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.

So much electro!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! I know my weekend was crazy. I've really been getting into electronic music lately. I've always liked it but more recently I've given up on listening to metal and have been on an all electro diet. I was at a halloween party on sunday night and heard this amazing track. I guess I am a little late on The Bloody Beetroots train but better late than never. Check out the video for their song  Warp 1.9 ft. Steve Aoki, it's a serious banger with an awesome music video (who doesn't like slow motion).




More recent is some crazy new dubstep from Skrillex. His album "Scary Monster and Nice Sprites" dropped last week and it is awesome! It's really all I've been listening to since it came out. You can download it on beatport for free.



Stoked to see him with Huoratron and Felguk next week at Webster Hall!

Antoine Dodson Halloween!

So Halloween is right around the corner and what other way to celebrate every ones favorite holiday than by dressing up as every ones favorite internet sensation ANTOINE DODSON! Hide ya kids! Hide ya wife! Because they're gonna want to snatch up all of these!

If you don't know this face then you must have been living under a rock.

That's right people, YOU TOO can dress up like this brave young man and make your own version of the bed intruder song. Kit comes with Antoine wig, Bandana, black tank top and a rolled up piece of paper signed by Antoine Dodson himself!

The costume can be found online at www.bedintrudercostume.com. I know I would totally have been Antoine if it was socially acceptable (or Purchase acceptable for that matter). Looks like I'll be sticking with being Jersey Shore's Mike the Situation. Photos of that terrible idea early next week.

Hope everyone has an awesome Halloween! Leave a comment and let me know what you are planning on doing!

Adobe Photo Awesomizer

Since the majority of my photography is done digitally Adobe Photoshop is my best friend. But not everyone can spend the money to get a legal copy and not everyone wants to spend hours and hours learning all the ins and outs of it. Lucky for those people Adobe has come out with a sweet Facebook application appropriately named the Adobe Photo Awesomizer! The application is geared towards students since it is located on Adobe's Student page.

Adobe contacted me and asked me to review this application and contest (I must be doing something right!) I have not been influenced at all by Adobe, the following walkthrough and review are my own experiences and opinions.

Full walkthrough after the jump!

Jersey Shore Tattoos

So for some reason the television series The Jersey Shore has managed to captivate viewers all over the nation, while at the same time further popularizing the Ed Hardy tattoo craze. Tattoo culture is something that I have been interested in for quite a long time and have done plenty of research in. What many people may not know is who Ed Hardy really is. How do I know this? I couldn't even count the numerous times people have come up to me while I was at work and asked something like, "Oh damn you got dem Ed Hardy tatties! Did that shiii hurt?!" No they're not "Ed Hardy tatties" and yes...it's a needle...it hurts. People need to be educated! More on Ed Hardy and The Jersey Shore after the jump!

Pauly D

So I'm testing out this mobile blogging. Now I can blog on the go! And whats a better first mobile post than a barn that looks like a face? This is the first of many things that look like faces to come.

The Minimalist Bike

Since the SUNY Purchase campus is pretty spread out I decided to take my mountain bike back to school with me this semester. I used to skateboard before I became more interested in music so picking up a new "extreme sport" was exciting. I'd rip around campus doing wheelies and bunny hopping over steps and whatever other "extreme" things I could find. It was a good time, until I broke my bike chain.

Purchase is flat. Thanks for the picture Riley Anne.

Since I was being active I figured I should take advantage of the gym on campus. I'd bike over to the gym and get on the exercise bike's and do cardio before I lifted. I still go, but it's starting to get old and I know that when the semester ends and I go back home I am going to be too busy to get a gym membership somewhere in the area. Guess I should just get a shakeweight....

Roaming the internet I came across what I think is the most beautiful piece of workout equipment around. And for a little over $10,000 it better be. The Ciclotte Exercise Bike is the most to the point piece of workout equipment I've ever seen. No longer do you have to hide your nasty treadmill in the closet before you have company over. If you can purchase this beautiful bike, you might as well show it off.

The steel and carbon fiber frame, reminiscent of italian super cars,  makes this thing a sight to see. Aside from being sold to wealthy fitness freaks this bike, designed by Italian designer Luca Schiepatti, has been included in multiple exhibitions showcasing its exquisite design.

Someday when I am making the kind of money to be able to purchase an exercise bike that costs as much as a used car I will totally own whatever next product Ciclotte comes out with. This beautifully simple machine would look perfect in any home gym or minimalist living room.

Pushing the boundaries of movement

This past summer I got my first taste of the "real world." Monday through Friday I'd drag myself out of bed at 7:30 and hop into my truck and head out to fix houses that had water damage. While my friends were out enjoying the sun or the beach, I spent my summer in wet basements and nasty crawl spaces cleaning up mold. On the way to this one job there was this used European car dealership with an immaculate 1986 BMW M6. I'd drive by every day and just drool at it's beauty.

Beautiful iPhone quality

It's interesting to see how far automotive design has come. The boxy shape and hard lines have been given up for much smoother contours in recent years. The 2010 BMW M6 is a perfect example of this. The M6 retains the longer front end that is typical of 6 series BMWs, but aside from that bears no resemblance to it's classic predecessor. 

The 2011 BMW 6 series concept model is even more sleek. In the rendered image released by BMW the car looks like a stretched out drop of mercury. Simply stated it's gorgeous. 

To me it seems that most car manufacturers are creating automobiles that scream luxury instead of raw power. When you think Hyundai you most likely don't immediately think class, but the 2010 Sonata looks like an attempt to make a Korean car look like a mix between a Mercedes and a BMW.

Regardless it's nice to see something that really sticks out from this trend. Stumbling through various blogs as I normally do I came across the Peugeot EX1 and the Zenvo ST1. Both cars look like a cross between the Batmobile from The Dark Knight and the motorcycle from Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira. 

Pissed.

The EX1 was created for the celebration of Peugeot's 200th anniversary. This amazing open air automobile is four wheel drive, pushing 340 break horse power and has already broken world records for fastest acceleration from a stand still. Oh and did I mention that it's 100% electric? The EX1 is Peugeot's way of showing the world what can really be done with electric powered cars. I can't wait to see what they'll be coming up with next.

Don't forget your goggles!

Then, straight out of Denmark, is the beast of a machine the Zenvo ST1. This serious super car pushes out 1,104 bhp and is powered by a 7 liter V8 Engine. Good luck getting your hands on one though. Aside from the fact that they're priced the same as a Bugatti Veyron, only fifteen cars are made a year. Exclusive? I think so. 

The car is mean

With all the similarly shaped luxury cars I see on a daily basis it's refreshing that super car companies are continually pushing the boundaries of automotive design to their limits. As long as companies like Zenvo  exist, I'll be happy. 

I have a Deathwish

So I'm glad I stumbled across Baker skateboards' sister company Deathwish a couple months back. It's been a while since I put down my skateboard for my bike so I guess I'm a little out of the loop. They have a  nasty line up of skaters, including my man Lizard King. The kid shreds. If you haven't seen the "Baker has Deathwish" DVD you need to get on that shit.

Their spring 2010 pro series decks are out in stores now and they've got some gnarly designs.

Included in this seasons pro series decks are Antwaun Dixon, Erik Ellington, Brian Hanse, Lizard King, and Jim Greco.

Their soft goods are just as sick. I love egypt and space. Thanks Greco.