Philemerson describes himself as a photographer, documentary filmmaker and creative director, but these descriptions barely seem to scratch the surface.
The eye behind stunning visuals for brands like Preferred Gardens, Francis Ford Coppola wine, E-40’s spirit line and Derby of San Francisco has been pushing pixels and hauling camera gear since the ’90s.
Growing up as a young skateboarder in the Bay Area, his brothers would bring around weed, and that’s how he discovered a passion for the plant. “I went from enjoying it to genuinely respecting it: the different strains, the craft, the business. I would go out to find and meet actual growers; they were rare gems to know back then,” Philemerson said to the Leaf.
His journey as an artist started during those days after he bought a camera and some equipment to film the crew’s skate videos. He said that period inspired a lot of the visual style that would carry into his future work. Around 2005, he said he noticed artists making “incredible composites of photos and graphics mashed together like movie poster art.” He continued, “I was hooked. That kicked off my photography era.”
In 2010, he got his first Cannabis project after a friend won a High Times award and asked him to make an image showing something bigger than just weed sitting on a table. Already deep into album covers and dynamic compositions, he quickly accepted the job and got to work.
This very first piece became a full-page spread in High Times magazine. “No pressure for your first Cannabis job,” he said with a grin. “That’s when I realized weed deserved the same artistry as big product launches and movie campaigns, and I’ve been chasing that goal ever since. Once you care how an image feels, you start caring about the culture around it.”
Now the art director for Preferred Gardens, Philemerson is helping the brand craft one of the most professional and premier portfolios in the industry, with a style that brings together his background in video, graphics and composition to encode a sense of grit and edge. “If there’s any energy happening in front of the camera,” he said, “I’ll push for more of it. Calm just seems boring.”
Inside the studio, he said you’ll find movies and documentaries he’s seen a million times playing on a loop. “I already know how they end, but they keep the room alive,” he explained.
More important to him, though, is the choice of music. “It pulls emotions out, and I put it to work,” he shared. “The right track at the right moment can flip the whole direction of a piece.”
When working on a piece, he treats weed just like an editing tool. “A lot of my work is long studio sessions,” he revealed, “hours of tiny details, usually on a deadline of yesterday. Herb keeps me locked in on the task in front of me with my phone off. It’s the great escape, and that’s when the best work happens.”
