The City of Tampa was looking for solutions for speeding traffic and deteriorating neighborhoods. They also sought community activities as the city slowly recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The city partnered with several local organizations to support the Art on the Block project and found artists to paint murals at intersections throughout the city to add visual interest and “calm” traffic. It happened at a dozen intersections and was called Art on the Block. It was a fun shooting assignment.

James “Jimmy” Vann was the artist who designed the work at the intersection of 21st Ave and 15th Street. He worked with a team of artists, blocking the intersection and painting on the asphalt in the mid-day June sun. Jimmy, walking around in his all-white painter's outfit splattered with some colorful paint, stood out to me. I approached him about making a portrait. It turns out that this former New York corrections officer from Brooklyn, who taught art to inmates before coming to Tampa, and I have a lot in common. We are both jazz nuts. He once played trumpet, and I still play jazz guitar. He taught me things about Black life and growing up in his generation that I never knew. He painted a series of murals at the 22nd St Tampa Police Station. When I scouted them looking for a place to photograph him, I knew it was the place for the portrait. I wanted to put him in his beautiful art and was able to wrap him in the arms of this piece.

His neo-cubist jazz paintings speak my language of music, color, and tradition. We have since developed a bond. It’s one of those relationships that feels like you’ve known someone your entire life, or at least should have.

Technical Info: Gear: Canon EOS 5D MK IV, EF24-70 f/2.8. Exposure: 1/80s @ f/2.8 ISO 50

One studio light with a gridded soft box with diffuser enhances daylight and fills shadows.