African Americans make up 44% of all new HIV infections in 2009, despite making up just 14% of the US population. Even more disproportionately affected are black women, who are 15 times more likely than white women to become infected with HIV and 3 times more likely than Latina women.

Stigma, poverty, homophobia, and a lack of awareness are all factors in the skewed numbers. But speaking out is one of many ways to combat the spread of HIV.

Special thanks to Kimberlin Dennis, Halima Grant, Naimah O’Neal and Dr. Barbara Gripshover.

A few weeks ago, I got to do a quick shoot with Meridian friend Alyssa, who works for Vanity Fair’s site. She was doing a Q&A with two Brooklyn synchronized swimmers. This was in honor of the March Issue’s Proust Questionnaire of Esther Williams, a famous (albeit retired) swimmer. There was no direction but obviously synchronizing their movements was the a visual that we were most interested in capturing. Also, since this was more fashion-y than I usually get to do, I went a little heavy handed with my flash to get the feel right. The girls, Nicole and Nicole (I know, perfect for this piece right?) were troopers. Not only did they dragg suitcases of clothes to the shoot but then posed outside in the cold. Also a shout out to Hotel Williamsburg that fed us pastries and let us use their beautiful space.

I won’t go into detail for the time being as I’m trying to convince Serena on a project that would go into depth about Barbados.

Both Will and I are in grad school (he’s at Ohio’s visual communications program, while I’m at a all over the place journalism program at CUNY) and are swamped and are failing at posting. But for good reason readers! Look at my first audio slideshow. I spent hours messing with the audio, selecting photos, and then timing everything.
I used soundslides instead of Final Cut, just to test out new software. The interface was actually fun and mostly headache free. And even though you have to host the project yourself (opposed to uploading it to Vimeo, as a Final Cut project would allow you to do), they made a great little tool to help embed projects.

My beat for school is Lower Manhattan. I picked this a few weeks before Occupy Wall Street started. Initially, I thought I’d be writing about “the yuppies” but the protest changed everything. A roommate and my next door neighbor were very passionate and down at the site of the protest regularly, often staying the night. I found out after a brief chat with my neighbor that he was the oldest overnight protester. Naturally, I asked if I could talk to him about his experiences.

Turn on the captions for a little more info here and there. Or, to see it bigger go to my website.

I looked through the nearly 5,000 photos I took that are published on the site. There were some surprises (I took a photo of Calvin Trillin, a writer I now adore but at time had to ask him to spell his name for me; A photo of a roommate before we were roommmates or even friends). There were plenty of photos I don’t recall taking, or even the event where it was taken.

Here are some of my favorites, from oldest to newest. There are some photos I like for aesthetics sake, some photos I like for a memento of nights that didn’t feel like I was working, photos I like because of the people in them. PMC, it was real. Thank you.

From the very first event I shot. John Bartlett before his runway show, New York Fashion Week 2009.

Don King and TI at Inauguration weekend in DC.

Grace Jones. Another one I didn’t know at the time. I should have known it was big deal with the model’s expression in the background.

Topshop opening. Stayed up the night before, catching some zzz’s in the bathtub before running over to hang off the side of the building to get a shot of the line.

I have never seen such a reaction at a red carpet before. People went WILD for Dolly.

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish and Nomika Zion. I read about Dr. Izzeldin in a New York Times article about losing his three daughters in Gaza when he was treating patients in Israel. Such an honor to meet him.

Waris Ahuwalia.

Venerable U Agga Nyana, Venerable U Pylnar Zawta, Venerable U Gawsita. Screening at HBO about the Burmese monk uprising. Sat with a co-worker and Albert Maysles.

Audience spill out after New York Photo Festival.

I love what a good sport Ross is being about the obvious fanboy.

This was a strange night.

I shot this entire event on manual focus without realizing it. Fortunately, this photo came out great.

Tory Burch at the First Fashion Night Out.

Dick Waggoner from Texas!

Another strange night. This time at Fendi.

There was a protest in Lower Manhattan this afternoon, against Wall Street and capitalism in general. As Wall Street falls in my beat for my journalism program (more on that later, promise) I biked down with my camera and notepad.
The organizers were expecting 20,000 but hoping for 90,000. The police expected 5,000. From what I saw the police were much closer in their guess. The protest is suppose to be in the Arab Spring tradition, with an extended occupation and protest. I’m going back Monday morning to see if that actually transpires.

This is a quick and dirty edit for expedients sake.

The Observer loves to call me when I’m about to teach at 3rd Ward. When I last shot for them, I got to rush out of class to go shoot. This time, however, I had to shoot in the Upper Eastside (Manhattan) and then teach in Bushwick (Brooklyn) 30 minutes later. For non-New Yorkers, let me explain – that doesn’t sound remotely conceivable.

But I made it work. I biked furiously through the commuters trying to get home, up and over a bridge and tore through pothole-ridden streets in Brooklyn and made it in 29 minutes. My legs felt incredibly weird the next day. Possibly because the 2nd half of this shoot took place before 8 A.M. the next morning, for which I decided to also bike.

The story is about CUNY board member Jeffrey Weisenfeld who blocked playwright Tony Kushner from getting a honorary degree because of his views on Israel. The subsequent citywide backlash and outrage caught CUNY unaware and propelled this story to dizzying (local) heights. This was particularly of interest as I’m going to be at CUNY in the fall. Also because of my interest in the Israel-Palestinian conflict and its repercussions in the states. It’s pretty fascinating when a Jewish playwright can be blocked by a Jewish board member over his “extremist” views on Israel, which really top out at protesting the settlement policy in the Palestinian territories.

Weisenfeld, however, said to a New York Times reporter that the Palestinians were “People who worship death for their children are not human.” So there’s that. The decision was uninamously reversed at an emergency meeting.

Here are some shots that I’m CERTAIN that the Observer would have run, if there had just been the space.

Last month, after a quick trip down the California coast with @younglucas, I finally arrived. Mexico City was a mix of Spain and what I had seen in Baja. Large, tree-lined squares, with dingy holes-in-the-wall serving the delicious tacos just around the corner. I found my favorite store in Spain (Pull and Bear) near the Zocalo, blocks away from first street food I ate. The struggle to find a balance between old versus new, which haunts where I lived in Spain, is also apparent in Mexico.

While the violence rarely kept me away from Tijuana, I never even gave it a thought in Mexico City. The only place I have ever seen more automatic weapons is Israel, but the federales can’t be far behind.

J Parson watches emergency crews work at the scene of a car accident outside of Girard, Kansas.

The past year my dad, J Parson, pushed his music career ever higher with the release of his fifth CD — his first with a full band accompaniment — and gigs across the country. It still seems funny to me, even several years since he got serious about his cowboy songs. I still only see Dad. But, I’ve also come to appreciate that his style — boots, hats, sunglasses, guitars — is distinctive and not to be taken as commonplace among dads in general.

I’ve collected my favorite images of my dad from the past year or so, viewable below.

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Best of January 2011 – Images by Will Parson

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