UPTOWN ARTIST – DJ BOY

BY Led Black (@Led_Black)

What makes Uptown so special?

I believe that growing up where I did, Inwood, made me the man I am today. Sounds like a college entrance essay intro I know, but I don’t know how else to say it. Everything I grew up with, from the worst times, finding crack bottles, needles etc when I was a kid to the best times running around various roof tops and basements around Washington Heights. Doing all this gave me unique views to a city that I would later on grow up to love capturing with videos and pictures. The diversity of Uptown is amazing and most people that live outside of it don’t realize it. As years pass by more and more different cultures move in and out, even though it is still highly populated by Dominicans, and further diversify the neighborhood. My favorite part of living Uptown is the fact that there are 4 bridges that are easily accessible by foot from where I live.

What do you like about shooting Uptown?

As mentioned before, the bridges are a great part of living Uptown. The fact that I can just go to the Bronx and New Jersey within a few minutes of walking, ups the photo opportunities. Also, a lot of New York photographers like to go downtown and take pictures down there, or from Brooklyn. I’m not saying I don’t take pictures from there, but I like to take more pictures from spots that people don’t usually visit. Makes for more uniqueness, even though you can have 50 artists in the same spot and have 50 different portrayals of the place. Uptown is a whole different world when compared to any other part of the city. I love it.

I really like the way you use negative space in your pictures, what is your take on that?

Silhouettes have an amazing way of telling a story with such simplicity, so when I take pictures I try to let the viewer come up with a fun story for themselves of what’s happening in it.

You seem to wear many hats, what are some of them?

I make videos, take pictures, and mix music. So you can say, I’m a djectorographer.

How would you describe yourself as an artist?

I take every compliment humbly and for some reason I don’t like calling myself a director or photographer. I just like to say that I love taking pictures and videos and if you like it, that makes me feel great. If you want to pay me, that makes me feel even better haha. Seriously though, it’s about leaving something behind when I’m gone. I teach myself everything and I want to be able to teach my children and other younger generations that expressing artistic sides doesn’t come from years of special art schools, it comes from the heart.

Is there anything else you would like our audience to know about you or your work?

I am part of a collective of artistic minds that we call Music For Daze. Dom P, Alvarez, Arismendy, Myself and any other stray artists we find along the path to the top. My main focus right now is getting Dom P, a New York City rapper, out there for everyone to hear because I know for a fact that he is going to be the greatest thing to happen to that industry in a long time.

You can check out my work at www.artbydjboy.com, Music For Daze at www.whatismfd.com and Dom P at www.DomPonline.com. As well as

www.djboy.tumblr.com & www.twitter.com/djboy09

Thanks for reading and I hope everyone enjoys the Music, Videos and Pictures.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_8kGimJh18]