Exploring an abandoned sanitarium was the last thing on my list to do. Somehow, after avoiding it for almost 30 years, photography presented a reason to walk the halls of the decaying building that used to house people with tuberculosis.

Watch The Full Visual Episode https://youtu.be/QmKBoRHe-QE

YouTube www.youtube.com/bryonsummers

www.SUMSBrand.com Use code 'SUMS' for 10% off your entire order

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The first images I shot on my Fuji X100s was Bobby Shmurda. It was my first mirrorless camera and I almost missed my shot because I didn't fully charge the 3 batteries it came with! Here's the story behind the 3 photos I was able to capture.  

Watch The Full Visual Episode
https://youtu.be/wBsCDJ9CzSg

YouTube
www.youtube.com/bryonsummers

www.SUMSBrand.com
Use code 'SUMS' for 10% off your entire order 

www.BryonSummers.com

After shooting the Taj Gibson Family day basketball event in 2019, I was looking forward to shooting NYC streetball this year. Unfortunately, just like all of the major sports, the Summer tournaments were shut down.  This set of images tells a story of a community coming together through sports and giving back. This was also my first streetball event. 

Watch The Full Visual Episode
https://youtu.be/TuzhumcthJw

YouTube
www.youtube.com/bryonsummers

Equipment used
Photos shot on Fuji x100s and Sony A7
Edited in Adobe Lightroom

SUMSBrand.com
Use code 'SUMS' for 10% off your entire order  

BryonSummers.com

Sometimes you have to show the world before they believe it.   

Gabe Stone Shayer is one of a handful of black dancers in the American Ballet Theater. He told me how hard it was for a black person to be cast for a prominent role like a prince. He was told that he did not look the part. So he got a little help from the legendary Dapper Dan of Harlem to make him look royal. Gabe would show up to the ABT fall Galla a king.  

More about Gabe Stone Shayer www.instagram.com/gabestoneshayer

Equipment used
Photos shot on Fuji x100s and Sony A7
Edited in Adobe Lightroom

SUMSBrand.com
Use code 'SUMS' for 10% off your entire order  
BryonSummers.com

This series originally aired on youtube but with quite a few requests, it’s here in podcast format. You can still watch the full visual series on my youtube.com/BryonSummers

Full Visual Episode
https://youtu.be/OD9vY9i1ecQ

As a kid, my mother would read me bedtime stories, but my father would tell me exciting stories from his own childhood. They were action packed, almost unbelievable, and probably influenced my own rambunctious childhood. This particular story took place in Mt. Vernon, New York in the '60s and involved his brother Freddy, an abandoned car, and kid breaking in his new boots.

In episode 6 of WGB, we vist Christina Bright at her home in Newark, NJ. We talk to Christina aka Chris Miss about what it is to be a creative in addtion to being a mom, actress, model, and influencer among the many other hats she wears. _ 
Instagram.com/ChrisMiss_ Website: www.BryonSummers.com www.
Instagram.com/WereGettingBetter — Photographer Spotlight: Dawoud Bey Bey, born in New York in 1953 holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University School of Art and is currently Professor of Art and a Distinguished College Artist at Columbia College Chicago, where he has taught since 1998. but before all of that he credited a 1969, visit to the exhibition Harlem on My Mind at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for his determination to become an artist. Ten years later, in 1979 he exhibited his first one-person show at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Bey has held numerous exhibitions worldwide, at institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Barbican Centre in London, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA, the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art among many others. In 2012 the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago organized Dawoud Bey: Picturing People, a survey exhibition of his work from 1981-2012. Harlem, USA was published by Yale University Press in conjunction with the Art Institute of Chicago in May 2012, where the work was exhibited in its entirety for the first time since it was first shown at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1979. He recently completed a project with the Birmingham Museum of Art that commemorates the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project. Bey’s works are included in the permanent collections of numerous museums, both in the United States and abroad. In addition to his photographs, Bey’s writings have appeared in publications throughout Europe and the United States, including High Times Hard Times: New York Painting, 1967-1975, The Van DerZee Studio, and David Hammons: Been There Done That. He has curated a wide range of exhibitions at museums and institutions. For more on Dawoud Bey check out Rena Bransten Gallery dot com — Music:
KB @push-music

"Whats your lane? Is it sports? Its it portraits? Maybe its nature… Oh and thats just the overall genre. If you had to really specify what you shoot, what would it be? So not just sports… but which sport? Is it Hockey portraits? Maybe you have a passion for zoology and you’ve got a burning desire to document every living species of bird in North America. Now THATS a lane..." Website: www.BryonSummers.com www.
Instagram.com/WereGettingBetter — Photographer Spotlight: Roy DeCarava. Born December 9th,1919 in Harlem, Roy DeCarava would grow up to be a renowned master photographer. He began his career as a painter and later turned to photography by the 1940s. His photographs were initially used as references for what would eventually end up on the canvas as paintings but by 1952, DeCarava was all in. He embraced photography as his new medium and was even the 9th photographer to receive the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. He considered his images artistic expressions - serious, artistic, and universally human. He worked for Columbia, Prestige, ABC Paramount, and Atlantic records as well as Sports Illustrated and Scientific American until the 1970s when he became a professor of art at Cooper Union. He’s received several honorary degrees from Rhode Island School of Design, Maryland Institute of Art, The Parsons School of Design and the Art Institute of Boston for contributions to American Art. In addition to his many accolades, DeCarava was awarded the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the National Arts Club and the Master of Photography Award of the International Center of Photography. In 2006, he was awarded the National Medal of Art from the National Endowment for the Arts, presented by President George W. Bush. Decarava died of natural caused October 27, 2009. For more of Roy DeCarava visit http://decarava.org/ — Music:
KB @push-music

Who are you trying to impress? I’ve been extremely geeked about the success so far of the We Love You project. I’ve talked about it in almost every episode of Shooting with Shooters and of course posting flyers all over social media for every city we visited. The goal is to take a the individual portrait of 1000 Black men ranging from babies to great grandfathers. So far we’ve hit 4 cities and now have had over 500 participants. Rewind to earlier this year. A month before my 30th birthday. I’m packing up my Brooklyn apartment and getting ready to move back to Maryland. I’m moving back home… for 2nd time. 5 years prior, I had made a similar move from Norfolk, Virginia back home to regroup. It’s great to have family that lets you come back and embraces you… but at some point you start to feel like you failed. After all, you’re not following the expected path to adulthood. You graduate high school, go to college. Four years later you start your career and find a wife or a husband then start a family. You work for about 30 years retire and enjoy life as a grandparent after watching your own kids follow the same path to adulthood. … yea, that wasn't and still isn’t my path. Website: www.BryonSummers.com www.
Instagram.com/WereGettingBetter — Photographer Spotlight: Coreen Simpson — Music:
KB @push-music

In episode 3 of WGB, we visit Mike Meadows in Maryland on a stormy night and sip a few new beers. I got a chance to talk to Mike about some intense gigs and lessons learned from them in addition to exploring what his preferred genre of commercial photography requires. _ www.
Instagram.com/SirMeadows Website: www.BryonSummers.com www.
Instagram.com/WereGettingBetter — Photographer Spotlight: Jamel Shabazz Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Shabazz started documenting friends and peers at the age of 15. Shabazz’s work in the 1980s covered the fashion, lifestyle, environment, and social conditions of African Americans. He’s noted as a pioneer of street photography and is responsible for hundreds if not thousands of images at the beginning of the hip hop era. You can find his work in over 5 books compiled with collections of curated images in addition to collaborative projects. To date, Shabazz has taught with the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, the Bronx Museum, The International Center of Photography, and the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Expanding the Walls Project. For more on Jamel Shabazz, visit JamelShabazz.com and watch for a quick reference to his work in episode 2 of Luke Cage on Netflix. — Music:
KB @push-music

In episode 2 of WGB, we visit Antwon Maxwell in DC. He started his photography career in Korea shooting fashion. Since then he's moved back to the states and has been working on perfecting his craft. _ website: www.AntwonMaxwellPhotography.com www.
Instagram.com/AntwonMaxwellPhotography Website: www.BryonSummers.com www.
Instagram.com/WereGettingBetter — Photographer Spotlight: James Van Der Zee — Music:
KB @push-music