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I remember my first business trip after my daughter was born. She was about six months old at the time. I needed to fly to Dubai for a week. Mind you, this was before the ubiquity of easy international phone calls, much less video conferencing. As the song line goes, leaving really is the hardest part (though my wife might argue managing a new kid solo was no walk in the park).

I was reminded of this trip last week while I was standing on the bow of a boat in the middle of Casco Bay. Looking out toward the Atlantic Ocean, I caught a quick glimpse of Redmonk co-founder Stephen O’Grady out of the corner of my eye. My experience told me he was either (a) taking a series of questionable selfies or (b) saying goodnight to his new daughter. I’m pretty sure it was (b).

While nothing compares to being there in person, the reality is that sometimes life makes physically being there impossible. For all the deserved knocks against the intrusion of technology on our lives, it’s nice to know that when we really need it, the march of innovation makes virtually being there that much closer to the real thing.

Even when you’re on a boat on the edge of the ocean.

A few images capture during my annual trip to Portland, Maine, for Redmonk’s Monktoberfest conference. I skirted off I-95 to catch the setting sun and rising moon off of York Beach and made it to Cape Neddick’s Nubble Lighthouse in time to give the near-full moon a try. The next day took me out onto Casco Bay for a sunset cruise on one of the ferries to one of my favorite scenes: Portland Head Light. If you’d like to see more from past years, check out my dedicated image gallery.

 

James Governor recently published a post titled, “Only One Thing Matters Today.” That one thing was the devastation in Puerto Rico. And then the horrific terrorist attack in Las Vegas became another one thing in a seemingly ongoing river of one things.

James is right, though. Only one thing does matter. That thing is humanity.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past year, not only as a member of the technology industry, but as a member of the larger community around me.

Does the work we choose to do add to the betterment of society or is it simply done in the myopia of financial profit?

Few industries throughout history have had the revolutionary ability to shape society like technology. Yet, in too many cases, technology has focused on the 1%. Not the economic 1%, but the 1% who inhabit the industry’s own bubble. It’s a bubble that puts billions of dollars into applications that make squeezing already squeezed juice more automated, into building countless copycat technologies, and into disruption that is, at often best, nothing more than a feature to an existing product.

Listen, I get it. You’ve got to place a lot of chips on the table for that one spin that lands on 21 red. The reality is, most of the other chips are placed on companies and technologies that honestly don’t matter. Nobody cares if they succeed or fail because they don’t contribute a damn thing to make the world a better place.

As technologists, as humans, we should want to make tech that matters. Not just to a banker or people like us, but to other humans around the world. How many smart calendaring apps do we need? How much better could the world be if the tech industry put its brain power, work ethic and financial investment toward the common good, not just the good of those within its own bubble?

For all the talk about how the future generation wants to be part of something bigger, a lot of the choices that are made don’t reflect that aspiration. What could they have built or done for an economically depressed town instead of making it easier for someone to park their Tesla (a company which is thinking bigger about its role in the world around it)? How is it that artificial intelligence and machine learning can change my flight to reroute me when the weather’s bad, but can’t tell me that a terrorist has been stockpiling weapons?

It matters who you work with and what they work for. The companies that figure this out will benefit enormously. If a company like Proctor & Gamble or McDonald’s said they were going to change the world with their product, we’d openly laugh at them. But the tech industry says it can do just that with every press release. And it can. But those world changers are few and far between, the rare seismic innovation unicorns in a pasture of horses pre-destined for the glue factory.

This idea of thinking and acting in the interests of the greater world around us was top of mind last week when I attended my seventh Monktoberfest in Portland, Maine. This gathering has become the conference where many of the conversations the tech industry needs to have are happening. The single track talks force you to think not just of what you do, but how what you do impacts the world around you. They are conversations that should be happening at more than a two day conference.

Because there are too many “just one things” today. The organizations you work for, the products you make, the ideas you invest in…now, more than ever, they need to matter.

Where that starts is in the principles and values you personally hold, as well as those held and communicated by the organizations you associate with. Bryan Cantrill, CTO at Joyent, spoke passionately on this topic at the conference, using the Declaration of Independence as an example of the power of principle.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“What would we have done if our nation’s founders had not made those principles so clear?,” Cantrill asked. “The fact that the principle is there is the shining light for America. People die for a principle, not a nation. It behooves an organization as much as a nation, to elucidate its principles.”

What does your company stand for? Are its principles embedded in the organization’s DNA? More importantly, are they principles that matter — not just to investors, but to the betterment of humanity? If you don’t know, hire someone to help you find it.

Every company can and should stand for something bigger than the products it sells. It’s not how you do it, it’s having a larger perspective and seeing your company and your work through the wider lens of human history and activity. It’s something that needs to be baked deep into your personal and corporate mission — deeper than a donate-and-move-on tactic.

Running ad or social media campaigns? Carve out a slice each week to focus on a cause or organization aligned to your mission. Rolling in profit? That one’s easy: roll a percentage each quarter to your cause (some corporations are already doing this). Don’t know what to do when the next “one thing” happens? Dedicate your existing marketing outreach platforms to support efforts to help those in immediate need. if you’re a startup, pledge a percentage of your equity to a charity (if you get acquired, you’ll still be able to honor your commitment to your company’s mission). Want to shoot bigger? Make it your company’s mission to save a city from poverty.

There’s been a dark cloud sitting over the country for the past year. I sense that cloud is starting to dissipate, that the positive, warming rays of sunshine are breaking through. It’s time for everyone to wake up.

 

(Image: Robert “r0ml” Lefkowitz, chief architect, Warby Parker, laying down knowledge at Monktoberfest 2017)

This is not a Bruce Springsteen post (okay, maybe it is a little bit). I was going through my newsfeed this morning and this interview with Bruce popped up. It’s a good interview and an interesting subject, but I was more drawn to the portraits in the piece. I went to the photographer’s website (a fantastic lensman named Bryan Derballa), found his email, and shot him a quick note to say so. That’s it. Just a simple “Hey, you don’t know me, but I really liked the photographs you made in this story.” And you know what? He wrote back and told me a little about how he felt shooting The Boss. I had no ulterior motive. I just wanted to let him know his work was appreciated. So, my challenge to each of you is to do the same: find someone’s work you like — maybe it’s an artist or a writer or a philanthropist or a mentor…whoever makes you feel inspired — and send them a note to let them know their work matters.

A lot of photographers will tell you it’s the camera that makes great pictures. Others will tell you it’s not the equipment, but the eye behind the lens. Both have their detractions and merits. Do you want to know what really allows a photographer to make a great image? The discipline to wake up before the sun rises, load your camera bags into your car and drive to a pre-scouted location in order to capture that magical light as it first crests the eastern horizon. Huge gratitude to my friend, Mike Rubillo, for doing the early scouting of this field in New Jersey. He not only provided the exact GPS coordinates, but also had incredibly accurate advice on when to be in position.

(Want to buy a print for your wall? Click the image to go to my online gallery.)

Morning Sunrise Over a Field of Sunflowers from Mike on Vimeo.

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I’m not a great person to walk around a city with. I see things. I stop. A lot.

That’s what happened on Bainbridge Street in Philadelphia when I paused to talk with an interesting human sitting on a bench who caught my eye. He exuded a bohemian irie vibe that my lens found impossible to ignore. I wanted to make a portrait of him. Sorry. I needed to make a portrait of him.

Taking a picture is easy: point the camera and click the button. To make a portrait, you have to put the camera down. You have to talk to the person you want to shoot. Your camera has to capture the story beyond the light reflected off your subject.

“Would you mind if I made a portrait of you?” It’s that simple. It really is. It elicits a yes or no response. Most often it’s yes. Once that’s out of the way, it’s just a matter of letting down your guard and being curious and genuinely interested in the lives of others. Of being human.

His name is Ezekiel. He’s the son of Isaiah Zagar. You may not know his father’s name, but you probably know his work if you’ve ever visited Philadelphia. Isaiah is the artist behind the famous Magic Gardens gallery space on South Street.

Zeke’s apple didn’t fall far from his father’s artistic tree. As we spoke, I learned he played a pioneering role in the punk music scene. He was a founding member of a band called Flag of Democracy (commonly known as F.O.D.) and co-founded McRad, one of the bands in the first wave of skate punk that eventually spawned today’s more mainstream acts like The Offspring and Blink-182. Today, he plays guitar for the Philadelphia-based band, Kingsound, founded by Paul “H.R.” Hudson. H.R., whose initials stand for “Human Rights,” was the lead singer of the legendary hardcore/reggae band Bad Brains formed in the late ‘70s.

 

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Yes.

It’s a small word with humongous power. Three letters with the potential to unlock a world of opportunity.

I believe it was Sir Richard Branson who first encouraged people to enthusiastically reply “Yes!” to every opportunity in front of them. My version of Sir Richard’s mantra is “Sure, why not?” Why not open yourself to new experiences? Why not push yourself beyond the self imposed boundaries you’ve wrapped your life in? Just say yes. You have a 50-50 shot of the experience being a positive one.

I’ve lived this philosophy throughout my life, embracing it even more fervently over the past decade. I’ve had a few “Nope. Not doing that again.” moments and a wealth of “That was fun/interesting/educational.” moments. I’m still torn where on that spectrum riding a seesaw in the middle of a Cabo San Lucas bullring lands.

Most recently, this strategy created an opportunity to push my photography and storytelling experience to a new level. My friend, Veronica, runs a significant part of PayPal’s retail business. She’s ridiculously smart, wildly creative and an overall good human being. Her name popped onto the screen of my phone as it vibrated on my desk one Friday night a few months ago.

“Would you be interested in doing something a bit different for a big executive conference I’m hosting next month?”

“Sure, why not?”

In the blink of an eye, the ring of a phone, the utterance of a few short words, my world changed. Because I said yes.

That something different was Veronica commissioning me to shoot five limited edition images focused on the theme of transformation, showcasing large format prints of those images in a solo exhibit at the conference’s opening reception, infusing each image with augmented reality and, post conference, sending signed and numbered versions of the prints to each attendee.

After I hung up the phone that Friday night, I googled the word “transformation.” Butterflies. Not the stomach kind. The literal kind. My search returned page after page after page of pictures of butterflies.

“What did I just get myself into?”

Working with Veronica’s creative team, we built a shot list. Time was tight and it meant several pre-dawn mornings to catch the right light, a below freezing night in the shadow of an iron foundry, a half marathon’s worth of miles walking around New York City with my trusty volunteer assistant and friend Derek, culminating in a trip to Death Valley for a sunrise shoot amid the sand dunes of the Mesquite Flats.

The world around us is in a constant state of transformation. Our physical environment changes, whether as a result of nature’s forces or our own doing. The economics of our global society are in a continual state of flux. Culture adapts to changing societal norms. Sociopolitical changes reshape the way people around the world interact. Amid all this uncontrolled transformative chaos, the one constant throughout mankind’s history is the transformative journey each of us takes as we go from birth to death.

A driver met me at the gate when I landed in Phoenix. We made our way to The Phoenician where I unpacked, took a quick hike partially up Camelback Mountain, and awaited the arrival of the large 20×30 inch fine art prints that would make up the exhibit. As Tom Petty says, the waiting is the hardest part.

While I waited for my shipment, the production team was busy building the exhibit space in the main reception lobby of the conference. I’ve had my photographs hang on walls before, but this was a first. A gallery built just for me.

The prints arrived late in the afternoon. I opened the shipping container and took out the first print. It was flawless. Brian Wells and his team at my printing partner, FinerWorks, did a world class job bringing my images from digital file to printed paper. I can’t say enough about the quality of their work and their commitment to customer satisfaction. I laid the prints out along the newly constructed exhibit walls and the production team went to work.

As the guests arrived for the opening reception, a violinist provided background music. I mention the violinist because it wasn’t my only brush with music at the event. Ben Zander was also on the agenda. He’s the conductor for a little musical group called the Boston Philharmonic and the author of “The Art Of Possibility.” Also on the agenda was an up and coming singer who went by the name of Jewel. And a NASCAR driver named Jeff Gordon. And me. My dad said it best when I texted him the agenda and said “One of these things is not like the other.” Upon which, he responded, “It’s you.” Can’t argue that fatherly wisdom.

The exhibit itself seemed to go well. It was hard to tell because I may have been in a bit of an “Is this really happening?” fog. I spoke with many of the attendees and their reactions to the images were positive. I really enjoyed seeing them interact with the augmented reality features PayPal’s Josh Byers and the Holotats team created for the photos.

I’ve attended a lot of conferences throughout my career. The best ones find a way to make the event memorable beyond the conference itself. What Veronica and her team did was unique. It set a very high bar for other events.

What follows are the images I created for this assignment, along with some that didn’t make the cut. If you download the free Holotats app (Apple download / Android download), you can hold your phone up to each of the limited edition images to watch behind the scenes videos from each shoot. Each limited edition image is available for sale until their edition is exhausted. If you’d like to invest in one, please send me an email to inquire about availability, pricing and sizes. Once the editions are done, these images will no longer be available for print.

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