Connect with us

Art

Antonio ‘Tony’ Minifield on his picture perfect photography business

THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES — Antonio “Tony” Minifield, photographer, has always been creative, especially when it came to visual arts.

Published

on

By Erica Wright

Antonio “Tony” Minifield, photographer, has always been creative, especially when it came to visual arts.

“My first hustle was painting and doing silk portraits of people,” he said. “I wanted to do something where I could draw and be creative.”

He also had a love for architecture, which he pursued and would lead to his current line of work. In high school, he was part of an architectural, construction, and engineering program that mentors students and inspires them to pursue careers in design and construction.

“Photography and architecture combined, and then my love for photography really just out-powered my love for architecture,” he said.

Minifield, 27, a professional full-time photographer for the past two years, owns YNOT iMages, which specializes in photography for weddings and engagements; maternity, graduation, and family portraits; as well as food photography and other work.

“We average about 30 weddings a year,” he said. “In 2019, we’re pretty much booked, so we’re looking at 2020 for more weddings.”

Fifty percent of his work is done in Alabama; forty percent in Atlanta and other locations in Georgia; and 10 percent in other parts of the country “and this year we have two international weddings,” Minifield said.

Business is so strong that he even has help from his wife, Haley.

“My wife ended up joining the team, and she’s now like my full-time assistant,” Minifield said. “She’s a school teacher, but she’s my main second shooter when we do weddings.”

City Schools

Minifield grew up in Birmingham and lived in the Inglenook neighborhood with his parents and siblings before moving to Center Point. He attended W.J. Christian K-8 School, Huffman Middle School, and Ramsay High School.

“I was kind of a nerd, I would say, because I was always striving to be in the honor societies,” he said. “I was the only guy to be inducted into the honor society in seventh grade, and I maintained that in eighth grade. That carried over when I went to Ramsay, … [where] I played baseball: I started in my sophomore year [and played] up until my senior year. I [also] was in the … ACE Mentor Program.”

The ACE Mentor Program—an architectural, construction, and engineering program that inspires students to pursue careers in design and construction—inspired Minifield to go into architecture after he graduated from high school in 2009. He went on to pursue a degree in architecture at Tuskegee University.

“I got in choir. I actually had a choir scholarship. I also was involved in the Student Government Association [SGA] … and pursued and won the position of president,” he said.

Though he was an architecture major, Minifield’s photography business took off at Tuskegee.

“My line brother is a graphic designer and photographer, and he inspired me to get into photography,” said Minifield, who is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. “Architecture at Tuskegee really taught you how to hustle because everybody had their own skill sets to really make money. I started photography as a hobby.”

Minifield recalled his first photo shoot: “I did it in a Target parking lot [in the Birmingham area] when I got my first camera. I was just playing around with it. I just took some shots of my home girl because she was trying to get into modeling.”

He and his friend shared the photos on their social media pages, and their friends began asking Minifield about his photography. After that shoot, which was just about having fun, he said, “People were like, ‘How much do you charge?’

“My parents invested in me. They bought my first camera, a [Canon Rebel T3i], for my birthday in 2010. From there . . . the business just took off.”

Minifield began taking pictures for his friends and family, saving money to invest in additional equipment like extra lenses and a tripod, while learning the ins and outs of photography.

YNOT

The name of Minifield’s business, comes from a play on words of his nickname, ‘Tony,’ but it also has a deeper meaning than just his name being spelled backward.

“I started YNOT as a branding for myself in 2010,” he said. “It came from trying to figure out a Twitter name: ynot_b_tony. So, it started there. When I ran for SGA president in 2011, my slogan was ‘YNOT,’ which stood for Young Noble Outstanding Tuskegee. That was not only an acronym; I created a deeper meaning for it—YNOT, meaning using your God-given potential to the best of your ability and not letting anyone tell you that you can’t do anything.”

At Tuskegee, Minifield started the nonprofit YNOT Foundation in 2013 for high school students planning to attend college. His foundation, which officially became a nonprofit in 2016, has given away almost $5,000 in scholarships.

Minifield graduated from Tuskegee in 2014 and took a job with an architecture firm in Tuscaloosa, while taking photos on the side. He worked there for three years before going full-time with his photography business. He didn’t get his architecture license because of his love and passion for photography.

Recently, Minifield has worked with model and actress Eva Marcille, for a shoot with B Collective magazine, and actor and humanitarian Don Cheadle, during the 2018 Magic City Classic.

“I was hired by Woke Vote, so my team and I were able to do some video work for Woke Vote with Don Cheadle because he’s a spokesman for the [organization]. We followed him [for a whole day during] Classic weekend,” Minifield said.

For the cover of B Collective magazine featuring America’s Next Top Model winner and Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member Marcille, “We did a behind-the-scenes video,” Minifield said.

“Just being behind the scenes and watching one of my favorite photographers in the wedding industry, [StanLo Photography], work and do his thing was an amazing experience.”

Growth

Since going full time with photography, Minifield has seen growth both in his business and in himself.

“I studied other people’s work, I studied my work, and I studied ways to develop. I got new equipment and studied different techniques. I’ve seen growth in my style of editing,” he said. “My main growth came from when I got married on [Feb. 24, 2018]. That passion to capture love really grew because I found love, so it made it easier to capture that moment [for others].”

Minifield uses his gift also in his ministry. He is a member of the Church of the Highlands West Birmingham campus, which holds services at A.H. Parker High School.

“I first started serving at the Tuscaloosa campus, [working] on cameras there,” he said. “I really loved it, then I got the opportunity to become the production coach at the West Birmingham campus. Pastor Mayo [Sowell] has definitely been a blessing and a growth in my faith. Just knowing where he’s coming from, [his] challenging me to grow [personally] and grow spiritually has been a really great thing.”

Minifield credits his faith in God for his success and allowing him to be a blessing to others: “I give it all to God. That comes from being faithful to the kingdom, being faithful to God, being faithful to my wife. That’s really where my success comes from. Photography is a passion of mine, [and] being able to do it alongside my wife is even greater. That’s where I owe my success.”

Minifield and his work can be found online at www.ynotimages.com, on Instagram @ynot_images, and on Facebook at YNOT iMages.

This article originally appeared in The Birmingham Times

Activism

Alternative Outcome to Slayings by Police Explored in One-Man Play

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira. Set against the backdrop of a presidential election, the play explores how political and cultural leaders wield the myth of the dangerous Black man to manipulate the masses for personal gain. Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour. 

Published

on

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira.
BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira.

Special to The Post

What would happen if police officers who have gotten off for killing unarmed Black people started turning up dead?

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira. Set against the backdrop of a presidential election, the play explores how political and cultural leaders wield the myth of the dangerous Black man to manipulate the masses for personal gain.

Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour.

“My wife and I had been talking about it for years,” Ferreira said. They had taken their three children to Brazil several times and West Africa but had yet to explore their history as Black people in this country. “It was Juneteenth last year and I realized we had a few weeks to make it happen, so we just jumped in the car and left” Piper said.

Three weeks later the family had seen everything from the African American Museum of History and Culture in Wash., D.C., to the phenomenally preserved Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. They’d stood outside of the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., and paid their respects at the Africa Town cemetery – where the passengers of the Clotilda (the last known U.S. slave ship to smuggle captured Africans into this country) were buried near Mobile, Ala.

“We had the kids keep a journal of the trip and my wife and I took notes, but once we got back home, I knew I had to make the pen move,” he said.

Ferreira plays 21 characters in the 60-minute emotional roller coaster ride; personalities we all know. While brilliantly weaving in themes of revolution, treachery, and revenge, “Black Men Everywhere!” is surprisingly — more than anything else — a love story.

“I wrote the play for Black men and everyone who loves us,” Ferreira said. “The play is narrated by a sistah and performed in front of the deeply spiritual artwork of Nedra T. Williams, an Oakland priestess of Olokun. It’s called ‘Black Men Everywhere!’ but we don’t exist without the Black woman.”

For tickets, please go to: http://tinyurl.com/5dm3mhra

Continue Reading

Art

City of Stockton Seeks Applications for Public Art Murals

The City of Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) has announced the opportunity for artist(s) and/or artist teams to apply to design and paint original artwork on City-owned property through a Public Art Mural Program. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

Published

on

The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.
The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

City of Stockton

The City of Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) has announced the opportunity for artist(s) and/or artist teams to apply to design and paint original artwork on City-owned property through a Public Art Mural Program.

The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

This program has $50,000 in available funds for artist(s) and is also available for those who have already identified funds and would like to complete a mural project on city-owned property. Applications will be reviewed on a competitive basis and selected by the SAC.

To learn more about the Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) or qualifications and eligibility for Public Art Mural Program, please visit www.stocktonca.gov/publicart or call the Community Services Department at (209) 937-8206.

Continue Reading

Art

Black Nativity: A Unique Adaptation of the Christmas Story

“Black Nativity” is a cultural adaptation that tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Created by the poet, novelist, playwright and activist Langston Hughes, and performed by an all-Black cast, this unique musical production showcases traditional Christmas carols sung in a gospel style, along with some new songs specifically written for the show.

Published

on

Poet, novelist, playwright and activist Langston Hughes.
Poet, novelist, playwright and activist Langston Hughes.

By Tamara Shiloh

“Black Nativity” is a cultural adaptation that tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Created by the poet, novelist, playwright and activist Langston Hughes, and performed by an all-Black cast, this unique musical production showcases traditional Christmas carols sung in a gospel style, along with some new songs specifically written for the show.

The show made its debut Off-Broadway on Dec. 11, 1961. It was a groundbreaking moment because it was one of the first plays written by an African American to be staged in New York City. The play gained popularity quickly and even toured Europe in 1962, with one notable performance at the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy.

“Black Nativity” has become an annual tradition in Boston, since 1970. It has been performed at various locations, including the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, Boston Opera House, Tremont Temple, Roxbury Community College, Northeastern University’s Blackman Auditorium, and Emerson College’s Paramount Theater. This production is considered the longest-running rendition of the Langston Hughes’ classic.

The original cast included 160 singers, classified by age group and vocal range. They were accompanied by soloists, a narrator, and unique portrayals of Mary and Joseph, who communicated without speaking. Musicians and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters added depth to the performance.

The show begins in complete darkness as barefoot singers, dressed in white robes and carrying electric candles, walk in while singing the classic hymn “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” This creates a captivating and atmospheric start to the performance.

One of the most dramatic moments in the play is the portrayal of Jesus’ birth. The stage transforms from orange and blue lights to a deep red hue. African drums and percussion are used to echo Mary’s contractions, adding a unique touch to the story. The Three Wise Men, often prominent members of the local Black community, play their roles without singing.

The show concludes with the chorus singing a reprise of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” as they exit in darkness. A final soliloquy delivered by a young child brings emotional closure to the performance.

Originally, the play was named “Wasn’t It a Mighty Day?”

Notably, Alvin Ailey, a renowned dancer and choreographer, was part of the original Off-Broadway cast. However, both he and Carmen de Lavallade left the production due to a dispute over changing the title to “Black Nativity.”

In 2004, a documentary film was made about the world premiere performance and the creation of the best-selling gospel Christmas album, “Black Nativity – In Concert: A Gospel Celebration.” This original cast performance took place at the Immanuel Baptist Church in Portland, ME.

A film adaptation of “Black Nativity” directed by Kasi Lemmons and starring Forest Whitaker and Angela Bassett was released on Nov. 27, 2013, bringing this remarkable Nativity story to a broader audience.

Continue Reading

Subscribe to receive news and updates from the Oakland Post

* indicates required

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE OAKLAND POST

ADVERTISEMENT

WORK FROM HOME

Home-based business with potential monthly income of $10K+ per month. A proven training system and website provided to maximize business effectiveness. Perfect job to earn side and primary income. Contact Lynne for more details: Lynne4npusa@gmail.com 800-334-0540

Facebook

Trending

Copyright ©2021 Post News Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.