Kareem Black is a Philly-born,  New York based photographer. In 1996, Kareem went to SVA on scholarship. Darkrooms and film processing became his backdrop where he spent endless nights. In 2000, Kareem started a career in music photography and celebrity portraiture that has taken him all over the world and allowed him to meet and work with some of this planet's most talented people. Presently, Kareem calls Manhattan home and straddles worlds by shooting for a diverse array of clients including Flaunt, Fader, GQ, Vibe, Verizon, Burger King, Kanye West, Vitamin Water and Kool Aid among others.

Tell me how you got your start
I’m originally from Germantown and I’ve always been artistic. I used to draw comic books and then in high school I was a painter. My heroes were all the old masters of the renaissance and I would paint ultra realistic paintings from models. Usually, I would take pictures of the models and paint from them. I realized that taking the photos eventually became more fun than the painting. I actually got into the school of visual arts on a painting scholarship but I had really fallen in love with photography. I switched my major after the first two weeks.

A shoot in the life of Kareem?
A shoot for me is as exciting whether it’s a celebrity or not. I just took a picture of a girl at a bar on her motorcycle and I got her drinking and I showed her I wasn’t a bad guy and it was the highlight of my week. I saw this tall beautiful Korean girl and I had this picture in my mind and I pursued it and got it and it was a battle and amazing. It’s just as exciting as [insert celebrity name here]; you end up cooking something that’s really tasty and unique. I love taking pictures. If I’m not shooting

How’s work in freelance?
The thing about being a freelance artists is to not piss people off and to have a good reputation. What I’ve done is self-promote.  Just a few years ago I started a sticker campaign around NYC. They had my website on then a weird phrase. “Kareem Black.com to wed Lindsay Lohan.” They were just print and just these phrases and it worked. It worked well. That was a couple years ago and twitter and facebook hadn’t happened. That felt like twitter. Obviously, I have a portfolio and a website. Self-promotion is more complicated than it’s ever been we have Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace Facebook and all that shit now. All photographers have blogs. We’re presenting ourselves as brands instead of just as a person who just take good pictures. We are thinking out of the fucking box so hire us we are quirky. There are too many fucking photographers.

Advice?
If you’re really as good as you say you are then be as good as you say you are. There’s more to it than that.  You have to kind of separate yourself from other people that own cameras. At the same time I’m totally aware of shit that I put out there on twitter or Facebook. It’s always for mass consumption and I have a dark sense of humor. That shit will never be on my twitter. Now that I have somewhat of a following I just try to be witty and nonthreatening.

You famous?
I have been recognized a couple of times. I have a funny story actually .I was hanging out with this girl, very very hot girl and I was totally about impressing her and we were going to a friend’s VIP party. We were in a cab and we got out and these two kids were like “Yo are you Kareem Black?” And I was like “No who the hell is he?” And they were like “He’s this pretty good photographer and so I gave them my card and walked away with this chick. So I was feeling pretty cocky and we got to the door of this party and my name wasn’t on the list. We couldn’t get it.

What’s up in photography?
Photography is in an interesting state right now. We’re trying to find out what the fuck is going on. The economy in 2009 kicked everyone’s ass. There are plenty of photographers who are better than me that aren’t taking pictures. Photography sort of became En Vogue. We had Terry Richardson and American apparel. It became this more point and shoot style. It was the economy, what was in, and this whole new generation of camera’s came out they are super simple but super good. Anyone can take pictures now. Anyone can do it. It’s like the perfect storm. It’s made me an infinitely better photographer. And so how do you counter this and survive? You evolve. My life section on my website
is what I see. Those are my personal photos and a taste of me.

For more of Kareem Black photo works visit www.kareemblack.com