JetBlak and DoubleCrossed

OK, LAST SATURDAY, 9th August 2014, was a hectic one… why?… it was a day of double-crossing, not only for me — the MediaAssassinExtraordinaire™ — but also for my JetBlakInk™ SplishySplashy team.  Not in the traditional sense of the word “double-cross”, but somehow two events managed to get booked on the same day, at the same time… Shazzbot!  By the time I realised what I had done,  it was too late to pull out of either, and so naturally, I just went ahead and faced the prospect of splitting myself in half to do both. I can do that… I told myself buffing out my chessss.

The first event was a book launch. A new client named Monica Brown, was publishing her book: My Journey Back to Zanzibar, at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton. She had seen my work at the launching of said archive two weeks before, and insisted that she hire me as a photographer, as she said she liked my “quirky look”… I wasn’t quite sure if she was talking about my photography, or how I actually look in real life… Regardless to say, l took the job telling myself: “work is work, and quirk is quirk, and bills need paying”.

The second event was “The Naturally You Day” in Deptford, an event focussing on natural products and reverting to being your own natural self.  This event was put on by a power-house of a natural Sister, named; Leah Salmon.  In my mind, Sis. Leah had toyed with the idea of commissioning the Ink for months… (the JetBlakInk™ that is), and the few times we had bumped into each other while I was filming other events for other clients, she had often enquired…  and I would usually make that cool telephone gesture…  you know, that one where you extend your thumb and little finger, raising your hand to your ear, meaning: “call me”… you know the one where you have to sign off in sign language by pointing directly at the person, winking that wink, and making a slik: “kik! kik!” act-like-you-know kinda sound in the back of your throat!  Well this time she actually acted like she knew, contacted me, and booked the 9th August tentatively… Sistars eh!

Anyway to cut a long story short, now I was double-booked.  This was obviously a job for International Rescue, and so I had to make the call innit?. A quick flick of the red button discretely hidden under the cheesecake dish in the kitchen, (Ahem) and the dinner table slowly descended and was replaced by the JetBlakInk™ Operation Double-Cross table, complete with maps of London, electronic read-outs spewing useful information to who ever needed to know, and adorned with tiny avatars representing Thunderbirds One, and Thunderbird Two… Enter the dragons; Elijah iCha, AKA DeadlyHunter™ and Joseph iCha AKA SniperSniper™, my two trustee trainee MediaAssassin sons.  I briefed the boys as to what needed to be done in each job, and asked them if they thought they could handle it?… “No problem Father” they responded in unison, all the while our SuperSuits where magically and mechanically being fitted to us by flying robots, whizzing round the kitchen, just like in the movie Iron Man, even while I spoke…. then off we flew laden with technical gear, full of anticipation and ready to save the woooooOOOORRRLLD…

Ok, you’ve probably guessed by now, that the above version of events is slightly exaggerated. Story tellers license I guess. The truth is my boys did me proud. I set them up at The Naturally You Day in Deptford… Canons, tripods, mics, lights, and let them go.  I then high-tailed it back down to Brixton, where I shot my shots at the Zanzibar book launch like there weren’t no tomorrow. The launch was only for an hour, so when the event was done, I raced all the way back to Deptford, to rejoin the yooots, who, I must say, were doing a very good job without me. Large up LC Kwanzaa for the fly-by-your-pants ride through the back streets of Saaaf Laaandan.

Did I have a good time at the events?… Funnily enough, I am only ever able to tell if I had a good event, once it’s all over, and I’m at home looking at the footage. I can’t go to bed until I’ve looked at all the pictures and at least some of the footage (if I’m filming and photographing that is). I could be nacreeed little more, and trust me I was nacreeed… I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t get a look first.

My boys, on the other hand, always tend to get nervous when I’m reviewing the footage late at night, and so will leg-it to their rooms, and have been known to even pretend to sleep, snoring over-loudly, in an attempt to dissuade me from coming in to apprehend them, if I happen across some of their dodgy shooting on the tape.  Luckily for them, that didn’t happen… there were quite a few good shots, like the beautiful pic of the Salmon family, and the one with myself and Dr Lez Henry at the top of this article. Being the MediaAssassinExtraordinaire™, they know that I have a reputation to keep, so I’ll just have to look a bit harder using my snipers crosshair tomorrow methinks…