A native of Doylestown, Pennsylvania,[1] Lipes attended New York University, where he studied film.
Lipes would collaborate with Dunham again as cinematographer and director for several episodes of her HBO series Girls.
[2] Lipes would later work as cinematographer for Girls producer Judd Apatow's comedy Trainwreck, starring Amy Schumer.
[3] Lipes worked as cinematographer for Kenneth Lonergan's drama Manchester by the Sea, which he shot digitally.
[7] As a director, he helmed a documentary on the NY Export Opus Jazz ballet, which had a screening at the annual South by Southwest festival, and the documentary Ballet 422, which screened at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.