EPISODE 9: Loungin' with Minnesota Viking Visanthe Shiancoe

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Some months ago, my brother and I traveled to a small, unheard of town in Maryland to shoot and interview Minnesota Viking tight end, Visanthe Shiancoe. Now if you're not sure who Visanthe is or you don't remember him, just think back to 2008 when the NFL star was accidentally caught on camera in the locker room with his wang out in full view, and since it was LIVE after the game, the network wasn't able to block it, blur it or smudge it in time. Millions of gamewatchers across the country, at that point, had now seen Mr. Shiancoe in the closest thing they would probably ever get to seeing him in "soft core porn," lol. Subsequently, his primetime nudity caused such a fuss that since then, networks, the FCC and the NFL have limited, if not all but taken away the age-old past-time of interviewing players in the locker rooms, for fear of another "Shank Shot" (I just made that up...I'm so clever! HA! lol).

So here we are, pulling up to this gigantic house, on this quiet little suburban street, somewhere in Nowhere, Maryland. No cars were in the driveway, no household tools or items in the yard...actually, it was quite pristine to the point it almost looked as if no one lived there at all. Now if you don't know Visanthe personally, follow him on Twitter, or haven't seen any of his interviews (which for me at the time, was all of the above, lol) then you're not going to know that he is a COMPLETE fool! So naturally, our personalities meshed almost instantly. When we walked in I was amazed at the sheer size of what was just his kitchen. I mean, it was a kitchen, but by common folks standards, this might as well have been a sports lounge! lol. TV's, high-end appliances, a huge island, an area with a couch, beautiful paintings and wall coloring...needless to say, it was very well decorated. He wasn't ready yet for the shoot when we got there, so he said he was gonna go back upstairs and finish getting ready. I said, "Ok," and he encouraged us to walk around the house and look around so I can see where and what I might want to use to shoot. Then he said, "Now while I'm upstairs, don't be tryna steal nothin'." Me and Shod laughed and then I gave him one of my LOOKS (if you know me, then you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about, lol) and I replied, "Well while I'm walking around, don't YOU be tryna steal MY stuff! I know exactly what's in my bag and it best not come up missing when I get back." He laughed and Shod just shook his head (probably in half amusement, half embarassment) and Visanthe went upstairs.

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His house was HUGE. He had at least 4 living rooms up in that joint, lol. A fancy dining room (which you can see in one of the photos). A beautiful office with an adjoining room that was kind of like a patio, but looked more like another living room, lol. The artwork, vases and decorative pieces all looked like they worth more than all my camera equipment AND the car we drove down there in! And then you walk downstairs into his basement, which was basically another house all in itself. He had a movie theater, a gym, a trophy room, and guess what.....you got it! Another living room! lol. He had a full size bar, pool table and doors were around every corner and always lead to another part of the house that looked like a mid-size 2 bedroom apartment in New York City.

Shooting Visanthe was actually very fun. We started off in his foyer. I wanted him to not be so posey, but just kinda be himself and do whatever came naturally. He followed directions well, but one thing you could always count on was a joke or a wise crack...it never failed. We did 3 looks and we moved from there to the steps to his office, where he had a whole bookshelf of books, half of which he hadn't read at all, lol. In the middle of shooting tho, Visanthe got hungry and so we decided to take a break. By this point his girlfriend (or maybe wife...I dont know, lol) had showed up to be a spectator at our shoot, but she was so cool, I didn't mind. We went into his kitchen and he pulled out all this leftover food his mama had brought him, who also, impressively decorated his entire house. His mom is African, and the food smelled so good, my mouth was watering. Thankfully he offered me and Rashod some and his girlfriend grabbed us some bowls and warmed us up some food. It was delicious. Don't ask me what it was now...but it had rice in it, and I was in heaven!

Once we (or I) had gotten my fill, we continued to shoot and went down into the basement to finish it up and then also do the interview, which will be in SUAVV Magazine coming very soon. I told him I wanted him to look like how he would ordinarily look in his basement if he was chillin', so he put on some basketball shorts, a fitted, and cut off Jordan sports shirt and some black socks. One of his favorite games is Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Comics and so he hit the power on his Playstation 3, sat in his favorite chair and played like I wasn't even there taking his picture. The shots came out so real and genuine, I loved them! They weren't posed or staged. Every shot I took, he was actually in a serious and intense moment of playing the game. It took me a while to work out the lighting situation down there, since it was actually quite dim, but after a million test shots and moving my lights around in a dozen different positions, I found what I was looking for and went to work.

Visanthe in his basement throwing his controller up in the air after beating an opponent in Mortal Kombat

Shooting Visanthe was so cool, because he made us feel like we weren't just guests or some guys there doing a job and then we had to get the hell out, lol. We arrived there at around 3 that afternoon and didnt leave until late that night. We ate, laughed, and sat around and talked (and he even gave me the rest of his Ciroc mixed with some kind of juice he had in his fridge, lol) and it's moments like those when I love what I do so much. Not only did I leave with great photos and we got an amazing interview, but we left knowing a really cool person who was gracious enough to welcome us into his home to make a great opportunity happen for us.

Make sure you check out Visanthe Shiancoe's interview and even more photos in SUAVV Magazine, coming soon!!