Calvin West of Calvin's Candids
“When was the last time that you asked a black man if he was okay, how he was doing…
and you actually LISTENED for his response?”
I got the pleasure to sit down and have a conversation with our neighborhood creative, Calvin West! Let me just say…you NEVER know someone until you sit down and have a genuine conversation and truly listen to where someone is coming from.
Calvin West is creative videographer, photographer, singer… pretty much a dreamer working to be legendary. He defines his work and what he does behind the camera as approaching everything with a cinematic outlook and being sure to add value to whatever project he is working on. His hope is to always make people “feel good” and remember how they felt in that moment, no matter the occasion, moment, etc.
Prior to getting down to the nitty gritty of the interview we discussed mental health and what that looks like for black men. We discussed being in a place where he had to figure out how to manage his hyper empathy, which causes him to be too in tune with other people’s emotions and how he sometimes
Meditation, setting his intentions for the day, sitting with his thoughts in order to process and regulate his emotions are all things that he’s started to do in order to take care of his Mental Wellness. He also spoke heavily about surrounding himself with people that have great energy and vibes and that feeding into his mental health as well.
Calvin spoke heavily on celebrating himself and his accomplishments on a more consistent basis. Knowing that we as people don’t celebrate until we reach the top-tier of where we are destined to go is sometimes dreary and doesn’t happen for everyone but looking back on how far you have come and how much you have grown definitely deserves acknowledgment.
Something that was an eye opener was learning that Calvin spent a huge chunk of time from last fall going into the spring of this year homeless. He would go shoot for amazing events, on cloud nine with this feeling of euphoria that he couldn’t explain but he had nowhere to go at the end of the night. To say that that was a humbling experience is the simplest way to put it!
If he could tell anyone inspired to do photography one thing it would be to not play with your potential! If this is something that you live and breathe and you wake up everyday wanting to do this, then get to it. There will always be highs and lows and good with the bad but that is with anything that we do in life. Don’t STOP!
You can view Calvin's work on his Instagram, @calvinscandids
The #40Under40 series is an initiative started by Ebony Lashay. As a community we have begun to build up one another is ways that can only make us stronger. The #40Under40 series was started to highlight those in the community doing amazing work. Whether that work be with our young people, entrepreneurs, good food and drinks, event spaces, and so many other great things happening. If you are interested in being interviewed for this series. Please reach out to me via any of the forms below:
IG: xEbonyLashayx
FB: Ebony Lashay
Email: EbonyLashay@yahoo.com
