NEW BLOG

We had a great run Blogger. But its time to Re-Up.


Blog.DerrickGomez.com


Please set your book marks appropriately.
And if you are on Tumblr... Follow Me.

The Key to Long Term Success?

Today's To Do:

Chores + Laundry.
Eat a banana + almonds for an energy boost.
Go for a jog.
Boxing.
Cut my hair.
Dinner.
Photo shoot / personal project in Brooklyn tonight.

Let's go!


Delayed Gratification:
http://www.sybervision.com/Discipline/marshmallow.htm

Emotional Intelligence:
http://www.kaganonline.com/KaganClub/FreeArticles/ASK14.html

Egg Republic

My old high school buddy Dave just launched a new media production company called the Egg Republic. Great start fellas! I like that Wong Kar Wai interactive.

http://www.TheEggRepublic.com

Follow me.

http://www.Twitter.com/DerrickGomez

I don't do it for my health man. I do it for the belt, man.

Jacqueline, my agent, just emailed me today to ask for my response to the following question:

Do you feel competition is helpful or hurtful in the photography world?

She told me to create a blog post with my answer, and she'll link art buyers and ad agency creatives to the post. Cool. Umm. Hi. Thanks for visiting. Here's my response. I wrote it in a stream of consciousness.


===

Personally, for me its not about competition being objectively helpful or hurtful. The answer to that question would depend on whether or not the respondent is an optimist or a pessimist. Photography is competitive, now more than ever. And a week from now, it will be more than that. Its inevitable. The only thing we have control over is how we react to the situation.

We live in the information age. And as each day passes, photography grows increasingly more popular and more accessible: technologically, financially, educationally, and even professionally. Digital SLR cameras and professional grade editing software are all easy to get a hold of. Social networking sites (like Flickr) function as online galleries where professional and amateur photographers alike can share, critique and gain feedback on each others work. Even sites like Facebook or MySpace, cultivate a new crop of amateur photographers, because they encourage the creation and distribution of personal photos. Educational resources are everywhere on the internet. Getting talent and models to photograph are a simple mouse click away. And micro stock agencies allow weekend warrior photographers to monetize their entire image catalog.

Welcome to the brave new world. On many levels, the roles of agencies (ad, stock, modeling, and otherwise) have been flipped on their head. In terms of business there is more competition from all angles. Ad agencies begin to rely less on assignment photographers, because a vast number of amateur photographers have presented them with cheap endless catalogs of images organized on micro stock websites and social networks. And the amount of competent knowledgeable semi-pro photographers increase with each day. These semi-pros flood the market with egregiously low day rates, grossly undercutting the incomes of established professional photographers, many of whom were forced to stop being a photographer, or seek out additional sources of revenue.

Where does this all leave the professional photographer? For me personally, I love competition. I love playing sports and training. I feel like you're only as good as your competition. So if there are more photographers, then it creates a great opportunity for me to become that much better. Besides, the cream always rises to the top.

I am all for freely sharing the wealth of knowledge. The benefits far out weigh the draw backs. We need only look at our newly elected President Obama to see the power of an educated population. The information age has made photography so highly accessible, that it led to an enormous influx of new photographers, and I feel in the long run, its all for the best. Since everyone is shooting so much, they gain a greater understanding of photography. I can play off of their knowledge of the medium. I actually believe that there is now more potential for my work to be appreciated.

On a spiritual level, I feel that everyone is designed to do something. And artists are defined simply as those people who have to make art to feel right. I've always had to photograph the world in order to feel happy and enjoy my life. So there is no danger of me not shooting anymore just because photography has become increasingly more difficult professionally.

And in general, I'm a very forward thinking person. I don't seek to conserve established paradigms. The spirit of a creative is to push forward and embrace the future. If this is the way the world is moving, then I will go with the flow. From what I can see, there is more competition everywhere, in all creative arenas, not just photography. The gate keepers of music industry, the record labels, are no longer the sole dictators of who the important musicians will be. The people are. Established print media distribution channels such as newspapers and magazines and even books, are falling to the way side of Blogs, Twitters, Dugg articles and Facebook notes. I even recently discovered that the top 5 best seller book list in Japan are all teen high school girl journals written from cellphones.

More competition is the direction the media world is moving towards. There is no getting around it. So you either adapt to survive, or you miss out. It's not a question of competition being a good thing or a bad thing. It is what it is. Man up.

Lykke Li

Out for Blood - Brooklyn '09

Off the Radarrrrrrrr

Hi. I'm hiding out somewhere in the Caribbean.
Sangria. Jetskiing. Mountain Biking. Kayaking. Sailing.
Snorkeling. Spear Fishing. Bug Spray. SPF. Waves.
Sun. Surf. White Sand. Passing the f' out. Waking up Darker.

Updates later. See you next year!

I'm Home.

I woke up at 5am in L.A. to catch my flight back to N.Y. It was dark, and raining. I travel to L.A. pretty often, but this was only the 2nd time I've ever seen an L.A. deluge in my life. Rain is so rare. The city doesn't really know what to do with it sometimes. The streets flood due to inadequate drainage systems. Schools tell their students to stay home. And offices postpone their workday to wait it out.

After experiencing endless days of sunshine during my trip to California, a little rain was pretty refreshing. It adds variety and gives perspective. In L.A., you can't feel the seasons change, nor the months go by. There is no sense of urgency. And it can be difficult to find your drive. So yeah, rain is great, at least every now and then.



I enjoyed the rainy drive to LAX. It was sort of like California's way of seeing me off back to New York. I landed back in NYC at 4pm, got to my house at 5:15pm. I'm going to drop off my bags, and take a couple minutes to wash up. I have a meeting at 6pm. And another one at 9pm. And I'm psyched. I love my life. I'm happy to be home. Time to hit the ground running and finish 2008 strong.

CSS + Natalie Portman's Shaved Head

Caught CSS and NPSH playing at Echoplex (Echo Park, L.A.) last night, with my friend Mandy. It was fun. The music was very danceable. LoveFoxxx was rocking what appeared to be a Brazilian tribal headress and Mayan zebra catsuit. Its a good look for her, matched her friskiness. I never heard of NPSH before. They intially seemed like an immature derivative of MGMT, and I'm not normally into "new sincerity" kid bands, but I actually enjoyed their set. It was highly energetic and entertaining. And yeah, it didn't hurt that I'm catching them in L.A. The warm sun and palm trees helped their positive cheesy vibes go down smooth. Heh.

Here. Listen.

CSS : "Alala"


CSS : "Let's make Love and Listen to Death from Above"


Natalie Portman's Shaved Head : "Holding Hands in the Shower"

California-nya-nya

I'm posting from Santa Monica in Los Angeles.
Updates later. Here's a couple pics of L.A. in the meantime.


L.A. DriveAbouts :

Murder She Wrote

I was walking on Dekalb Avenue, around Fort Greene Park, when I spotted this little hotstepper. Can't say that I've seen many dogs with dreadlocks before. Its a good look.

Japan Walkabouts: Osaka Summer Fireworks Festival

NY Walkabouts: Bear Mountain

Spent this past Sunday hiking up Bear Mountain.
The air was so fresh up there. 59 degrees. Clean and Crisp.
My lungs feel amazing right now.

Bear Mountain's about an hour away from NYC. It's a great place to spontaneously get out
of the city. The hiking difficulty varies nicely too. You can make your way to the top by strolling
along easy scenic trails. Or you can get your hands dirty and work your way up on all fours.
The Appalachian Trail actually goes through it too, if you're into that sort of thing.


Ok. Photos:

Thanks Urb

Hah! I just posted these photos.
Internet's fast today.
Thanks for the props Urb! I see you.

http://www.urb.com/permalink/4065/PHOTO:-Election-night-from-NYC.html

You too Pure / Roker:
http://pureroker.blogspot.com/2008/11/live-from-new-york-on-election-night.html

I'm so hung over right now.

And my face hurts
from all the laughing and smiling.
NYC was insane last night. More later...





Edit 10-07-2008:
Here're a few snaps from Election Night.

We're in a car en route from Brooklyn to Union Square, NYC.












Union Square:

K.T.F.O.

New kick boxing photos. Here you go.

Hah. The expression on this first fighter is so calm,
like he's taking a leisurely stroll through the park.

Let's Go Rangers!

Caught a Rangers game in Madison Square Garden last Saturday. I love watching hockey games. They're so graceful yet so violent, kind of like going to a fight. haha.

The Rangers weren't playing that well against the Penguins. They were down 0-2 halfway into the 3rd period. The Rangers' coach Brendan Shanahan was hospitalized the previous night from an on ice collision, and I think that the Rangers just didn't have the will to play hard. But Rangers fans are so die hard supportive that none of them left even when there was only minutes left of the game and there was no hope in sight for victory. Honestly, that's the real reason to attend a game in the Garden, the energy of the fans is incredible.

The cheers eventually kindled a fire in the Rangers, 'cause in the final moments of the game they started really taking it to the Penguins. The Rangers took around 25 shots within a few minutes, while denying their opponent any offensive opportunities. The Rangers finally scored their 1st point with only minutes left in the game. The crowd went ba-na-nas. The Rangers then pulled their goalie off, to get another offensive player on the ice. They went all out, attempting shot after shot after shot. Finally, they tied the game with only 8 seconds left. hahahaha. 8 seconds... 8 seconds? WTF. Everyone was on their feet screaming their heads off. Random strangers were hugging and high-fiving me. People started making out and getting naked. It was crazy in there, like an earthquake. The last goal broke the Penguin's spirit, and the Rangers pulled in an easy W in overtime. Best. Comeback. Ever.

a picture is worth a thousand keywords

Wow. An image search engine, not based on keywords nor meta-tags, but rather an algorithmic visual analysis of a picture. This Tin Eye technology is such a fresh idea. Imagine what would happen if they combined it with Sea Dragon and Photosynth. It'd be like Google Maps' street view, but instead of the Google car supplying the photos, you'd have the world's population doing it. And instead of being limited to the street, you'd be limited to whatever people happened to shoot photos of.

I'm good. I'm gone.

Man. What a cool creepy music video. The song is sort of like Lykke Li's psyching herself up to kill a dysfunctional relationship. And the video is Lykke being all cute & angsty surrounded 'roided female body building demons and dancing chanting geriatric zombies that know how to box. The girl's gotta sexy voice too.

Nooka

My buddy Matt just released a new promo vid for his Nooka watch line. He was supposed to throw an awesome party to celebrate the premiere, but he didn't. What the hell man? Anyways, check it out!

300

For the past 3 weeks, I've been playing a game. Every day, I try to get to 100 push ups consecutively. I started out at 50 in a row, and I tacked on an additional 5 every day or so.

55, 65, 70, 75, 80, etc...

I count the push ups in my head to conserve energy. And I usually divide everything into sets of 10, so I don't get overwhelmed by the numbers, like this:

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 20
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 30
etc.

Tonight, I got up to 99 push ups in a row. Or 99.5 if you count my half push up at the end. haha.
I think that subconsciously I didn't want to hit 100 yet, so that I can play the game again tomorrow. Ha.

I told my neighbor Carl about it. And he said he's been doing push ups everyday too. Pretty funny coincidence. Actually, he told me he read my gchat status the other day when I proudly posted that I got up to 75 push ups in a row, and he started doing them too. He got up to 80 non stop tonight.

Carl said that 100 consecutive push ups is not that many, and that we should be able to do at least 300 in row. He challenged me to get to 300 push ups continuously by this December. He'll do it too. So that gives us roughly 5 weeks. We'd have to tack on about 10 push ups every day or 2.

300, huh? At first I thought, "Wow. 300 sounds like a lot!" But Carl put it in perspective by showing me the World Records for push ups:

• non-stop: 10,507; Minoru Yoshida (JAP), Oct 1980
• one year: 1,500,230; Paddy Doyle (GBR), Oct 1988 - Oct 1989
• 24 hours: 46,001; Charles Servizio (USA), 24/25 April 1993 at Hesperia
  (new record claim, not yet verified: Jeffrey Warrick (USA), 46300)
• 1 hour: 3,877; Bijender Singh (IND), 20 Sept 1988
  
• 30 minutes: 2,354; Rolf Heck (GER), 13 Nov 2000
• 10 minutes (women): 426; Renata Hamplová (TCH), Rekord-Klub SAXONIA Record Festival in Schwedt, 2 Sept 1995
• 5 minutes: 441; Giuseppe Cusano (GBR), Loftus Road Soccer Stadium at the Fulham v. Portsmouth game on 24 Nov 2003
• 3 minutes (women): 190; Renata Hamplová (TCH), Record Festival Pelhrimov 1995

Ok. 300 is nothing.

Let's GO.


EDIT:
Push Up Log.

October 20, 2008 - 99 push ups
October 21, 2008 - 106 push ups
October 22, 2008 - 115 push ups
October 23, 2008 - 131 push ups
October 28, 2008 - 152 push ups
October 31, 2008 - 150 push ups
November 4, 2008 - 153 push ups
November 6, 2008 - 155 push ups

Hmmm. I seem to be getting stuck around 150. I need to figure out a new approach to this.
Getting drunk every other night of election week probably isn't helping much either.

Nicola Sander: Here I Am

Originally a hurdler, Nicola Sander's overcame heartbreak and injury, and has risen to become a formidable sprinter and a Beijing hopeful. Among her many accolades, she won silver in the 2007 World Championships and became European Indoor Champion, both in the 400 metres. Last August she was also named British Woman Athlete of the Year. She says her strength has always come from maintaining her sense of humour and listening to her body.