During the daybreak of a new morning, my friend, Philemon Najieb went home to be with the Lord. My friend and our friend was a victim of Chicago's coronavirus. Unknown to some, Najieb was one of Black Chicago's most impactful photographers and filmmakers for over four decades.
He was one of the charter members of the Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers and served the organization as one of the first vice presidents. We loved him for his vision, his presence around us, and his voice that made us think while embracing our personal avenues of expression. We shared many stories together and laughed about everything, I took this special picture of my friend during lunch on Chicago's southside on his birthday in July 2017. He was a great person, and I am going to miss him. Philemon was special and he is now a saint.

Philemon Najieb, was an accomplished lensman whose body of work is focused in the areas of beauty & fashion, lifestyle, portraiture, and photojournalism including his award winning photography for Emerge during the magazines brief but extremely significant decade long reign as "Black America's News Magazine". Najieb has served on various committees as well as Vice President and Board Member for CAAAP. "As a photographer I'm constantly challenged by light, the most daunting element of the photographic process; an element without which photography would cease to exist".


Images of Philemon were taken by Bernard Brown Sr., Michael Bracey, Louis Byrd III, David Troutman- Wilkins. Other images are personally photographed by Philemon for CAAAP. ©2019 Chicago Alliance of African American Photographers.

Click on the first image to begin the slide show.