Don Crossland

Project: 90 Days

Welcome to my photo project. The premise is simple: post a photo a day for the next 90 days. However, like most things in this world, it’s not that simple. I have a purpose beyond sharing my photography. So I have set up rules for myself to facilitate my special purpose.

My Objective
The main objective of this 90-day challenge is for me to develop a point of view with my photography. I have been a photographer for over 10 years and have done pretty well, developing my own style. I’ve been published in local, national and even some international magazines doing fashion, food, portraits, architectural and artistic photography. So what do I mean about developing a point of view and why am I concerned about now? Good question. Almost all the photography I have done has been in a controlled setting. I’ve controlled the light in the studio or on location and I’ve controlled the subject being photographed.

I want to step out of that controlled environment and show a slice of life from my point of view. I live in New York City. There will be no shortage of people and things to photograph.

The Rules
There is only one real rule (the rest are merely guidelines): all the photos posted will be from the 90-day period. Ideally, I will take photos everyday and post the best one. I will not “bank” photos to use on a later date. Realistically, I may not be able to shoot an acceptable photo everyday and the photo posted on a certain day may not have been taken on that day, but certainly within a day or two of posting.

I will let this project take on a life of its own and evolve as my point of view evolves. I will try to stay away from too much scene or architectural photography, especially the typical iconic shots of NYC. My main subject will be people.

Much like an assassin, I will begin more by shooting people from a distance. Like Leon told Mathilda: “First you learn with the sniper rifle from long range. Then you can use a pistol. When you have mastered that, then you learn the knife.” The better you are, the closer you can get to your target.

That being said, I will detach myself from the outcome of this project. 90 photos in 90 days of whatever I want to photograph.

Please Participate
Your participation will make this project really mean something. There are many ways in which you can take part.

Rating At the very least, please rate the photos honestly on a scale of 1 to 10 stars. It’s anonymous so you don’t have to worry about offending me.

Comments I’d love to hear what you like about and image or what you don’t like. Feedback of this kind is very valuable as it would be easy for me to get stuck in my own point of view.

Sharing There are Facebook and Twitter sharing options. Please help me spread the word of this photo project.

I trust you enjoy my photographs and return often to check on my progress.

Thank you,
Don Crossland

doncrossland.com/90days

The Roller Coaster Continues

It's been a while since my last post. True to form a lot has transpired. Too much to write at this time.

Big Changes

Where to start? Anyone reading this blog to keep up to date with what's going on in my life will be way behind. I come up with ideas for this blog every day. Too bad I just can't get it together to write them when I think of them.

A lot has been going on in my life the last few months. Moving to New York, getting a new job with Nomadesk as an online marketer and, most importantly, getting engaged. Yup, who'da thunk?

Laurel and me in Ghent, the happily engaged couple.

New York is not a new thing, I've been here for over three months. I've moved around a lot spending my first month in Astoria with Laurel. Then she moved to the West Village and I rented a room in Astoria. That didn't feel quite right for me so after a month I found a place in Chelsea with some cool roommates. The location was awesome with Chelsea Market just around the corner. I ended up only staying there for 2 weeks because of an unexpected trip to Belgium (more on that later). Before I left I lined up a new place in West Village. I'm really liking the area. Next month Laurel and I will be getting a more permanent apartment, hopefully in the West Village.

I landed a job as an online marketing consultant with a Belgian-based company, Nomadesk. Last month I went to Belgium to work in the office and get to know the people working at the headquarters in Ghent. The people I work with are awesome and I really enjoyed getting to know them.

I brought a ring with me from Phoenix and was waiting for the right opportunity to pop the question to Laurel. I figured Belgium might be the right setting. I was there for a week working and then Laurel flew out. Ghent is an amazing city with lots of history and several canals running through it, making it the perfect setting.

On her second night there, Laurel and I were walking along the river back to our hotel. I decided this was the perfect setting and opportunity. I asked her to marry me and she, very happily, said yes. We spent a couple of blissful days in Ghent and then hopped on a train for Germany to visit my Aunt and Uncle for a couple of days.

So now, we are in planning stages for our destination wedding. Someplace tropical. Or maybe we'll just elope. Only time will tell. We have a lot on our plates now finding a new place to live and thinking about the rest of our lives together.

Stay tuned, there is definitely more to come.

Hilarious Durex ads Banned in the US

I'm thinking if commercials like this were not banned in the US, people would stop fast-forwarding through them. If the point of advertising is to get people's attention, I would consider this a great success. Too funny.

Here's some funny outtakes.

Outtake 1

Outtake 2

Outtake 3

TechCrunch and Ethics 101

By now, most people know that Twitter was hacked and confidential documents were sent out to many blog sites for the public to see. One site TechCrunch is posting many of those documents. The reaction was decidedly negative so they posted this response.

I don't spend much time responding to blogs but this time I had to. I can't stand when people use 101 and then get it wrong. This is what I wrote:

I think you need to go back and review Ethics 101. You say you are perfectly in your rights to publish confidential documents stolen from Twitter because you didn't steal them and they just "landed" in your inbox. Legally, you may be right. But, what if someone stole your car and then gave it to someone else? The person given the car knew it was yours and stolen, but decided to sell it for parts anyway. By your logic, the person selling the car is perfectly within their rights to do so since they didn't steal the car in the first place.

When you review Ethics 101 you'll find that just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's ethical. You are right. Most news stories are information that someone was trying to hide. It is a fine line in news that is tread by reporters. But citing a few cases where other real news outlets crossed the line doesn't make your actions ethical. A large portion of our congress receives millions of dollars annually from lobbyists. Does this mean, since most of them are doing it, that it's ethical the accept money in exchange for votes?

Obviously, the Twitter documents are news. I'm not making a judgement call on whether you should publish them or not. But quit acting like you're taking the high road in this. Grow a pair and own up to the fact that you are distributing stolen property.

It's news but it's not ethical.

It has been done

So I'm sitting at Bryant Park with Laurel and a couple of her friends. We're hanging out on the green waiting for the summer movie in the park to start. This is a very cool thing about NY.
It hasn't hit me yet that this is not a visit and I won't be going back to Phoenix soon. Very surreal.
I'm sure I'll miss Shea very much soon. I think it will all sink in when I find an apartment to rent. Until then, this all seems like another visit to NYC.

New site (kind of)

OK, so this part of the site is the same (and not looking so great). But I finally have my photography site up and running. It has taken a while to complete it. Most of the time has been spent conceptualizing the site and a fair amount of time narrowing down hundreds of images to the 70 or so that appear on the site (thanks to Laurel for her help with the images). More images can be found on my Flickr page.

As I look at my earlier work, I realize that I have learned much over the years. I have also realized that with kontaktmag being the priority, I have not had the chance to fully utilize what I have learned. Most of the shoots that were done were done under duress. I am feeling re-energized for getting more of my attention back to photography. I have a big shoot tomorrow and then it's off to NYC for Brooklyn Design and Design Week.

At some point soon I will work on this blog portion to get it looking like it should look.

Take a look at my work and don't be afraid to let me know what you think.

Where to from here?

Now that PCDF is over I was asked "What's next?". Good question. Maybe by the end of this post I'll have the answer worked out.
I have my sights set on NYC for many reasons. I like NYC more everytime I go (which has been quite often). I want to live in an urban area, take the subway to where I need to go and be able to walk out my apartment door and down the street to the store or restaurant.
NYC is also the design capital of the US. Through kontakt, design is in my blood more than ever. I would love to be in the thick of it. The vibe is so much different in a real city. Let's face it, I'm really growing to hate Phoenix and the stupid, fucking mentality of a majority of the people who live here.
I can do anything I want. Fuck the economy. I see opportunity. I feel free and driven to create a new reality for myself. I am not afraid of the challenges and even the uncertanty of my future. I have always landed on my feet and will continue to do so.
There is also the question of the girl. I am honest enough to admit that my timetable for moving is influenced by her. There's no getting around it, I love her. For all the challenges she represents, she has captured my heart like no one has ever had. Yet, NYC is in my future regardless of what happens with her.
One thing is clear-Phoenix has nothing left to offer me. It is time for me to leave. I can't think of a better place for me to go than NYC.
The grand experiment continues.

Karma

"We are not punished for our sins but by them." - Buddhist proverb.

I always liked that one. I didn't always understand it on a quantifiable level, but it sounded right.
Sometimes I hear people ask "What have I done to deserve this?" about bad situations. Occasionally, I'll ask that same question to no one in particular. Especially lately when so many things have gone awry.
More often than not, it gets blamed on "bad karma". I also hear about karma as some sort of divine retribution for wrong doings. I don't think karma is some sort of crime and punishment system on a grand cosmic scale. We have religion for that.
We are here on this earth to disolve the illusion of separation. We are all of this and in this amazing universe together. To realize this fact we learn to move closer through love, kindness and generosity.
On this journey we put ourselves in situations to learn how to react with love-based emotions and move closer. If we react with fear-based emotions we move further apart and will find ourselves in similar situations until we learn the lesson and move closer through love-based emotions. This is karma. Neither good nor bad, just a lesson.
Lately, I have been wondering what the lesson is for me since I seemed to have suffered one set back after another. What can I do to make things better? What karmic debt is owed?
The answer for me was do nothing. There is no karmic debt. I just do the best I can and surrender to the rest.
Now my life is ten times better. Nothing outwardly has changed. I things still go terribly wrong for me every day and sometimes makes me angry and upset. Then I catch my bearings, shake it off and go on my way. And my life is better for it.
"Expect nothing, appreciate everything," is something a friend always used to say. So I don't expect everything to go the way I want and appreciate when they do. Because sometimes things turn out better than I imagine and I have a pretty damn good imagination.
Btw, this little bit of light reading was done from my iPhone while hanging in the park with my buddy Shea. Life is good.

Flash Mob Dance Party

Even though this is ultimately a commercial, I found myself getting a little emotional watching this. We need this sort of thing to happen everywhere now more than ever. We need the levity and the sense of  camaraderie that this type of event provokes. This is what I believe Improv Anywhere is about. 

For T-Mobile, Saatchi London literally brought a playlist to life in Liverpool Street station with 350 dancers, who start performing a routine amidst commuters, seemingly out of nowhere. Hidden TV cameras captured the whole thing, including the witness's reactions, and a three-minute spot went on air less than 48 hours after filming. 

Not only was this brilliant advertising (this video is on thousands of blogs), the point made by the spectators getting on their phones to text, send photos and video or just tell someone about what they saw. It was especially cool to see people join in and then the dancers melt away at the end.

Here are some of the reactions to the flash mob:

I especially like the woman who said she was in a bad mood until that happened. Kudos to T-Mobile for coming up with something this innovative.

Here are the rehearshals