Newsletter Issue 20

Here’s some of the content from my newsletter Issue 11 you can enjoy. Here’s the link to the entire newsletter should you want to read it. And you should, you’ve come this far. :)

I mean... the pandemic is a weird time.

Hold the presses, Antoine's got a really hot take. You heard it here folks, the pandemic... it's a weird time. 
wow. 
Let me explain... last year, I shot some portraits of my family during Halloween. SImple enough. Here's an example:

I wanted to show a snapshot of Halloween in a cul-de-sac in America. it resonated with people more than I thought. 
Well, back in July Stepping Stone saw these images and thought of hiring me for their new campaign: Living out loud. 

The campaign is about celebrating the lives of people that have gone through the Stepping Stone program to showcase them as proof that addiction is not a finality and that this program and these awesome people are part of our community.

I have had a conversation with every single person I have photographed and I can tell you that I have never seen such mental strength or dedication to their own happiness. I knew that addiction had nothing to do with the strength of their character but it's something else to look at someone straight in the eyes while they're telling you their addiction story and how they battled it to come out the other side. 

I can't show you all of the pictures right now, but here is a couple at least...

An update on Portraits Of My Father

It's a funny thing... I started this project on a whim in November 2019. After a couple of test sessions, I realized how much I cared about this project and decided to go full steam ahead. The objective: photograph 40 fathers and their children to talk about modern fatherhood. Simple enough. 
Again, the pandemic is a weird time... (wow, that's some great writing Antoine 🙄). Even with the pandemic raging, I was able to photograph 37 fathers in less than a year. Pretty good considering the circumstances... nonetheless, I was having a really hard time finding the right candidates for the last 3/4 last fathers to include to really tie up the project in a nice little bow. It was very clear to me from the beginning that I wanted to have as much representation as possible in this project. I really wanted to include members of the transgender and native American population along with the LGBTQ and disabled community... and of course, as many POCs as possible. 
I agree, a tall order... which is why I have been holding out on finishing the project and moving on to the book because some pieces are missing.

Because of my involvement with Stepping Stone, I now have some leads with those communities and I'm so happy about it. 

So why am I talking about it today? Because the awesome, funny, and thoughtful comedian/podcaster/director Hari Kondabolu agreed to be part of this crazy thing I started on a lark... and now, I met one of my comedy heroes (input record scratching sound bite).