Hipsters leave tumblr come to a TV near you

So the season premier of skins is on right now. So far all I know is that some little girl in too much makeup is pretty sexy and that this show is too hip to be on MTV. So all you hipsters out there get off tumblr and get to your TVs pronto!

John Ricard Photography Workshop

So finals are finally over and I am back to doing water damage restoration in Connecticut to rake in the dough. This past sunday I had to opportunity to go to John Ricard's Studio in Manhattan to attend a studio lighting workshop.

The workshop, which was a test run for a future workshop John will be giving was awesome. The class which was originally supposed to be for five photographers ended up being just three (included myself) due to random cancellations, one of which is an interior designer and the other a "jack of some trades." I learned a great deal from John and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Check out John's photography. He's shot a ton of huge names in Hip Hop including Trey Songz, T.I. and Flo Rida. He also has a wealth of photography related videos on his youtube worth checking out.

Here's a screen shot of one of the shots I took from the workshop shot with a massive PLM.

Ojolie's Animated Ecards

So the holiday season is upon us and it's getting time to send out the family holiday card but you didn't have time to round up the gang and pull those christmas sweaters out of the attic for an awkward family photo. That's where Ojolie's Animated Ecards comes in. They have all sorts of pretty animated ecards (much more appropriate than someecards) to send out to your loved ones.

Their christmas ecards  section is filled with a multitude of festive animated ecards that can be personalized with a message of good cheer and a photo (if you did happen get the ugly sweaters out). They also have a little holiday jingle to go along with the cards. I know that probably right after I finish this post I'll send one of these off to my mom. Get ready for the holidays with Ojolie!

TSOs are people too.

So I'm going to take a break from the design stuff I usually post about and post about something that has been bothering me lately; how people are treating TSA officers. I'm sure you've all heard about the new TSA naked scanners and the new "enhanced" pat downs.


I understand that no one wants their private parts to be touched but I believe there is a limit to how people should be reacting to this. I didn't really pay the whole issue much mind until I read this article. It's disgusting that people are verbally abusing TSOs (Transport Security Officers) to the point where these people are going home and crying. No one should be publicly humiliated like that. These people are simply people who have a job to do and try to do it in a professional manner. TSOs do not make the policies, so they should not be treated poorly for having to enforce them.


These quotes from TSOs had a serious impact on me,


“Yesterday a passenger told me to keep my hands off his penis or he’d scream. Is this how a 40 year old man in business attire acts? He’ll scream? My 3 year old can get away with saying he’ll scream, but a 40 something business man? I am a professional doing my job, whether I agree with this current policy or not, I am doing my job.  I do not want to be here all day touching penises.”


“Molester, pervert, disgusting, an embarrassment, creep. These are all words I have heard today at work describing me, said in my presence as I patted passengers down. These comments are painful and demoralizing, one day is bad enough, but I have to come back tomorrow, the next day and the day after that to keep hearing these comments. If something doesn’t change in the next two weeks I don’t know how much longer I can withstand this taunting. I go home and I cry. I am serving my country, I should not have to go home and cry after a day of honorably serving my country.”

“I come to work to do my job. It is not up to me to decide policy, it is up to me to carry out my duties as dictated by the Transportation Security Administration. When a person stands in front of me and calls me a pervert or accuses me of molesting them it is disheartening. People fail to understand that neither of us are happy about the intrusive pat down I am carrying out.  I am polite, I am professional and while someone may not like what I have to carry out, they came to me because they choose not to utilize the alternative and less invasive method of security at my airport.”

“I served a tour in Afghanistan followed by a tour in Iraq. I have been hardened by war and in the past week I am slowly being broken by the constant diatribe of hateful comments being lobbed at me. While many just see a uniform with gloves feeling them for concealed items I am a person, I am a person who has feelings. I am a person who has served this country. I am a person who wants to continue serving his country. The constant run of hateful comments while I perform my job

 will break me down faster and harder than anything I encountered while in combat in the Army.”

Read the whole article to see what your harsh words are really doing to people as we approach this holiday season. 

Hipster Cigarettes

As if an ironic mustache and a stupid haircut wasn't bad enough hipsters now have their very own brand of cigarettes! Camels "Break Free Adventure" campaign highlights different cities around the nation and this weeks happens to be none only than the hipster central headquarters, Williamsburg! More after the jump!

Get em while you can because the New York City Health Officials are pissed. Camel describes Williamsburg as, "Some call it the most famous hipster neighborhood. But it's not about hip. It's about breaking free. It's about last call, a sloppy kiss goodbye and a solo saunter to a rock show in an abandoned building. It' where a tree grows. It's Camel in the Williamsburg corner of Brooklyn."

So there you go hipsters, don your vintage American Apparel Tees and run out to the nearest bodega and rep your neighborhood! While you're at it you might also want to try and buy up as many Four Loko's as you can before they're gone!

Adobe Awesomizer Revenge Of The Nerds

A few weeks ago I mentioned the Adobe Awesomizer application on Facebook and the contest that Adobe is having with it. This weeks contest is How Nerdy Can You Look sponsored by Chegg? The cool thing about this week is that on top of the Adobe software which will be received by the winner, the winner will also receive a 1 year-long textbook rental from Chegg!

Get on this people! Here is my submission to this weeks contest! Luckily or me I just got back from a photo shoot with a client so I was already looking sharp. 

My Return to Flickr

So I took myself off Flickr a while ago afraid that people were going to steal my photography. But it's back up and has some recent work I've done under the 2010 set. I'll be slowly adding more to it as I comb through all I've taken this year. Here's a couple of my favorite shots.