Spirit Photographs

William Hope was a photographer/medium (who was eventually exposed as a fraud) in the early 20th century.
Check out the flickr set for more haunting images.

SXSW in Brief

Just wanted to make a quick post of a couple of my favorite photos from the weekend in Austin. You can view the rest here. I'll do a more thorough recap of flatstock and the sweet posters we brought home with links to the amazing artists and designers who were there.

For now, here are some fireworks from the explosions in the sky show at auditorium shores, as well as a few other favorites from the weekend.

Friday Favorites (flickr edition!)

I'm posting this a little early so it actually goes up before 11pm on Friday.

something wonderful about the green of the trailer against this grey sky. the light leaks add a lot to this one. gotta love holga.

this shade of blue is fantastic. i'm pretty sure my parents have this pencil sharpener somewhere.

i love candid wedding photos, especially old ones.

almost identical to what i've been planning for my half sleeve (coming soon!)

Hey its a post about Obama

Yes this blog is mostly for design, but my friend Anton posted a link to this set of pictures from Obama's campaign trail (taken by TIME photographer Callie Shell) from the last two years and I am very moved by them. This one most of all:

These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, "Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King's words can be true for them." Jan. 21, 2008.

I also felt an emotional connection with these images. Looking through the full set, it felt like if Obama is president, that we will have a real president again. Someone we can respect and admire.
I loved that he cleaned up after himself before leaving an ice cream shop in Wapello, Iowa. He didn't have to. The event was over and the press had left. He is used to taking care of things himself and I think this is one of the qualities that makes Obama different from so many other political candidates I've encountered. Nov. 7, 2007.

It was primary morning in New Hampshire. Barack and Michelle Obama had been campaigning separately all week. In the first few months of 2008 their private time seemed to consist of a few crossover moments in back hallways before rallies. This moment was rare and you could tell they just loved being able to sit together. Jan. 8, 2008.

Every week I feel like I move either closer or further away from feeling good about voting for Obama. (Just to clarify, I have never considered voting for McCain, especially not after Palin entered the picture. ESPECIALLY.)

There are some issues that I disagree with Obama on, but I think that most of my wariness to come out and say "Yes, I'm voting for Obama" has more to do with a general distrust of government. We have so little assurance that what any political figure tells us is true that I find it hard to trust anyone, even Obama, who I would like to trust.

Without going too much into issues, I am going to post a link to a couple of pdfs that you can download from his official site that outlines some of his plans for education in America. Of anything that I've heard the candidates promise, this makes the most sense to me and gives me a lot of hope.

College Affordability Plan
Pre-K thru 12 Plan
Education Reform Plan

There isn't much time left before the election. I think my mind is almost made up. And just to keep with the general content of my blog, here's some design-related Obama stuff.

SpellingChange


poster by cody hudson


And even if Obama isn't elected, he will go down in history as the candidate with the BEST designed campaign ever. That, no matter which side you're on, cannot be argued.




Oh,and here's a little bit of non-partisan, patriotic (because we ALL are) design. I just bought this limited edition USA pin designed by Michael Bierut.

Themed photo projects

Here's an internet web for ya: I came across this site after seeing this 15 year old girl's amazing flickr photostream after seeing one of her images on this site.

two of eleanor hardwick's contributions to the home project.



I found this other site a few months ago and fell in love with it and by the grace of God I just remembered the name and found it again for this very blog post! It's called TheOnesWeLove.org and is a beautiful beautiful idea that I'm not above stealing. Looking through these photos gives me that listless wanderlust that I feel when I listen to a really good rambling folk song or walk outside on a cool sunny day. I love the idea of seeing someone through the eyes of the person who loves them the most.






All that to say, I think it would be really great to do a few collective themed photo projects of my own. Would anyone be interested in contributing? I'd love to actually build a site and maybe make it a regular thing...once a month, maybe. Who's down?