Scenes from the Red Carpet at the Black Belt Magazine Awards

Last week I was engaged to shoot red carpet photos of the attendees at the 2024 Black Belt Magazine Awards. The star of the night was Pam Grier– famous back in the 70’s for action and blaxploitation films, but better known to my generation for starring in Jackie Brown, Escape from L.A. and Mars Attacks.

Full List of Awardees

Lifetime Achievement– Mike Stone, Pam Grier, Hatsuo Royama

Martial Arts Entertainment Award– Mark Dacascos, Ernie Reyes Jr., Philip Rhee

Competitor of the Year Award– Amit Elor

The Publishers Award– Scott Coker, Chong Lee, Curtis Wong 

Instructor of the Year

BJJ– The Machado Brothers: Carlos Machado, Roger Machado, Rigan Machado, Jean Jacques Machado, John Machado

Kenpo– John Sepulveda 

Martial Arts Stunt Performer Award– Jeff Imada, James Lew, Simon Rhee

Other notable attendees included Dolph Lundgren, UFC champions Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell (who made goofy faces at me the whole time, probably the highlight of my night), and Michael Jai White, who you may know as the first black superhero in a major film, from Spawn.

Red carpet photography was coordinated by Joy Parris of Rich Girl Productions.