Building The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Through The Eye of A Photographer

I met photographer Angela Jimenez over six years ago. She was introduced to me by a mutual friend, a top-notch designer whose artistic opinion I greatly respect. My friend wanted me to look at Angela’s photo portfolio so that she might shoot for the magazine. I remember flipping through vibrant and thoughtful images of people and cityscapes, but what I remember most was the glint in this photographer’s eyes as she spoke about her ideas and ambitions.

I have since accompanied Angela on many photo stories while shooting for Velvetpark. And I've enjoyed looking at her photojournalism in the New York Times and other publications, as well as projects she’s pursued across the globe from Hungary to tsunami-torn South India, just because there were stories that she felt needed to be told.

So, I confess when Angela asked me if I would review her self-published book of photography, Welcome Home: Building the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, I knew that it would be impossible for me to describe this book without bias. So Instead on the occasion of the 34th annual MWMF (which starts today,) we shot this video, so that Angela could speak about the book in her own words.

An old-school art dealer once told me that good art isn’t just about what you see, it's about what the artist thinks.