{"id":12596,"date":"2015-11-19T18:57:59","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T18:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.jaredgruenwald.com\/?p=12596"},"modified":"2015-11-19T18:57:59","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T18:57:59","slug":"blaqmel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefteyedstudios.blog\/?p=12596","title":{"rendered":"Blaqmel."},"content":{"rendered":"

I popped into the Saint Lazarus Bar<\/a>\u00a0for a quick beer the other night after seeing John Zorn’s Simulacrum at Johnny Brenda’s. \u00a0To the left of where I sat was this mysterious stranger hugging a guitar while slowly sipping a drink and to the right of me was this wall emblazoned with an image of a fiery red forest. Clearly this man was meant to be photographed in front of this wall. I ask to shoot people I don’t know\u00a0with some regularity so without hesitating I slid down towards the stranger, introduced myself and asked if I could take a picture of\u00a0him in front of said wall on fire. He shot\u00a0back a quick, “yes of course” as if he’d been expecting this inquiry. I had only my phone on me at the time but didn’t want to miss this opportunity. After a few quick shots I\u00a0asked his name. Melvin. He then gave me his card, said thank you, took a final sip of his beer, grabbed his guitar and vanished. The next day after posting the photo to instagram<\/a>\u00a0I pulled his card from my pocket and decided to reach out to\u00a0Melvin C. McKnight aka Blaqmel<\/a>\u00a0to ask if he’d sit for a proper portrait. He again said “yes of course.” The location I had in mind had been on my agenda to use for quite a while. Months ago while in the basement of my building someone turned the lights off and this<\/a> was revealed to me. I thought Melvin would be perfect for this space plus I’m moving in a few days so time was not on my side. Clearly Melvin was also meant to be photographed in my creepy basement.
\n\"Melvin
\n\"Melvin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I popped into the Saint Lazarus Bar\u00a0for a quick beer the other night after seeing John Zorn’s Simulacrum at Johnny Brenda’s. \u00a0To the left of where I sat was this mysterious stranger hugging a guitar while slowly sipping a drink and to the right of me was this wall emblazoned with an image of a fiery red forest. Clearly this man was meant to be photographed in front of this wall. I ask to shoot people I don’t know\u00a0with some regularity so without hesitating I slid down towards the stranger, introduced myself and asked if I could take a picture of\u00a0him in front of said wall on fire. He shot\u00a0back a quick, “yes of course” as if he’d been expecting this inquiry. I had only my phone on me at the time but didn’t want to miss this opportunity. After a few quick shots I\u00a0asked his name. Melvin. He then gave me his card, said thank you, took a final sip of his beer, grabbed his guitar and vanished. The next day after posting the photo to instagram\u00a0I pulled his card from my pocket and decided to reach out to\u00a0Melvin C. McKnight aka Blaqmel\u00a0to ask if he’d sit for a proper portrait. He again said “yes of course.” The location I had in mind had been on my agenda to use for quite a while. Months ago while in the basement of my building someone turned the lights off and this was revealed to me. I thought Melvin would be perfect for this space plus I’m moving in a few days so time was not on my side. Clearly Melvin was also meant to be photographed in my creepy basement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,85,86,92,1],"tags":[198,205,566,629,726],"class_list":["post-12596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-2","category-people","category-philadelphia","category-portrait","category-uncategorized","tag-bar","tag-basment","tag-forest","tag-guitarist","tag-jared-gruenwald-photography-philadelphia-pennsylvania-portriat-portraiture-musician"],"yoast_head":"\nBlaqmel. -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Portrait of Melvin 'Blaqmel' McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lefteyedstudios.blog\/?p=12596\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blaqmel. -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Portrait of Melvin 'Blaqmel' McKnight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lefteyedstudios.blog\/?p=12596\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-19T18:57:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.jaredgruenwald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/melvin_mcknight_jgphoto_1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jared Gruenwald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jared Gruenwald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lefteyedstudios.blog\\\/?p=12596#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lefteyedstudios.blog\\\/?p=12596\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jared Gruenwald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lefteyedstudios.blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a6a534db55889f30d0f34a809a9b6b57\"},\"headline\":\"Blaqmel.\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-19T18:57:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lefteyedstudios.blog\\\/?p=12596\"},\"wordCount\":296,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lefteyedstudios.blog\\\/?p=12596#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.jaredgruenwald.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/melvin_mcknight_jgphoto_1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"bar\",\"basment\",\"forest\",\"guitarist\",\"jared gruenwald; 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