Vision Beyond The Lens by -J.J. McQueen-

Cancer Season 3 As most of you know 90% of my friends and colleagues work just as hard if not harder than I do.  One of those gentlemen happens to be Jeff Phillips, owner of Infocus Studios .  Jeff and and I have been friends for a number of years. We've supported one another's business ventures and families as they've both grown over the years.  This season I've been filming the Archbishop Spalding high school football team's season for Jeff's company. This is my third season covering the team's progress.  I've seen them at their highest and their lowest moments.  So as you can imagine it's difficult to not develop a bond with the coaches and players. Season 3 hasn't been any different than season one. The 2011 season has definitely proven to be a staple in the Archbishop Spalding family's character.  Prior to the start of the season Head Coach Mike Whittles was diagnosed with Cancer.  Little did the team know that the game of fo...

High Point is an experience.  It’s the foundation of my success and the core of my being.  It’s been a road map to freedom for millions.  She’s rich in tradition and considered by many to be a melting pot for the Carolinas.  In 1995 when I left for college I had no idea in the years that would follow, that High Point would be so heavily engrained in my soul.  As young a person it’s easy to allow the quest for greatness to become tainted by life.  High Point is who I am, the people, the sites, the smell of the handcrafted furniture being engineered by thousands and the authenticity of who High Point as a community.  In those un-pure moments the thought of those things will remind you of whom and who’s you are.   This weekend as I cruised by High Point University I was reminded by the voices of the great ones that are no longer with us. I thought about Mr. Fo Fo working in the cafeteria during my high school days at summer basketball c...

The Defining Moment for most people comes when their strength and character are being tested. With the amount of professional growth that I've been experienced this summer the same holds true for me. I've had a wave of new clients this season and I've also had the privilege of retaining older ones. My latest clients are the Johnson's. They've been married for a little more than 30 days and they chose me to photograph their wedding. When they reached out to me I was initially stunned. Why? VJ the groom is one of my in-laws and I very seldom accept family members as clients. However, this one was special. A few years prior I had the honor of capturing another memorable moment of VJ's. I challenged myself with this project. Having a second chance at capturing life as VJ saw it was undoubtedly challenging, but to know that someone trusted me with both phases of life was the greatest compliment to my career. This project exposed everything that I...

From the time that I was old enough to participate in organized sports, I've had the privilege of having been around the best players of my generation. Today many of us are far removed from being those players and organized sports. With the boom of social media, we've reconnected in recent years. However, in the quiet moments of life, there are some who have found themselves struggling with identifying with others in society that don't work or play hard like our old teammates. I've had this conversation my friend/business partner David as we talk about what it takes to build a good team. I believe we both agree that it's one of the most challenging tasks of life and entrepreneurship. Fortunately for me, I've had tremendous influences around my entire life. Most of which have helped me identify great talent and great people. Several months ago on a flight to New Orleans, I met what I believed to be another great talent. He stood about 6 foot 7 i...

Instant Vintage The Moment During my playing days at ECU , my head football Coach Steve Logan always stressed to me that when he called my number that I'd only get one shot at greatness. He never told me that I'd get a second chance if I got it right the first time. That's the beauty of sports. If you stay healthy, learn the system and produce you get chance after chance. That doesn't happen with entrepreneurship . If you get it right 9 times and on the 10th try you mess up, people will be hesitant about calling you back. Today I met with a very influential person in the Baltimore business community. For the sake of privacy I'll refer to him as, "Mr. Glass". I'm sure he has wealth beyond my years, but the conversation felt as if I had know him for 32 of my 33 years on earth. He was a scholar and a transparent gentleman. He was also and Alum of Princeton University . Princeton happens to be on my 7 year old daughter's college watch list. ...

This past weekend the CRU was amazingly productive. We traveled to Dallas, TX to film the Under Armour Youth Sports Combine. The first day that we were there it was 75 degrees. On the second day it was 85 degrees. On the third day is was a record breaking 40 degrees and rainy. On our final day it was 75 degrees and sunny. Why am I giving you the play by play of weather? It's simple, with such a promising weekend who knew that on the most important day of our shooting schedule that it would turn out to be the worst weather day of the trip. However, there was one individual or bright spot that stood out. Her name was, "Hello". The way that she greeted us was unique because "Hello" changed my entire perception of the city of Dallas. She was sweet! She was tall! She was warm and even though her day was cold. She told me about her travels. She even welcomed me back to her gorgeous streets. Although when the CRU and I first met her, her day seemed to have...

The other day I was downtown shooting some spring stills of the homeless and I overheard these two little kids talking about their first. Just like you, my reaction I was like, what? I listened for few more minutes and they were talking about being the first to do or be something great in their neighborhood's. One kid said he was going to be the first to not move back home with his parents. The other kid said he was going to be a mechanic because they own a beat down car that stays in the shop. Just like most kids, these two little guys were sharp. They caught me ease dropping like I do often. They said "Mr, have you ever been the first at anything"? I replied, "yes". They both said, "what"? I replied, "I was my parents first born child". Jacob the older of the two boys said, "that's lame, give us something worth listening to". I let out a big laugh, I saw that these two little guys were looking for something to hold...

The greiBO CRU's new look. (Pronounced gray bo) Davis Grei, CEO and Executive Producer at the Miami Dolphins practice facility. Matthew Brennan, our resident lighting director turned photographer. Dan Carpenter, DP, Editor and Director J.J. McQueen, DP, Director & Camera Op The CRU's Review. In October of 2010 I told myself that I couldn't do it all and I wouldn't do it all without some great pieces and people around me. Little did I know at the time that I was mentally setting myself up for something much bigger than I had anticipated. In 1994 my high school football team was put out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in a decade. We where 11-1. The following day I was interviewed by a local reporter and I told him that we were going to win the state championship in basketball as a redeemer. He laughed. I didn't. In the spring of 1995, the state of North Carolina's high school athletic commission crowned my teammates and I Class-3A...

5 years ago today my world changed forever. I was sitting in front of my Mac Apple G5 editing a highlight reel for the Maryland little league super bowl game. For me it was the shot heard around the world. Unfortunately, in that moment the bullet felt like it hit me. I remember a thick silence and a loud ringing in my ears. It was probably the sound of denial being unmasked as pain at the sound of hearing my mother had passed away... Several years removed from that moment, my thoughts are much different about her absence. I focus on the things that I learned from her existence. I've often made reference to one of my first loves being football a sport that she probably hated. Mainly due to the risk of the game, but she cared so much about my dreams and beliefs she took the extra time to support me. I remember my dad being away at work one weekend and she had to put my pads in my game pants. What a day that was. I looked like a replacement player, but she never let me kno...

In 2010 I was blessed to make strides that one could only dream of. Personally I was able to revise special bonds and build on consistent ones. Professionally, I don't even know where to begin. I have 5 new business partners who I plan on making history with, ( www.greiBo.com , greiBo Cru coming soon). With such a productive year behind me, I've had to ask myself how do you top that? So 10 days into the new year the answer came to me. I don't. I've come to the conclusion if I focus on all that I accomplished last year that this year will be a bust. My focus has to increase in places that are unfamiliar to me. In doing that, I will have then opened myself up to the windows of change and progress. The things of yesteryear are yesterdays news. So to my family and friends, let's go make some new history in 2011.

Never in my life have I been an avid reader. However, this year I've made it a point to become one. Aside from reading the Bible I picked up The HP Way by David Packard , one of the original owners of the Hewlett Packard Company , and Black Faces In White Places by Randal Pinkett the first African American winner of the Celebrity Apprentice . I purchased these two books on the same day and little did I know that it would be the perfect marriage of things to read. Going into 2011 the economy was down and so were people. I took an unstable time as a personal challenge to be more creative. This meant I had to increase my working knowledge of the business of business and redirect my attention to forging new and meaningful relationships. With my new reading material I've learned a great deal about both elements that I mentioned above. In ten years of being in the visual media world I've worked with who I believe are the best of the best in the industry. However, there ...