Dennis DeRoche

To provide the highest quality photographic services possible with a special emphasis on access to anyone. To redefine customer satisfaction by making your home my studio and thereby increasing your sense of empowerment and involvement in the photographic process as the subject person in front of my camera eyes.

PORTFOLIO

Gallery page: coming soon to the Floaters Art Gallery .

PERSONAL PROFILE

I was originally trained as a psychiatric social worker for four years in the seventies. I'm known as D-Man to most and have been actively involved in the profession of photography and video production for over two decades.

Music is a very big part of my life and my preference is African, Reggae and Salsa. I play drums and percussion for myself and sometimes as a visiting percussionist with various bands.

I love to dance to reggae music and to salsa music as well in my own free spirit style. I believe through the process of spirit dance, healing is possible both for the dancer and those around him or her, that it is an effective vehicle to contagiously affect people with good feelings and to help actualize the concept we refer to in reggae circles as: "One Love".

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS -- WEB SITE LINKS

I would like this web site to be a way of connection to other sites that I consider to have a great deal of social value about them. I would first like to introduce to you my good friend Sandra Andrews -- whose authorship of the web site http://www.floaters.org is a prime example of how social work can be done very effectively and powerfully via use of the computer for those originally coming from a place of powerlessness.

Another web site that I feel is an important source for social consciousness raising is that of my friend Casper Loma-da-wa, the Native American Hopi/Dine´ reggae Rap artist whose two CD's , "Original Landlord" and "The Sounds Of Reality," have won much acclaim over the past few years and deserve listening to. Contact : Third Mesa Music at 480-998-9617 or http://www.3rdmesa.com

For more Rasta conscious info, connect to http://members.blackplanet.com/ladyk_4/ or http://kingshark_1.tripod.com/kingshark/ .

My good friend Melissa Andrews created the opening graphic of the Peace Machine. Check out her paintings at http://floaters.org/edresearch/gallery/melissa/

FAVORITE CELEBRITIES

My favorite celebrities include:

Madonna -- a great artist/performer who has the guts to dance on the "edge"; to continually press the boundaries of creativity and the limits of acceptability.

Sade and Jennifer Lopez -- who own a piece of my heart

Gloria Estefan -- the crossover legend who had a near tragic accident but refused to lie down. With sheer guts and determination and an undying will to rise up once again, she did so and thrilled her audiences with "Reach" at the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Sista Carol -- known as the "Black Cinderella" and "Mother Culture" -- a consciousness raising Reggae artist supreme and personal favorite.

Bob Marley -- who more than any other single person spread the joy and the power of reggae music throughout the world. One of human history's greatest agents for peace and harmony among all peoples of the world.

Nelson Mandela -- who has done so much to turn back the tide of racism in Africa and more than any other single person is responsible for the elimination of the Apartheid separatist mentality in South Africa and throughout the world.

Mahatma Gandhi -- for all that he has done for peace and understanding in the world.

FOLLOWING THE LIGHT

We are all social workers in life if we are doing what is right to help others see the light. In this vein, since this is a web site and can reach everyone, it will not just be about my craft, photography, (although photography's very essence is about the light...and its relationship to film); rather, I choose to take advantage of this opportunity to let the social worker in me come out and to share with everyone the following motivational and inspirational words that have come to have such positive effect in my life, words that have helped me to see the light:

"The beauty in the art of image-making is in the light, how much, what kind, and from whence it doth shed." -- unknown.

FAVORITE QUOTATION

"Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore, avoid undue elation in prosperity or undue depression in adversity." --- Calvin Coolidge. These words have had a profound effect on my life. I hope you may find them as meaningful for yourselves.

FAVORITE WORDS FROM BOB MARLEY

Get Up, Stand Up, Stand Up For Your Right
Get Up , Stand Up, Don't Give Up The Fight
Get Up, Stand Up, Life Is Your Right
Don't Give Up The Fight

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.
None but ourselves can free our minds.

Just can't live that negative way...make way for the positive day!

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts,
don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy.
Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!

Until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned...WAR! So that is prophecy, and everyone know that is truth. And it came out of the mouth of Ras Tafari.

Me only have one ambition, y'know. I only have one thing I really like to see happen.
I like to see mankind live together--black, white, Chinese, everyone --- that's all.

VERY SPECIAL WORDS -- given to me by my mother, Theresa, in the year 2000:

"Don't miss a day of your life. Find ways to make each day matter---
to you, to another, to the world.
Develop, listen to, nurture, and trust your instincts.
You will compete in life, but life is not a competition---
it is a gift to be shared. You are enough as an individual person.
You'll meet many special people in life. There are happy endings in life,
but not always, and some are easier to understand than others.
We are all part of something bigger than life, and although I don't know
For sure what it is, I am grateful to have shared so much of life with you."

THREE MORE GUIDEPOSTS FOR THE ROAD OF LIFE

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will." ---- Jawaharlal Nehru

"Example is not the main thing influencing others. It is the only thing." ---- Albert Schweitzer

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality." ---- Martin Luther King, Jr.

PHOTOGRAPHY PRICING

PORTRAITS -- A flat fee of $95 includes 10 poses from 6cm X 7cm format camera.

This price includes the time and expense of travel to your location of choice within a ten mile radius of my location and my professional fee.

Additional mileage will be charged at $.50/mile. An additional $50 will be charged For each additional 10-exposure roll. 4" X 5" proofs will be returned to client upon receipt of total amount due.

Any use of additional personnel such as hair and make-up artists will be charged accordingly and the cost will be determined by the individual providing these services.

Minimum fee: $95

Day Rate: $500 (weddings, commercial, etc.)

All negatives are remain the property of Studio D Mobile Photography

Questions? Contact Dman.