From one hilltop to the world: the Phoons phenomenon

Am I amazed at the worldwide reach of phooning? Of course!

Consider the simple beginning of phooning. When I was 19 in 1980 and phooned for a photo while atop a glacier, I was definitely not thinking, "Hey, maybe I can someday get other people to do this, too!" No, I was merely being silly for a handful of family photos. I looked forward to Mom developing the photos after the summer trip so I could laugh at myself when we went through all of the photos. I had no intention of continuing to do that pose after the trip.

In contrast, consider where phooning is now. Complete strangers from around the world repeat my actions from childhood: they stand in a particular pose and take a photo, knowing that they are doing a pose called a Phoon and hoping that their photo will become part of the art piece known as Phoons.com. People of different countries and languages use "phoon" on their web sites and blogs. People phoon for photos that they never send in to Phoons.com (even though they are brilliant photos and I wish they would!). See for yourself: on Google, search for "phoons" or "phooning" or "phooned"; try adding "blog" to a search to see how many people talk about it. And search Flickr.com for "phoon" or "phoons".

Am I amazed? Absolutely! How lucky and delighted I am that people go to amazing places around the world and take photos and send them to me for me and others to enjoy! Okay, occasionally, it is clear that someone just hopes to see himself on Phoons.com; he sends an uninteresting closeup of himself phooning in a room. But the majority of submissions now show that phooners are serious about this art. They "get it": they work hard to find interesting new locations and to do the pose right. They praise the best works of others, sometimes with a tone of competition. (Until this blog, you probably wouldn't have known that because I don't discuss it on the site and have not implemented a rating system--a topic worth its own blog entry.)

So how did I get from a phoon on a glacier to a web site devoted to thousands of Phoon photos from people around the world that may have nothing more in common that an interest in surprising each other with their new Phoons in new places?

In 1999, I was on an overnight business trip. I wandered around an upscale mall in Newport Beach, California. My silly poses from my summer trip nearly 20 years earlier came to mind, and I thought it would be fun to do that pose again. And that is when I took the Bloomingdale's photo that got me phooning again. Part of my motivation was this fairly new thing called the internet. I had been creating web pages for a few years and it sounded like a fun idea to scan those old photos from 1980 and put them on the internet with my new 1999 photo and then try to talk others into taking their own Phoon photos and sending them to me.

My goal at the beginning was not quality: it was quantity. My marketing effort consisted of spamming family and friends and of posting invitations on photography, humor and travel discussion boards, doing what I could to present this bizarre world of phooning as if it were something worth checking out.

Hey, thanks to Google for snatching up the old discussion groups! They still have a record of some of those early marketing activities.

From the alt.humor board:
From: jdemail

Date: Thurs, Jun 8 2000 12:00 am

In 1980, a friend and I named a particular pose the "Phoon" (essentially looks like a running person frozen in time). That summer, I snuck the Phoon into various family vacation photos. Since then, I've talked others into doing that pose for photos. Now I've got 76 pictures FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

See for yourself (don't worry...it's all clean):

http://www.jps.net/radarrow/john/phoons.html

Enjoy,
John

And note how the marketing worked: someone out there was looking for the site and someone else knew where to find it.

From the rec.photo.digital board:

From: Mitch Goodman
Date: Tues, Jun 5 2001 12:43 pm

I saw a site mentioned here a while back.

It showed people on one leg getting ready to run away.

I was called phoosh, or whoosh or something like that.

Anyone know the address??

thanks
Mitch


From: Will Kitajo
Date: Tues, Jun 5 2001 11:41 pm

Phoons. I couldn't find it in my bookmarks, but a quick Google search turned it up: http://www.jps.net/radarrow/john/phoons/ . Looks like he's registered the phoons.com name and will be moving his site over shortly.

Will K.

You can see that I originally did not have a "phoons.com" site. At the beginning, I simply had an obscure subdirectory that increasingly consumed the 10 MB of web space that came with Dad's (no longer existing) web account: http://www.jps.net/radarrow/john/phoons/.

The biggest boost early on was definitely from Yahoo. I had submitted my website for inclusion in their Humor category. To my delight, the editors added it within a few weeks and even honored it with a Pick of the Week nomination and icon. (It is still there in the "short list" today. Pretty cool!) Picks of the Week were included in online newsletters that Yahoo emailed to subscribers around the world, instantly bringing a new worldwide audience to Phoons.com, especially since some of the recipients were other online services who passed on "new sites of interest" to their customers. I was increasingly receiving photos from around the world from people whom I had never met.

What an amazing thing to observe. The internet makes all the difference, bringing together people who share an interest in the simple fun of contributing and making others smile through a silly pose inserted in their photo, thus tying all photos together. All that started with a photo of a somewhat rebellious youngster atop a glacier in 1980 and my interest in 1999 in getting other people to likewise join in the rebellion. "Finally, a good reason to overcome your fears and appear in your travel photos again!"

It wasn't until 2003 that I made a key shift in my strategy: my goal was no longer quantity but quality, marking the next growth phase for Phoons.com. And that is most definitely worth a blog entry of its own.

Why did I phoon the very first time?

As you read in the prior post, I had the word Phoon in my mind from high school summer camp. It was "reserved," in a way, for a body position.

The following summer (1980), I traveled with Mom, Dad and extended family. Occasionally, Mom, camera in hand, would call out for us to "wave at the camera!" My bad attitude was, "Is this to help others find us when we are showing the photos to others? Is this supposed to make us look friendly, or something?" I would have felt embarrassed to wave at the camera. So I chose instead to stand on one foot and spread out all my limbs, as illustrated in this summer photo . There, that's not as embarrassing! (Figure that out.) Have I changed my attitude about waving for a camera? Not really.

What I don't remember is when I first started calling that particular pose a Phoon. Initially, I was simply standing in a silly way for photos. But at some point, I decided to refer to this new pose as a Phoon and drop the connection to the other pose from summer camp. (Perhaps I should say "attempted to drop," since the old pose occasionally crept back into photos.)

Where did the word "Phoon" come from?

Oddly enough, "Phoon" was not originally paired with what you now know as a Phoon pose.

When I was in high school, a neighbor and his brother used to say "oon" to make each other laugh. (Why? I have no idea. Say anything enough times and it can start to sound odd or funny. You can probably think of words or sounds that amused you or others when you were children.)

The summer after high school, I worked at a summer camp. I met Peter who had just as bizarre and silly of a sense of humor as I did. I remembered a story from my sister's college days: there were a couple of guys who, when they saw each other, even at a great distance, would call out some word and then strike a particular pose. I wanted to do something similar with Peter.

In need of a silly sounding word, I chose "phoon," obviously influenced by my neighbors saying "oon." (So, no, "phoon" is not based on anything else such as buffoon or typhoon...it was completely just a funny sounding word rooted in another funny sounding word.)

Next, I needed a pose. But I did not choose what you now know as the Phoon. Instead, I chose the pose you see in the top part of this photo, with knee raised in front.

So, when Peter and I saw each other, we'd say "phoon" and quickly snap into that scrunched pose. And that is how I originally formed an association between the word "phoon" with a physical stance.

Can you help me find Peter? (Last name "Gross" perhaps?) Back in 1980, he was a teen, short, blonde hair, skinny guy. I have wished that he could see what has become of phooning. His family lived in Mt. Hermon, California, on the road facing the recreation field, and he worked on staff in the Ivy Dining Room.

Welcome to the Phoons blog

If you like Phoons.com and are hoping for behind-the-scenes details, you've come to the right place. If you're completely bored and ended up here by mindless clicking, keep reading.

What is Phoons.com?

Phoons.com is a collection of photos from around the world, all of which have one particular element in common: somewhere in the photo is at least one person doing the "Phoon" pose.

Sure, there is definitely the "silly" aspect to it. But these categories of photos may be a complete surprise to you:

To Life!
In Remembrance

If you only look at one or two photos, you won't "get it."

To begin to grasp what attracts people to the world of Phoons:

- visit any photo in the collection; don't worry about whether you like it or not

- look below the photo for the names of categories that that photo is in

- pick a category that sounds a little more interesting

- hmm...several photos in the same category; visit a few that look interesting

- again, look below the photo for the categories, and you'll probably find another category that sounds interesting to you

Other people tell me that what captures their attention (like needing to eat just one more potato chip) is wanting another surprise, wanting to see what different person will appear in what different location, often amazing or beautiful or funny locations. There is something amazing about seeing all of the different places that people want to do this pose. I have gotten to see places all around the world that I never heard of before, places that I will probably never visit--I get to enjoy "travel photos" from around the world!

This blog is a place where I can tell stories and give details that wouldn't necessarily fit on or would otherwise clutter Phoons.com.

The kinds of things I want to discuss in this blog:

• the origin of the pose and of the word "Phoon"
  
• how this grew into a worldwide fad
  
• how "interesting" is determined for a photo
  
• how the categories are determined
  
• the value and attraction of stories
  
• a description of the process of dealing with uploaded photos
  
• what my interaction is like with people who submit photos
  
• the translators
  
• your ideas--I want to talk about some things and get your response
  
• about me--do I have a life or other interests?
  
• the impact of Phoons on me and others
  

Thanks for visiting!