a girl in salt lake city, Street Art & 300 Curators

This is how it was billed on Kickstarter:

"A public spectacle essay. Multi-city letterpress poster installation—curated by project supporters."

Well, that sounded interesting: a street art concept proposed by "a girl in salt lake city."
Here's her pix:

She describes herself as:
"Writer+printer+lives in a white house with a small desert." 
Sounded intriguing. And when I read the pitch, I was hooked. Here's an edited version of what a girl in salt lake city wrote:

This past summer, my best friend and I found ourselves crying in public for various reasons and in various places (multiple sidewalks, a gas station, an auto parts stores, a concrete bench outside a law building). We made total spectacles of ourselves. 

People who cry in public force everyone to witness—it's completely embarrassing and also sort of awesome. We want our essay to perform this kind of spectacle. 

So! We're printing our essay over four 11 x 17 broadside posters and posting the edition of 350 (that's 1400 posters!) You'll choose 3 posters to display somewhere in public (on a top-secret designated day in November) and keep the fourth as a thank you prize. 

Help us out. It's going to be rad.  

Well, if it's going to be rad, I wanted in. So I became a supporter/curator. And started getting updates and photos:

You can see each poster required three runs, one for the header, one for the QR code and one for the essay at the bottom.  More updates,  and we caught a glimpse of a girl in SLC.

Each poster quartet would be placed in a "gigantic 
envelope" and mailed out to the supporter/curators.

And soon, each of us would be posting her broadsides and offering random passersby the opportunity to reflect on acceptable reasons to cry in public. I liked it. 

I also liked that, by connecting with us via Kickstarter, a girl in salt lake city was able to conceive her art in one part of the country and export that vision to people from all over the place. 

And soon my envelope arrived, with instructions announcing that the top-secret day to put up the posters was at hand. After thinking about possible locations and a little trial and error, here's what I did:

This place gets a lot of foot traffic as people walk back and forth to the Metro.  And I like that it's kind of tucked away. You can see the tiny figure of a policeman observing the poster installation - he's standing on the island in the center of the street by the intersection.

That's the side of the Supreme Court on the left and the Capitol dome peaking out above the poster. Honestly, I kind of chickened out on this one, so I went back at night and moved it.

There was a Capitol police car about 20 feet away from me when I posted this. But I figured, what with free speech and all, it would be cool. And, if busted I could always claim, "art project!"


The final installation site was Peter's Tree. 

  

Peter Bis was a street person who cheerfully sat under this tree for years, greeting people on their way to the Metro at Union Station. As we passed by, he'd shout out "two days to the week-end" or "no skinny-dipping" or, to me he'd add "how's the puppy?" I looked forward to those little encounters as a way to mark the start and end my work day, and often saw him in conversation with others, charmed by his friendliness. He died suddenly a few months ago and his tree was festooned with remembrances.

The morning after I took this photo of Peter's tree, there was a single yellow rose affixed to the poster. Just another reminder of how many of life's events and experiences we all share. And I'd like to thank a girl in salt lake city for reminding us about the random ways we connect with each other. 

If you want to see the efforts of my fellow curators, you can follow them on her site here. If you do, make sure to check out the twitter feed on her site. 

Capturing a Cover for the Ages

The day after Hurricane Sandy devastated New York, this was one of the images captured by photographer Iwan Baan, on assignment for New York Magazine.  And here is the one that made the magazine cover:

Baan specializes in aerial and architectural photography. You can read about his assignment as their Director of Photography describes it, here. New York Magazine was working frantically to publish an issue about the storm, hoping for a 72 hour turnaround, and they hoped Baan's skill would yield a "Cover for the Ages." 

As you can imagine, it was a challenge finding a helicopter for the shoot, and even getting there was difficult. In an open cockpit, it took him an hour to fly to Manhattan. He had half an hour for the shoot and then an hour to fly back to base. You can see a slide show of other images from his shoot here.

Now you may know that nature photographer Ansel Adams would often spend all day waiting for the light to get just so, in order to expose one photograph. Baan only had one chance to capture a good image, so in the half hour over Manhattan he shot between 2,000 and 2,500 exposures.  

Here's why: he was dealing with the vibration of the helicopter as he hovered in the air, so he was in constant motion. Plus, to capture a blackened city, he had to shoot at a very slow shutter speed. That's the opposite of what you need to do to get a sharp image. So 80% of his photos were blurry and only 1% (20-25) were really sharp. You can read his account of the shoot here.  

NYT Photo

It's not surprising that New York Magazine chose Iwan Baan for their cover.  He's perhaps one of the most celebrated and widely published architectural photographers in the world.  A few years ago he was featured in a NYT article.  And here's a link to Baan's website.  
If you explore his work, you'll find a real variety there.  And he clearly has a very dynamic sense of framing.  

So whether his subject is landscape, architecture or people on a beach, you'll see a strong eye for composition working there. 

And beyond that flair for composition is a love of unusual angles.

So just when you think you know what his eye will reveal, there's something new in his work that surprises. Still, that image of storm-ravaged Manhattan is one for the ages.

Where There's a Will: Homeboy Industries

All photos are from the Homeboy Industries web site

We like to think of America as the land of opportunity. We're captivated by self-made men and women with their Horatio Alger-like stories of rags-to-riches. But what about those Americans born into bad luck and trouble? People trapped in the spiral of poverty, crime, drugs, prison and worse? What about them?

What about children who gave up on hope when they were just little kids. Or never saw any way to go, outside of life on the streets and the gangs that ruled them.  Where's their shot at opportunity, or even surviving to the ripe old age of 30?

One person saw the misery and destroyed lives and insisted, "there must be a better way." 

And he decided to try - to build a pathway toward opportunity and hope. Of course he didn't do it all by himself. But he had the drive and vision. The people he's helped call him "Father G." He's also known as Father Gregory Boyle, founder and guiding light of Homeboy Industries.

As Father Boyle put it, "The fact that I was burying kids as a pastor at a very poor parish, simultaneous with the fact that we had lots of middle school-aged gang members who had been given the boot from their schools and nobody wanted them..." was how it all started. First they set up a school for at-risk kids, then a jobs program and soon, Homeboy Industries was born. 

Homeboy started with making and selling chips and salsa.

Creating change isn't easy and there were many obstacles to overcome - for Homeboy and the people who asked for its help.  

But almost 25 years later they're offering high-risk kids, ex-offenders and former gang members a host of services, training and jobs. Helping those we've cast off find their way back to rebuild their lives. 

For example, there's Rasheena.  After a life of turmoil, gangs and prison, she found her way to Homeboy and recently got her AA Diploma. As she puts it, "I've broken through my barriers victoriously and these victories define the woman I am today."

Others at Homeboy are baking, cooking, catering and running food shops and farmers markets. They're silkscreening and embroidering clothes, selling merchandise and training for green jobs, too.

Homeboy Industries opened its doors to 15,000 people this year and 70% will stick with it. 

It's now the largest gang intervention, rehab and re-entry program in the United States.

You can find out more about Homeboy Industries and what they do by clicking here.  

I'm inspired by their story and what they've been able  to help people - who started with such a limited horizon - accomplish. And it also reminds us of our better angels. And the resiliency of the human spirit.    

Who Was Vivian Maier?

What if you were invisible? With a curious mind... 

and a restless eye... fixing upon the snippets of daily life that play all around you? 

Would you stop and notice?  Would you see yourself there... 

captured within those fleeting moments?  

Would you hope to leave some kind of record?  To insist that you were part of it, too...

Would you see opportunities as they beckon... and give voice to your sense of whimsy...

And when you pause to reflect, would it be reassuring...

Or would you prefer to remain invisible... 

lost within the mystery of who, what, and where?

Street photography is a passion. Or perhaps an obsession. There's the thrill of the hunt. You never know what you'll find. And once you commit yourself, not just to look but to really see, it's as if you are rediscovering life itself. Everything speaks to you, awaiting your glance. I'm sure that's how it was for Vivian Maier. 

If you haven't met, I'd like to introduce you. A former nanny, she passed away in obscurity. On her days off she haunted the streets of New York and Chicago, leaving over 100,000 photos, many still undeveloped. Much of her work was rescued by John Maloof and these images came from his website. There's also a new book of her photographs, which has received excellent reviews, available here. And her work is currently on exhibit at the Chicago History Museum and reviewed here. I'd like to thank my colleague Bob Burnett for recommending her to me. Vivian Maier had an wonderful eye for the telling moment and was fearless about capturing it.  

Jean Seberg and Alicia Keys, Girls on Fire

From Goddard's Movie "Breathless"

When I saw the NYT headline for a slide show of images from "125 Years of the International Herald Tribune" I immediately thought of Actress Jean Seberg and Goddard's movie "Breathless." That frenetic film helped launch a new kind of cinema, the French New Wave, and I loved it. Here's a little flavor:

If the trailer doesn't play, click here

In the movie, Jean Seberg's character was mesmerizing: at turns funny, fanciful, quixotic and deadly. Her gig? Hawking the  Herald Tribune. And she was there in the Herald Tribune slide show too, along with Mata Hari, Marie Curie, Leon Trotsky, and "people who shook the world in an era of mass movements, mass violence and the creation of ideas that changed the way we live." 

Jean Seberg had a tortured life, but she filled that film with light. Much of the work was improvised and it had a freshness and almost documentary feel that seemed to herald a new way of telling a story.

Singer Alicia Keys was recently featured in a NYT Magazine piece talking about her creative process as she worked on the song "Girl on Fire." And while she seems self-conscious for the first part of the video, if you can get past that, it provides an interesting insight into the creative process.

If the movie doesn't play, click here

One key element of the creative process is timing. For Jean Seberg, that brief luminous moment that was the film "Breathless" captured a girl on fire. And for Alicia Keys, who knows?  Her work has sold over 30 million CDs. Even so, the next time she sits down to compose a song, she'll have to hope that the fires of inspiration that fuel her work will continue to generate light and heat.

Making a Difference

From the Creative Mornings archive

"One person can make a difference." We hear that a lot. Well, I'd like to introduce you to designer and innovator Tina Roth Eisenberg, aka SwissMiss. 

Tina's philosophy: "Don't complain, make it better." So, being put out by expensive and unwieldy design conferences, she re-imagined the whole experience as Creative Mornings: a free breakfast lecture series run by volunteers. Launched in NY, so far it's spread to 34 cities around the world. Everything happens for free: producing the event, the space, the speaker, the breakfast, the videotape archive. All volunteer driven. And because each session is videotaped, she wanted to create an evolving archive for all that creative energy.  So she went to Kickstarter, hoping to raise $35,000. Here's her campaign video:

If the video doesn't play, click here

Her goal was reached on the first day of the campaign. And Creative Mornings is thriving, with interest in expanding it to new cities. 

So how did Tina evolve from designer-for-hire to innovator and entrepreneur?  Here's an in-depth interview from a blog profiling creatives: The Great Discontent. And you can see what else she's up to on her website. So, I'd say yes, the efforts of one person can make a difference.

And what kind of difference can two people make?  If the two people are Eli Pariser, former exec. director of MoveOn and Peter Koechley, former managing director of The Onion, more than you might think. Tired of how the news has been homogenized and trivialized they longed for something else. Their solution: a mashup of Eli's political passion and Peter's sense of humor. They've dubbed it Upworthy and it flings the news they choose throughout the social network, using headlines and visuals to pique your curiosity.

 Their mission: "to make important stuff as viral as a video of some idiot surfing off his roof." The NYT calls Upworthy "serious news built for a spreadable age, with super clicky headlines and a visually oriented user interface." Here's an example of what you might find in their daily flow:

And video grabs, like this one of Bertrand Russell's message to the future:
                   

If the video doesn't play, click here

Upworthy launched in March and seems to have the right formula. According to the NYT, it's off to a faster start than the Huffington Post with 2.5 million unique visitors in just its third month. 

Finally, one other little tidbit I found that shows that the life of the mind still burns brightly. At least in Brooklyn. Check out this video from the NYT.

If the video doesn't play, click here

So here are people who'd rather light candles than curse the darkness. And I hope their efforts will inspire us, too. Because, if you just think about one thing you can do to satisfy that urge to create, innovate or show a little vision and just do it, we will all be the better for it.

Bunny Biz

Politicians talk about jobs of the future all the time.  I wonder.  Especially after reading Brad Stone's report in Bloomberg Businessweek, "My Life as a Task Rabbit." And what might that be? It's all about what their CEO calls "service networking." Their video explains: 

If the video doesn't play, you can click here. 

Leah Busque, Task Rabbit  Founder

Meet Leah Busque, Task Rabbit's founder and CEO. Yes, she quit her day job with IBM to follow her dream. Yes, her idea is really cool for time-stretched achievers like herself. And her help-needed solution is very innovative, using the web and smart phones to manage all the transactions, thereby updating the biz of "temp work."  Businessweek's Brad Stone summed it up as "a uniquely American safety net for the unemployed or underemployed, who will now have somewhere to turn when they need to make money." True. But I wonder if this approach is also an example of where a lot of our jobs are headed?  

Here's what I mean: the new bunny taskers are all independent contractors who compete with each other as they bid on jobs with the lowest bidder getting the work. So labor becomes a commodity for sale at the lowest cost. And the workers have no security, no health care and often no way to shine based on ability. They are labor, pure and simple. And to get the task they have to bid low, work hard and fast, and take as many jobs as they can. Does any of this sound familiar? 

So what should we glean from all this? First of all, innovation doesn't always make things better. Second, there is at least a generation or two of us in these distressed times that are trying to deal with this issue right now.  

Which brings us to a successful Kickstarter campaign by Aaron Cassara to make a film called Barista. The movie's plucky heroine wants to quit her job at Starbucks and reinvent her life - until she's diagnosed with MS and has to stay there for the health care coverage. As Aaron describes it, "Barista is ... a generational narrative about the precarious service worker. It's about the crippling costs of health care and education, about paying the bills in a lagging economy while still trying to move forward." Here's the trailer:

If the video doesn't play, you can click here.

Well, we must be on to something here, because the plight of these folks is quickly becoming a brand. Or let's just say, a brand marketing snatch of issue. As you'll see in Benetton's new campaign for Unemployee of the Year. Below is the video version.

If the video doesn't play, click here.

So what's the takeaway? Well, there are many truths, often contradictory, that exist at the same time. Clearly the web, via Kickstarter, has opened the door wide to young filmmakers like Aaron Cassara. And yes, some people will benefit from operations like Task Rabbit. But as we've seen in the local video community here in Washington, DC, as older companies go out of business, more nimble ones spring up. Lower standards and cheaper gear also reduce the barriers to entry. And day rates for production people are about the same or lower than they were 10 years ago.  So the bunny biz has spilled over to the freelancers who populate the video production industry too. 

And at the same time as all this is happening, there is a real blossoming of creative energy and enterprise.  As we'll see in my next post.