New Camera; Bolsey B2
I’m in love with this little guy. You can look at a set of photos I’ve taken.
btw, I didn’t take the photo of the camera from above.
What?! My Photo on Photojojo?!
So it’s 1:30am and I’m sitting at Nimai‘s house chillin’ with Susie and Buba when I check my email on my iPhone to see a newsletter from Photojojo.
I’m a bit puzzled because I see a photo that I’ve taken on there and I try to think how that happened. Is it the bi-weekly time capsule that they send out? No. Then I suddenly get it. I freak. OMGOSH! Photojojo is totally using one of my photos that they just sent to over 250,000 of their subscribers?!?!?!?!?!?! Yeah I know right? When I saw it I was like a;osidhfo;iqew89pqu4023;aoisdf;lkjashdlfkjha;ldfja
Here’s a link to the post
Photojojo is also one of the top 500 blogs on the internet. No, not in just the field of photography but on the entire INTERNET. Ok, I’m still freaking out but I gotta go to bed. Tomorrow I head over to @Coachdeb‘s to discuss some business.
Beachwalks.tv
Roxanne tweeted today that she talked about me in her show. I watched and was so excited. Thank you guys for giving me the opportunity to work with you, I had a blast! For all of you that don’t know what I’m talking about watch the episode here:
Beachwalks.tv is a great website to give you a little bit of aloha a day.
New York, a Whole Trip Cliff Notes Style
So after the amazing Podcamp Hawaii ’08 we had a BBQ and I had the opportunity to talk to Dina Kaplan, co-founder of Blip.tv and founder of the New York Founders Club. Dina, in conversation, passingly stated that she needed a photographer for the event. I said, “I’ll do it.” She didn’t believe me, she looked at my friend Carlos and and said, “Is he serious?” and Carlos nodded and said, “Most definitely.” Dina kept asking me if I was serious and didn’t believe me but in 5 minutes I was on the phone with friends setting up and finding flights. Not until that night while attending Kari‘s birthday Karaoke extravaganza with Matt Mullenweg, Eric Nakagawa, and Jess Mauer did I find a flight.
Three days later I was on a plane to New York City. I didn’t know where I was going to stay or what was going on but I was piecing this bridge together while I was walking on it.
I emailed my Aunt, Alice Philipson, telling her that I’m going to New York, by the time I had landed Carlos had set me up to stay with his family in New York and Alice has responded to my email reminding me that I have a cousin, whom I haven’t seen in roughly 10 years that lives in New York, Amy. Alice also told me that my Uncle Robert Philipson, an indie film maker, author, and scholar from Oakland, was coincidentally in New York doing research for a film and it was his last day. Amy then emailed me and said I could crash in Brooklyn and later met up with Robert and I at the New York Public Library and coffee later at Grand Central. That night I crashed with Carlos’s family who by the way are amazing people! Thank you so much for letting me stay with you all. Everything worked out! Ha!
Getting there was great, I played tourist until the big night of the New York Founders Club dinner which was at the “W” hotel on Lexington. Great night…
Met some amazing people.
Then Halloween! Wow, definitely was interesting. That’s all I’m going to say about that 
But I will show a video or two:(By the way, I recorded it sideways, not my fault and I don’t have the patience to figure out how to rotate it so just bear with me and tilt you head. Kthxbai! ^_^)
This is the subway on the way home, there may or may not be profanity but it is New York. Listen at your own risk:
Then randomly, the subway burst into patriotic song! WARNING: Turn your speakers WAY down…
Here’s my cousin as a Gangster Cookie Monster
Election Day started with me taking pictures of some skaters at Owl’s Head Park in Brooklyn.
Tony was the ring leader and it was a great time. Above he’s doing some mad trickage!
A couple more shots:
The election was truly incredible. I spent the entire night standing in Times Square watching the news on the jumbo screens that surrounded me. I met some really great people, which were all from California by coincidence.
It was exciting to see the voting process in action, made me proud to be an American. The energy and excitement in the crowd, being on TV, seeing history! One of the best nights of my life. So many professional photographers around me, the lights, the music, the reaction.
A sea of people
So many emotions:
When they announced the next president, President Barrack Obama…
Photo of President Obama on the screen
People crying as President Obama gave his speech…
People knocking down barricades and entering the streets to celebrate, climbing up cherry pickers, scaffolding, cheering. I’ve never been engulfed in such celebration and excitement.
So, I talked to Dina, I’ll be going back in a couple of months to photograph the next NY Founder’s Club dinner… I hope MC Hammer comes to this one like he did the one before this last one…
Photo of Dina
Explore’d
I took this photo a couple months back while on vacation in Oregon. I saw this field while driving from Salem to Silverton, Oregon in an attempt to pick up my girlfriend, at the time, from work. I got horribly lost but enjoyed the view. I took her back the next day so we could take photos.
Photos on Explore – #61-#66
Now I know I’ve been extremely neglectful with my blog lately but I’m not going to apologize. I’ll just do better. Since I dropped off the blogosphere I’ve had some additions to flickr’s explore. Enjoy:
#61
#62
#63
#64
#65
#66 (On this photo the corners are white b/c they are rounded. It looks great when the rest of the website is white but in this case it isn’t so just try to use your imagination ok? Awesome!)
Dumb & Dumber
This lady walks into Glazer’s yesterday and I just thought her jacket was hilarious and asked her if I could take a picture of it.
Life Transition and Busy-ness!
Wow, I have been so busy I haven’t had time to breathe! I’ve had some awesome shoots as Philipson Photography this month. Didn’t realize that the word business probably meant a person was having a lot of BUSY-ness. . I don’t know, coulda been right?
Well. There was Chris and Jan’s Wedding at the beginning of the month, literally a couple of days after Cory and Emily’s.
Jan and Chris were awesome. What started out as a business relationship turned into a friendship. They are awesome!
Then I went to Kauai for a couple of days:
Then I took Justin and Jamie’s photos before they left beautiful Hawaii. We went to Lanikai and Valley of the Temples:
Then something scary happened. I wrote my bosses an mail notifying them that I won’t be coming back next year to work for the school. I know, pretty scary. But it had to be done. There are lots of reasons but I’m going to miss the kids that have become somewhat of a family to me. What will I be doing you say? I’ll be working on my photography full-time as well as some other things that I’m not at liberty to discuss! However, I’m going to be doing bigger, better, and greater things and if you know me then you know that is a good thing.
This brings me to yesterday. I went out with Deb and JP to take photos for their new book that’s coming out. I’ll provide a link when I get one but we had an AWESOME time and ate some great food! That’s what it’s all about folks! Although I haven’t started editing at this point I did do one photo for this post:
This was a picture of their dog, this one is just to make you smile so you are happy when you leave my page
Photography.Alltop.com
Alltop.com is a website that aggregates all of the "Top" websites on specific topics from all around the web.
If you check out Photography.alltop.com
I’m there now… Pretty cool eh? I can’t believe that I share the same page as Flickr, Strobist, Digital Photography School, etc. I’m truly flattered. Thanks Neenz!
Check it for yourself.
So, because alltop.com requires an RSS feed I have created a wordpress blog for Philipson Photography. http://philipsonphotography.wordpress.com – I’m using the monotone theme that Matt Mullenweg debuted for us Hawaii peeps not too long ago.
As my photography slowly drifts from being a hobby and into more of a career so will Philipson Photography become it’s own entity. I won’t be blogging so much about photography on Inside Joe’s Head. Instead photography stuff will go to PhilipsonPhotography.wordpress.com
Another pretty cool thing is you can actually become a fan of Philipson Photography on Facebook now. Below is the link so fan up!
Today was a busy day… last day of school. I’m pretty zonked so I’m going to bed.
Leaps and Bounds
There are things I’m toying with. Decisions that need to be made. First off what to do? Right now I’m a teacher in Hawaii, it is ok but it really is not me. Just not feeling it. I mean, don’t get me wrong you get great time off and there are a lot of things that just don’t jive with me. So what to do? Couple options.
1. I interviewed for a job with Oceanit. They are an engineering company with a great vision and outlook for world change. I really like the office environment and they really like my ideas and my vision for world change. It’s not guaranteed or anything so not trying to get my hopes up. I’m due in for a second interview, I’m just waiting for a date.
If I get the job it would be awesome. A company that could actually use my ideas, use me! I can apply everything that I’ve learned to make a difference and I would be supported and appreciated. Those are big things for me. This seems like a place where I can grow and learn, two other really big things for me. If you know me, when I stop learning I start getting bored. If I start getting bored I have to move on. Oceanit seems like a place that would let me dip into any part of the company and not only will they allow me to explore with different tools or experiences but that they would encourage it. Bonus, I would get to stay in Hawaii. YAY!
2. Travel for a year. Yes, I would. Goal is simple, make it around the world and take pictures along the way. Do it now while I’m young right? I would love more than anything to take my photography skills around the world.
3. Join the Peace Corps. I really think I would enjoy this. I would definitely learn a lot about different cultures, I wonder if they need a photographer?
So that covers my work areas.
Photography has always been my passion. I’ve always wanted to incorporate that into almost everything I do. I got a phone call yesterday from a man who is starting an online travel magazine for Hawaii. He wants me to be his main photographer. How awesome is that? I’m meeting with him on Monday and I will blog what happens or you can follow me on twitter.
Last night I was interviewed by Hawaii blog GoVisitHawaii.com on photography tips. So if you’re my friend and you always ask me how you can improve your photos here you go. Someone wrote it down this time! Sweet!
Ok so in other news. Almost three weeks ago I started a social network for my College. I was wondering how they would view it. The college is very concerned about their image and how they are viewed which is very important so they tend to be a bit leery about new technologies. I’m really glad that they like it and think that this would be a great tool for keeping people connected. I really see the value in social networking and what it can do not just as a whole but even in very specific instances such as corporations or organizations.
Anyways, I’m going to do a video podcast on net philosophy and openness and all that stuff sometime. I promise. As for right now I leave you with one of the songs that I will be playing with my orchestra. Beethoven’s Egmont Overture:
here’s a little history about the song to read while you listen. Peace!
Easter Sunday
Was pretty cool. I got to hang out with Aaron from ask500.com and his family down at Waikiki which meant of course I brought my camera! So I captured some pretty awesome images. We were only actually on the beach playing around for about 15 minutes but I still managed to capture some pretty awesome pics.
By the way peeps, ask500.com is having a contest so make sure you write a poem or a song or something creative and submit it to support@ask500.com
Ok, if you didn’t just say “Awwwwwww” then there’s something drastically wrong with your cuteometer.
National Geographic Photographer Gerd Ludwig
Today I had the honor and privilege to sit at the University of Hawaii and listen to Gerd Ludwig talk about his photos and experiences as a professional photographer. He originally went to school and studied Physical Education, he was into soccer and stuff. This shows me how much life can change for everyone and how you can end up doing something you never thought you would be doing and totally enjoy it.
You can see Ludwig’s photos here in his gallery. Here is a little biography I found on him via Kingston. I highly recommend going through his Russian collections about pollution and Chernobyl. The photos are mixed with numerous emotions some that can’t be expressed. This is good photography my friends.
He was a really nice guy, I learned a lot from him… not just from the dozens of photos and stories that he shared at the seminar but I also had the honor of having lunch with him after the seminar and discussing with him his personal experiences as a photographer and how he interacts and communicates to people… So much info to write about. I took notes during his seminar and these are some of the key things that I found profound not just for me but for every photographer:
Some notes and quotes from Gerd Ludwig on photography.
-What is your point of view?
-Photography has to have it’s own connection to your own personal self.
-The best photos are the ones with compassion, full of joy, not because there is joy in the picture out there but because they felt joy
-You must not allow the camera to shield yourself from reality, you must use the camera as an outlet for your emotions… we can deal with the pain and suffering better because we have this outlet but we can not use it as a shield…
oment they pressed the shutter
What is the exposure of your image? 1/60th of a second and 61 years…. because you bring your own life experience into the picture… you can walk by a homeless person and take their picture or you can get on their knees and tell the viewer not only the physical point of view but your inner point of view to the person looking at your photo…
-It’s important that you have a personal deeper connection with what you photograph
-See if your photos fits the social description of the place you’re photographing
-“They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work� Local Russian saying
-Wide angle lens creates the feeling of intimacy
-If you are close you give the reader the feeling of being close in…
-Learn to use the wide angle so it doesn’t distort too much
-On one assignment I shot 1500 rolls and only 30 photos were used…
-As photographers it isn’t the amount of images but we have to push the shutter at every thought there might be an image…
-The most expensive photograph is the one you need to go back for because you missed it.
-It is very important that you know what you’re photographing. If you didn’t know what the confederate flag was and you saw a bunch of people partying around it then you would miss an important piece of context about your photo and the story that it tells…
pictures become more meaningful and deeper when you know a lot. (In the context that you know a lot about the culture, the people, etc. of where you are photographing)
-You have to be open to your photography.
-Don’t be a body with a camera for a head.
-A great photograph should touch the soul and broaden the mind
Aside from photography, Ludwig has a hilarious sense of humor and a wonderful outlook on life. He has risked his life to show people images and to tell the stories of the individuals he’s captured.
I asked him, “Who are your heroes” and he looked at me with all sincerity and said, “My heroes are the people that let me share their story.”
Latest on Explore
Punahou throws a carnival every year… Punahou is pretty popular right now because “Soon to be President” Barrack Obama went to school there.
Peacock… Latest Explore
I took this shot at Waimea Canyon leading up to Waimea Falls on the North Shore… I dedicate this photo to my brother Danny, because he almost lost a fight with one when we were kids
Let the Craziness Begin!
Okay, so remember my photo of the coconut? You know the one with the Palm Tree growing out of it? Yeah, it’s the post right below this one It made explore which was awesome but then I noticed some unusual crazy activity on it.
Well, thanks to flickr’s new feature that allows you to see the stats of your photo I checked where the traffic was coming from and was shocked to see it was posted on reddit.com which was pretty sweet. But then the next day my photo was put on Digg.com and again the traffic to my photo EXPLODED!
Just so you know, my most popular photo on flickr was the one with the slug bug. Remember that one? I’ll post it below:
This photo has 3,541 views. That’s pretty high for me. Now the photo of the coconut, I’ll post below:
Yeah, this photo has had 155,001 views as of this post. I watched this puppy gain 400 views a second for a little bit and was bug eyed. It was pretty amazing… here are the stats on the photo:
So yeah, pretty awesome eh?
I’ve been crazy busy. I fell a bit behind on my podcast for CLA (Christian Law Associations)’s Legal Alert. Then my schools yearbook is due next week and kinda just stated :-/ hehe. I have to make business cards for my Photography business, Philipsonphotography.com I have a couple of concepts but not really sure yet. Manoa Geeks tomorrow night, always something to look forward to. Thursday I am gonna give Yoga a try with my friend Aaron who owns Ask500.com. Friday is Art After Dark and they’re going to unveil their new exhibit and pieces from Bhutan, maybe I’ll get to see the beautiful princess again. Here’s a photo of her that I took on Saturday, she was looking right at me… I wish I would have waved and winked
Also, I know some of you don’t like my blog theme. Don’t worry I don’t either I just need to find one I like that also lets me post big pictures…
BTW, I got another photo on explore:
I’ll see you guys later 
Latest on Explore – Ko’Olina Sunset
As you can see I’m loving my new 10-20mm Sigma wide angle lens
I took the following picture on my first day shooting with it… I just used it today on my Nikon film camera, it’s full frame so I got the really really wide look with the rounded edges. I’m going to walmart today to drop off the couple rolls and see what I got. I’ll post them here when I’m done.
Anyways, here’s the photo:
