At night a sea of green

or as I twittered last night

Sitting looking over the city bridge and lights as a slow moving train passes and a sea of silent green rests below

Observing the city around you

I do not own a car, though I have in the past, I sold my last car in 2004 and have not replaced it. Since moving to San Francisco I have tried to walk at least a few miles every day, often 4-5 miles.

A few days ago, the Washington Post ran an experiment on commuters in Washington DC. For all the details, take a look at the article Pearls before Breakfast. After you have read the article, click thru and read some of the over 51 pages of comments (over 500). Go ahead and read it then come back here.

Have you read the article?

If not, quick (too quick really) summary, the Post got Joshua Bell, one of the leading violinists in the world to perform in the morning at rush hour at a Metro stop in Washington DC using his over $3M Stradavarius violin and playing some of the hardest pieces in the Classical Canon. And out of over 1000 people who walked by, less than 10 stopped to listen and very few gave any money.

Just a few days ago, I remember hearing a bit of a musical battle between two musicians at the Bart/Muni Powell station in downtown San Francisco. At one space, a man played a saxophone (very well in fact), at the other space, another man played a trumpet (fairly badly). I was in a rush (had to head into the nearby mall to find a bathroom) but I remember noting that they were overlapping in their music - and that the sax player was by far the better musician.

I try as I walk through the city to observe the world around, to notice the buildings, the businesses, the people. Lately I have been trying to take at least a few photos every day.

At the recent Mobile MeshWalk I organized over 900 photos were taken by the participants.

One of the specific goals of the MeshWalk format is to have people see the world with each other. That is, as you walk together through the city actively seek to observe the world around you - and then share those observations with each other. Help others see what you see, add what you know about the city, what you observe to their knowledge and experiences.

In the light of the Washington Post experiment of a few days ago, I think it would be a good thing for all of us if we were a bit more aware of the world around us, if we stopped and looked deeply at the details, at the people, listened to the music.

Tonight, after the fundraiser for Irene McGee I walked down Polk St. looking for a late night snack. Besides many other people out late, I observed a really fascinating building at the corner of Polk and California (well one building in from the corner). Downstairs it is now a Walgreens, garish and lit by fluorescent lights. But clearly from the upstairs architecture, at one time this building was a theater or hall, indeed faintly still there is a name and the words Hall in large letters at the top of the building. However, besides a disused doorway plastered with ads for the Walgreens and hidden behind iron fencing, there is no obvious way upstairs. But I wonder what a space lies hidden above the routine Walgreens, and what was there before it was removed to put in drop ceilings, glass windows and a tile floor?

A few blocks later looking carefully at the businesses on adjoining blocks led me to notice a restaurant that advertised that it was open until 4 am. That restaurant, the Grubstake Restaurant, is housed in a dining car from the early part of the century which has been used as a diner since 1925. I ate a really good burger and a homemade flan. Not bad for just before 1am.

Observe the world around you.

Stop, listen to the music.

Take photos, capture details.

Take notes, make connections, catch someone’s eye. Say hello. Hold open a door. Nod. Smile.

Engage.

Mobile MeshWalk March 20th in San Francisco

On March 20th here in San Francisco a Mobile MeshWalk will be held. The focus of the MeshWalk will be the future of Mobile Marketing and Media. In the morning we will have a Design Crawl of a number of SF Design firms with offices near South Park. After a group lunch (probably at the nearby Ferry Plaza) we will spend the afternoon walking through San Francisco, while having small group discussions about the role of commercial messages in a mobile context. And of course we will end the day with a party, drinks, and time to share our day’s experiences.

France Telcom (owners of Orange in Europe) has signed on as the lead sponsor - thanks to them all participants will receive breakfast, lunch  and drinks.

My interest in holding the Mobile MeshWalk arises out of two things. One, my MeshForum conference at which I first conceived the idea of this format for holding an event. And two, NELA.mobi my new mobile application startup. For NELA I have been doing a lot of thinking about how to include commercial speech inside of a mostly mobile context application. It is my strong bet with NELA that done well, such messages can be valuable to both the users of the service AND to the companies presenting their messages, brands and information. (and thus, of course, financially valuable to NELA as well).

In the next few weeks both here and at http://blog.nela.mobi and at MeshForum.org I will be exploring a range of issues related to the Mobile MeshWalk. Many of these issues I will also address on the Wiki for the MeshWalk as well.

If you are in the Bay Area (or can get here) for the MeshWalk on March 20th I encourage you to do so. It will be an amazing day of conversations and discussions.

If your company is interested in participating in the Mobile MeshWalk please contact me asap (shannon.clark AT gmail.com works well). Either as a host during the Design Crawl, as an additional sponsor, or in some other capacity.

I am also available to organize similar events - either public ones such as the Mobile MeshWalk, or private. Contact me for the details, costs etc.

NYC - art, culture, snow and light

This past week I have been in NYC.

Today the snow from last night’s brief snow shower/hail/freezing rain is melting, a light drizzle has been coming down all morning. My day started with breakfast at Sarabeth’s where I ate a bowl of porridge and a current scone. After breakfast I walked over to Central Park and then walked down, just outside of the park, to midtown, when at the moment I am sitting in a Starbucks, sending emails and catching up online.

In my walks this morning I took a series of photos, a few of which I am particularly proud of and plan on printing and framing on my return to San Francisco. To see some earlier shots I took this week, go to my Flickr pages.  While a few of my photos from today are relatively simple memory aids - photos of the outside of Sarabeth’s for example, or The NY Society for Ethical Culture buildings on Central Park West. most are taken as parts of my ongoing themed series.

An aside about the Ethical Culture society, though I had not previously heard of them,  they may, perhaps, be the closest thing to an organized religion I might, in fact, be interested in participating in - as they are a nontheist organization, but devoted to treating everyone ethically and doing good in the world - tenets that definitely resonate with my worldview, though they do not seem to have a San Francisco chapter.

My shots from this morning’s walk were of reflections, found objects, and in a few cases playing with perspective and perception. I do think of my photography in an almost painterly manner - I strive to make photos that explore colors, textures and patterns - while being often recognizable - yet almost always abstract as well. My task now is to find the best possible print technique for these digital impages.

And I will have to see how the tradeoff of not using a digital SLR and not shooting in RAW format plays out. My camera is very high quality and over 7 mega-pixels so it should be good for printing. My plans are also not to do any digital manipulation of the photos - no further cropping or processing. Yes, I am sure I could get crisper or even more tonally accurate images were I to have them processed in some manner - but somehow I also feel that might sap the life from the images.

For years I did not have a digital camera - not entirely sure why not - some combination of price, battery performance and image quality - but I am extremely happy with my new Panasonic Lumix camera. By being high quality, very portable & lightweight, and by having a battery life that lasts for 100’s of photos over multiple days, I now have a camera that I can always have in my bag or coat pocket and take spur-of-the-moment photos. It has taken me a few months to get used to this possibility - and every day I remember that I have the camera I find myself using it more and more.

As I spend most of the day working on business projects - upcoming events, sponsorships for MeshForum, FAQ’s and other materials for my newest company, I do also find myself thinking back on my morning photography - the balance between my tech & artistic impulses is a challenging one but also one worth exploring. When I give myself time and mental space for both pursuits - I do also find both are better (if that makes sense).

Lots more happened (and I suspect will happen) on this trip before I return to San Francisco. When I post the photos I’ll add links - either as new posts or as an edit of this post.

Found Objects - my Flickr set

I have uploaded a number of photos from my current trip to NYC as well as added some of my older photos to Flickr and put together a set of my Found Objects series which I have been taking for many years now.

Comments and feedback are very welcome as are suggestions for how to best print and get framed these shots. Eventually I would also like to show these somewhere, probably along with my Textures series which are quite related images.

Hotel lobby reflections

Hotel lobby, originally uploaded by Shannon Clark.

A chance shot I took in a hotel lobby Friday night here in San Francisco, I took this while I had my camera out showing other shots to two friends. This is a reflection, not a glass table, but I enjoyed the illusion.

leaves and shadows

leaves and shadows, originally uploaded by Shannon Clark.

One of my favorite shots I have taken with my new digital camera. This was taken while I was at a retreat in northern VA during the fall of 2006.