John Edwin Mason: Documentary, Motorsports, Photo History

Drag Racing, The Democracy of Speed

Drag racers don't use the word "diversity." Most are more interested in how fast a car goes than in the color of the driver's skin or whether it’s a man or a woman behind the wheel. But the fact remains that drag racing is, by far, the most racially diverse... Read more →

Cape Town New Year's Carnival: Portraits of the Pennsylvania Crooning Minstrels, Part 2

Look at the front page of any Cape Town newspaper, on the day after the Carnival troupes’ march through the city center (which is usually held on die Tweede Nuwe Jaar, the Second New Year, January 2nd) and you'll see lots of photos of grinning, clowning, dancing minstrels. I’ve produced... Read more →

Cape Town New Year’s Carnival: Portraits of the Pennsylvania Crooning Minstrels, Part 1

Most photos of the Cape Town carnival troupes (including many of my own) show their exuberance and frenetic energy, their jolling and joy. There's nothing wrong with that. These things are, after all, a large part of what the Cape Town New Year’s Carnival is all about. And jolling and... Read more →

Jazz Trumpeter Terence Blanchard @ the University of Virginia, Part 3.

Terence Blanchard ended his three-day residency at the University of Virginia in spectacular fashion on Saturday evening. He and the university’s jazz band’s treated a full house in Old Cabell Auditorium to a gem of a concert. (The photo below is from the sound check, a couple hours before the... Read more →

Jazz Trumpeter Terence Blanchard @ the University of Virginia, Part 2

Most non-musicians probably don’t realize that a lot of great music is made during rehearsals. Over the last couple of days, I’ve been lucky enough to hear Terence Blanchard, the Grammy award-winning composer and jazz trumpeter, and the members of the University of Virginia jazz band prepare for tonight’s concert.... Read more →

Jazz Trumpeter Terence Blanchard @ the University of Virginia, Part 1

One of the greatest jazz trumpeters, Terence Blanchard, is in town, and that’s reason enough to interrupt my series of postings on the Cape Town New Year’s Carnival. He’ll perform with the University of Virginia’s student jazz band on Saturday evening. (More information here.) I made the photos below during... Read more →

Cape Town New Year's Carnival: The Fabulous Woodstock Starlites, Part 2

The choir of the Fabulous Woodstock Starlites was only days away from its first competition of the Carnival season, when my camera and I stopped by their rented rehearsal hall, in late last December. The energy and passion in the room were almost overwhelming. So was the beauty of the... Read more →