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

When I was kid I remember most adults spending their days telling me what I should be and how things should go in order for me to be successful.  Needless to say a lot of those people were wrong.  However, there was one lady that spent her entire life showing me how life should go.  She taught me what sacrifice and unconditional love was all about.  I met her in August of 1977.  It was a real cool day.  After a long day of pain and pushing she finally mustard the strength to reveal my face. That was the day that I met my mother.  From there we spent 29 years together laughing, crying, learning and praying that life would be kind to us.  Life has indeed been kind.  The journey was one that many had an opportunity to witness.  In January 2006 her number was called, she was drafted to play for the team of Heavenly All-American Moms.  She left us here to carry on a legacy and the traditions of the many generations before us. ...

After twelve years of filming sports, things can become a bit repetitive but I guess that holds true in any profession.  In the world of journalism if you're really paying attention to your surroundings then there aren't many dull moments.  So the chances of the same ole same ole happening is less likely to occur.  Here I am on the fifth rotation of the Super 7 series with (HSRN) Heritage Sports Radio Network and all of the above remained constant.  For anyone that knows me you know that I often find myself in conversations with some of the most unique people.  This trip didn't prove to be anything shy of the norm for me. So I'm sitting in the dining area of our hotel eating breakfast with our co-producer Mark Gray and these two young ladies come strolling in.  Needless to say I recognize the voices from the early morning echo in the hallways.  I made a quick executive decision to strike up a conversation based on voice recognition. Why in the wor...

At the horizon of this college football season, I had a brief conversation with a good friend of mine about the relevance of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU’s).   At the time of the conversation I wasn’t prepared to defend or deny the validity of HBCU’s.   That held true until I signed on with the Heritage Sports Radio Network as the internet-photo/video content producer.   Fast forward to the midway point of the 2012 college football season and I’m ready to exploit the need for HBCU’s.   Some could make the argument that since I’m not an HBCU graduate, I may not be equipped to hold my own in the conversation.   For those with those thoughts, I say to you that photos and videos are the undeniable truth when a man is proving a point. I’m sure just like many major and mid-major institutions they have their internal and external challenges.   However, the dream and quest for equal education for all minority students still h...

When I was a little kid growing up in Trinity, North Carolina, I would sit on the front porch and wonder what the world was like beyond my neighborhood.  Surrounded by old cars, failing home structures and loving people, it was there that my imagination began to take shape.  There was an old air field that we would ride past sometimes to get home and I remember wondering what it would be like to see my house from the sky.  Fast forward to now and I stay in the sky and can't see my rooftop at all, lol.  As I get further a long in my career my friends and family often ask me how do I see the things that I see...  How do I process the images in front of me?   After I clear the air with a joke or two, I pause to give the proper perspective on the question.  I share with them the feelings/emotion of what I see vs the visual side of what I see.  In every environment most of us use all of our senses to survive.  The same goes for capturing imp...

Recently, I spent some long overdue time with an old family friend.  Needless to say the time that we spent together was priceless.  I was reminded of why it's important to preserve the past while enhancing the present and the future.  Post our conversation, the theme that resonated with me most has been accountability.  If a person decided to research the history of the pioneers and settlers all across the world, most would find that they all shared in the responsibility to build a solid today and forecast good things for tomorrow, all by holding one another accountable.  Accountability is characteristic that is rapidly fading to black.  I mean that in a very literal sense.  Some may say that I'm out of touch because of my expectations...  Arguably, that may be a valid point.  However, having high expectations of people is unrealistic period, because people change as much as the wind blows.  In the my early days of training to b...

THREE years ago when I decided to turn my passion for photo-journalism into something with it's own identity, I never factored in how the world would receive me.  I often reflect back to my childhood growing up in a Southern Baptist Church, focusing on the things that we were required to know.  I had to learn hymns because my mom was the choir director, a ton of black history and the other was a scripture.  For some reason out of the three the scripture is what I held onto. Don't ask me how because most of the time I was day dreaming about scoring touchdowns.  The scripture that I was most fond of was from the book of Proverbs 18:16; It read,  "A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men".  The translation for me as a kid was if I had a good job I'd get paid and meet famous people. Needless to say that my childhood interpretation wasn't to far off the mark. More importantly   the one thing that I've grown to learn about that part...

Deep Creek... Often times when I'm shooting my goal is to tell a story from a distance. To be seen and unseen. My mission is to be the invisible six foot five inch man.  It saddens me to say that I can't hide, and I never get to shoot from a distance! So, I've come to the realization that some photo-journalist are designed to be in the thick of it all.   This next blog entry that I'm about to share with you isn't exactly for sensitive people.  It's about a weekend that I'll never forget.  It was filled with moments that left me saying, "what in the world did I just shoot"?  Was that real? Did he just say what I think he said?  Are these old people that have been married for 50 years serious?  It was a weekend of photographing married folks.  Yes, I said, "married folks".   After reviewing hundreds of photos I came up with a sound title for this entry.   Marriage Sucks... A unique title huh?   I've been promising my wife a w...

It's the 3rd day of the new year and at 12:54 am I should be resting.  This morning I don't think that's going to be the case. Instead I'm on a creative grind that won't let me wind down.  I even post it in my Facebook status and my friend and fellow entrepreneur Ryan C. Greene said, "Visionaries don't have business hours".  How right he is.   Vision 1 Point 0.