Naomie Labaty

Born in Haiti after the ousting of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Naomie Labaty describes herself as a person with a creatively incoherent mind; therefore, she decided to write poems.

"I always have tragic thoughts in my mind,"said Labaty, who writes about Haiti, love (especially love that is unfulfilled) and other entities that she is deeply drawn into. 

She partly grew up in Haiti where she completed her primary education at Saint Francois D'Assise and spent two additional years at Centre D'Etude Secondaire.  At age 13, Labaty moved to the United States and finished high school there.
Labaty spent three years at a university in Boston, but  couldn't decide what career path to take. It wasn't until the massive earthquake in Haiti (12/01/10) that she realized that her actual goal in life was to be helpful to her country. Thus, she moved to Florida to feel closer to Haiti and to study political science and international relations at Florida International University.
Labaty also became involved in many cultural activities promoting the Haitian society. She even had the chance to perform in a spectacle called Ayiti Manman Libete, which focused on dance, music and poetry to support the culture of Haiti.
Along with a friend, she founded Boukan, a cultural night, at Moca Cafe in Florida.
In addition, she enjoys reading and reciting her poems, and to share those poetic thoughts with others, she videotapes them and uploads them on youtube. Above is one sample of her videos recounting the animated life of the haitian youth in a first person scenario. She had received great feedback for it and explained that many thought that she was telling her story.
"When something speaks to them, they give so much back," said Labaty.
Labaty, who describes speech as her forte, also host a show on Island T.V., called Plezi Soley, at 8 p.m on Fridays. 

She has a blog, Anthology of a Heartbreak, where she shares writings and videos pertaining to the subject of love. Please take a look at it at http://naomiel.blogspot.com/. I find her poems conversational and undisguised with just enough literary devices. 

Do not forget to follow her if you enjoy her poems. ☺
Labaty is currently working on a CD version of her most praised poems and short essays. 

Here are additional links to her facebook page and youtube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/naomiel1

https://www.facebook.com/naomielayiti?sk=wall

Photography, Jazz and Heather Pinson

Photo provided by Heather Pinson

There are many photographic books on Herman Leonard, but what makes Heather Pinson's book, The Jazz Image, unique is its focus on the life of Herman Leonard and his jazz photography, representing symbolic images of jazz players.
He was a photographer from the mid 1900's and worked for famous magazines, such as Playboy magazine and Life magazine.  He was also a commercial photographer and took pictures of album covers for major record companies.
Aside from his other works, Leonard, who loved Jazz, was a good friend of some of the jazz musicians and used to frequent Harlem where the African-American culture culminated. He would follow the jazz musicians from New York to Paris and took many pictures of them.
Even though he was not the only photographer to capture the life of jazz musicians, he was given credit for creating that jazz image. One of the main features of his photographs was his focus on smoke. Even in a dark background, Leonard was able to capture the immersing smoke, which helped symbolized the jazz image.
Even though those pictures were taken during the 1940's and 1950's, he only became famous in 1988 when he had an exhibition, titled The Image of Jazz, at The Special Photographer's Company in London. People started seeing his jazz photography and paying attention to his emblematic and amazing images. This show helped relaunch his career.
"Herman caught them at the right time in the right place," said Pinson, referring to Leonard's importance in photography pertaining to jazz.

Herman Leonard and Heather Pinson. Photo provided by Heather Pinson

Pinson wanted to write about how Leonard represented jazz in his photographs and created the visual culture of the jazz music. She also had the great pleasure of meeting this legend and interview him for her book.
"[this book] contributes to a view point about jazz that people don't look at," said Pinson. "It is about visual photography and music."
Her book is very important not only because it tells the story of the culture of jazz but because it is the last book written before the death of Leonard.

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Image-Leonards-Photography-American/dp/1604734949