Tell Me, Do You Phoon?

"The goal is not to change your subjects, but for the subject to change the photographer."

It is my belief, and my experience, that fate comes around to visit me most often when I have my camera in my hand. While fate may not allow me to become a millionaire by picking the correct winning Lotto numbers, or to accidentally encounter David Duchovny coming out of my favorite deli, it has managed to put me in the right place to discover some amazing people, places and things, while out in the world with camera in hand, but it hasn't been exclusive to the real world, sometimes it has introduced me to some pretty great and amazing people and things here on the Internet as well. :)

Last Sunday, I was researching an upcoming trip I was planning this week to, Pacific Grove, California. There is a specific sculpture that sits in Lover's Point Park, that I have been interested in photographing for quite some time now. The sculpture is titled, "Boy With Sailboat." So, off to google I went, and a few web sites came up, but most were simply photos of the sculpture, but one certain web site actually had a small amount of information indicated in the link box, so that is the one I chose to go to. It indeed had some info about the sculpture, but that wasn't the focus of the site. See, fate had lead me to a different kind of art form. And what fine art it is. See, I had, by luck, just discovered the world of Phoons.

What's a Phoon you ask? Well, it is the craze that's been seen, and posed, around the world. The art of Phooning was created in 1980, when John Darrow, the main Phoon himself, decided to strike a fun pose for some family vacation photos. That was over 20 years ago, but while on a business trip in 1999, the muse struck John again, and he saw the opportunity to Phoon once again. From there...the Phoon was reborn. Phooning is not easily described in verb-o-rama...it has to be seen to be understood. It's fun, it's creative, and it is a genuine phenomenon that has gone international. If you care to, you can phoon as well. John accepts and posts submitted photos from the four corners of the earth, but there are some rules and requirements that must be followed before your phoon photo can be posted. Nothing scary or too detailed mind you, just a few guidelines to make the experience of phooning a lot more fun. You should drop by and see for yourself, what a cool web site I happened upon the other day.

John is a nice man. He is also very creative and helpful. In addition to his Phoon site he also has a pretty nifty blog, right here on Blogspot. I will leave the links below so you can pay him a visit, say hello neighbor, and enjoy all the hard work he has put into his site. Someday the word "Phoon" will be in the dictionary, I have no doubts about that at all. Next to the description it will say... "See fun." :) Thanks John, for making me smile. Don't you just love fate's little detours?

Phoons From Around The World

Personal Effects (John's Blog)

-OndineMonet
"An Alcove In Berkeley"
Berkeley, California
June 14, 2006
Afternoon