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BIO

ERVIN McDANIEL,JR.

After 37 years as an urban planner, Ervin retired from both Baltimore City Department of Planning and Baltimore County Office of Planning in 2011. While working as a planner, Ervin was employed as a freelance photographer. Since retiring, Ervin has devoted his time to enhancing his photographic skills.

Ervin's photographic journey began while he was a student at the Community College of Baltimore where he took several courses in photography. Since those early days, Ervin has taken numerous workshops with Nikon and the Baltimore Camera Club.

As a photographer, Ervin has had two solo shows at the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center . He has also exhibited in several group shows - Full Circle Gallery, James E. Lewis Museum of Fine Art and Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center.

Ervin enjoys traveling and has photographed the interaction of individuals throughout the African Diaspora - Haiti, Peru, Ghana, Ethiopia, Egypt and America.

Ervin is a member of St. Timothy's Christian Baptist Church where he is a servant.

INFO /

Address /

5202 St. Georges Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland 21212

Phone /

443-854-8223

First World Images

First World Images is a series of photographs documenting people, activities and places in Senegal, Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia and Haiti.

The term First World is used to describe the United States and other developed countries. When we think of First World countries, we thinks of countries that have “highly developed” cultures, economies, and social systems.

When we think of Third World, we tend to think countries with cultures, economies and social systems that are less developed than the first world countries. I believe that countries that were involved in creating or shaping civilization should be known as First World and those countries that came after should be called Third World.

I am using the term First World to describe those countries that were responsible for creating civilization. Africa is a First World. Why, because Africa is the birthplace of civilization. The photographs are from several countries in Africa - Senegal, Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia and Haiti in North America. I have included Haiti because the development or the lack of development of Haiti is similar to the development of African Countries.

I tried to capture the sprit of the people in the photographs and to show their humanity in their everyday life in their relationships with each other.

Ervin hope that these photographs will invoke movement within your heart and soul that will cause you to re-example the term “First World” and “Third World”.

Sunday Morning Praise

Sunday Morning Praise is a series of photographs documenting the Sunday morning church services at St. Timothy’s Christian Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland and New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Harlem, New York.

Sunday morning at 11:00 o’clock is a sacred time in most Christian communities. This is a time when God’s children go into His house to celebrate and praise Him. Sunday morning service is a time to worship God, to give thanks to Him for all that He has done for us during the previous week and to rejuvenate our souls so we can face the challenges of the coming week.

“Sunday morning is a time to praise God through, song, prayer, music and the preached word. When the Word is preached, the spirit of God enters your soul and moves you.”

Rites of Ancestral Return

Baltimore and New York

In May 1991, the first human remains for the 18th century African Burial Ground were unearth in Lower Manhattan when the United States General Services Administration was preparing to build a federal office tower at Broadway and Duane Streets.

The photographs in this gallery document the ceremonies held in Baltimore and New York for the reinterment of the Africans.