's chosen space to photograph, I'm visually thinking about what spaces will best convey both the writer's work, and character of the writer. When I walked into Regie Gibson's house, I was immediately drawn to a door with beautiful hand-drawn texture to it, full of scratches and scrapes that had been etched into it over the years. I'm afraid that I may have been a bit faint in enthusiasm with my first hello to Regie, because I was so fixated by his door. I knew that I had to integrate it into some of the portraits of Regie.
It is easy to get carried away as a photographer when photographing someone as striking as Regie, making cool images for the sake of it - so many beautiful, hip, moodily lit images came from our session together.
Yet the final image chosen for the Boston Author's Project show really represented Regie's true character - engaging, warm, and open, in front of a well-scratched door that had been chiseled by his kids over the years.