Function Vs. Form
Function versus form and thoughts on living a life one step forward and two steps back.
When it comes to buying into new products, software, or services I take my time in picking out the best of what there is to offer within my price range and often just out of my price range because I have a knack for being overly demanding when it comes to tools that I use every day. While constantly on the move I need things that will hold up to the general abuse of being in a lot of different environments. Its something people often tease me about, “there goes john on another endless quest for another gadget.” I feel I do it out of necessity. I don’t have a ton of money to throw away on mistakes or maybes, I like to get it right the first time and that takes time and research.
I often find myself pooling together reviews and technical information on products in my mind as I research things before buying into something. Lately, the more I think about it, the more I have seen patterns in my research habits. As with many things in human nature I tend to be drawn to objects or products that are aesthetically striking in some way. While my life may not be surrounded with perfect minimal yet functional environments I do have a great appreciation for solid, logical, thoughtful design and this is where things get interesting. While the form of a product may be the first factor which draws my attention there is also the ever present need to keep an eye on the objects functionality as well. It’s rare that the two come together to live happily ever after.
The most obvious example of these sorts of arguments is Apple computer, often touted as being a company that has a brilliant form with an equally strong presence in its functionality as a consumer product. This could be argued endlessly as many people believe that Apple has a tendency to leave out certain function in order to simplify the physical form. Such as the lack of ports on the iPad or Macbook Air yet these simple, elegant forms are lusted after by thousands and thousands of adoring fans often because of the underlying simplicity of the products.
The minimal movement that has been slowly creeping into more of the publics mental space I feel is being fueled by a backlash from the past century of a rapidly growing dependency on consumption as a form of entertainment. In a world where hoarding objects is such a serious issue among many, there are people such as myself that want to distance themselves from the hysteria and in turn look to a minimal style of living to accommodate that desire.
I find that I sit somewhere between the ultra minimal lifestyle that many tout on their blogs and social networks and those attached to older, kitschy nostalgia. I like having old books on my bookshelf and small trinkets from my travels scattered around my living space. I like both the minimal forms of modern trends in product design and the warm feeling an old wooden bookshelf can bring. Its a position that has left me in a place where making observations on function and form lay in a strange place.
In many ways I can admit to being a true sucker for a nicely designed product, Apples new iPad sucked me right on in with its slick vision of what computing may turn into as years creep by. The form of the iPad is simply perfect, nothing distracting it from its refined modern beauty. No ugly ports getting in the way, no un-needed functionality, just the essence of their vision. Along with creating a product like the creator must knowingly make sacrifices and compromises while designing it. All of you know that people complain often about Apples overly simplified approach. The bulk of the consumers on the market often don’t share the utopian vision of computing Apple has created and wonder where the USB ports and camera are.
In the world we live in we have been trained to expect our purchases to do more and cost less. This takes me back to what I was saying about a backlash from those of us who are getting overwhelmed by the increasing piles of previous generations possessions and the current generations rapidly growing heaps of slightly dated tech and ideas discarded oh so quickly in the name of progress. This applies to many things in life whether it be the newest gadget or something as simple as the image you choose as your desktop wallpaper. It seems we need more and more to be satisfied in today’s world.
I am no stranger of such accumulation. In the past few years I have bought into three models of iPhones. Did I need to? Not particularly, a phone is just a phone after all. In my case I let the iPhone be my outlet for having something new and interesting where I left my sturdy old macbook continue to hum along happily moving a tiny bit slower and slower as I push it with newer, more demanding software. There is an precarious balance to be found among the overwhelming amount of tech news leading to lust for new products as if what we have SURELY cant be enough… The grass is always greener mentality.
My dad tells me growing up he was promised flying cars and yet he still drives around on rubber tires. In my youth I daydreamed of a music player that could hold a dozen albums no bigger than a postage stamp and I would take it to a music store to fill it with music and here I am, iPod shuffle in hand and I don’t even have to leave my house to get the latest and greatest music loaded up. Expectation is such a delicate, interesting beast of a concept. I feel my expectations of the future differ from my dads for an interesting reason. As we quickly spiral to a finer point as far as the speed of consumer evolution and innovation goes, I feel our collective imaginations shift greatly from decade to decade. Its fascinating to consider how these ideas and our expectations of the outcome can vary so greatly.
So in this light, what we expect of our day to day lives is constantly being altered and the tools we use day to day shift greatly as we progress forward. It really was not that long ago we were debating the validity of the floppy disc and here we are doing the same thing over and over with the continuing push toward minimalism in our everyday working life. For the longest time we were convinced faster, bigger, stronger, more was what we needed but things have taken a turn in a different direction. New products being designed are getting smaller and theoretically more efficient as we continue to examine and explore our needs versus our desires, expectations, and fantasy.
With social networking at an impossible high its no wonder many of us are looking to simplify our lives. Our expectations are now instant and as soon as one new thing is available to us it is often immediately outdated or passed off as not good enough. Our desires are now seemingly impossible to meet. Our fantasies are now far less focused or simple than they once were, we just want everything and we expect everything and we want it now.
Wears me out.
So when it comes to buying into new products I feel its good to look at things in a really obvious way, why do I think I need this and what do I need it for, which leads me to also picture what I DON’T need within the product as well. All too often a product will stretch itself way to thin by trying to accomplish too much. When you boil down a need to its essence you will more often than not discover you can usually do more, and be happier with less. When you simplify your desires it leaves room for you to actually enjoy the results of your labors.
Breaking all of these elements down I am left with these simple comparisons, necessity versus desire. Compromise versus great expectations. Honesty versus fantasy. Function versus form.
I am all too curious to see where this all takes us. I can only hope that more people continue to realize the benefits of simplifying our lives and understanding the true power of the old phrase, less is more. So before you run and dive into that next random app purchase you may or may not really need or buy that new computer that has one more bell or whistle give yourself a chance to catch up with your own honest needs rather than stumbling blindly into the next best thing. A battle I guarantee you will never win. (spoken from experience 
)
Happiness is easier to find when you don’t fill your life with all that clutter and that is the reason I have been thinking about all of this lately. It feels all too daunting to live a life so crammed full with information and constantly changing standards to keep track of. I search for ways to find a balancing point, a calm among the madness of life spinning around me. Its strange to think that the products we create and consume are becoming as much a part of us as the real world experiences they were built to aid us in. I am not saying you should never buy anything or have fun with new toys, I just feel it’s important to be self aware.
So before I get carried off into another vein of thought within these ideas I will leave it at that. Feel free to chime into the discussion in the comments below.
My Mac Setup
Fellow blogger Shawn Blanc asked me to participate in his ongoing series of Sweet Mac Setups where he asks fellow mac users in the mac/design community to talk some about their mac setups and take a few photos of their workspace. The series does not focus only on people with fancy, perfect, expensive setups. It seems to be more about the relationship between the user and how they use their setups to work creatively with what they have. Its a fun series to look through if you want find interesting ways other creatives use their computer setups, both hardware and software, to work creatively. Its a great idea for a series of article/interviews and I was happy to take part in them.
You can see my entry in the series over on shawnblanc.net by clicking here.
Update: Some readers have been asking for a wallpaper of the above image so I cropped it down into wallpaper resolutions for everyone interested. Download the zip here.
One Shot
While I work on getting a pack of iPhone4 size wallpapers available for everyone I wanted to share a photo with everyone. Some of you may have seen this come through on flickr already but I know many don’t follow me there so I thought I would spread the love. The image was taken while out camping a few weeks ago with my hasselblad and the photo processing place developed it wrong which was pretty upsetting but I was able to salvage a few shots at least. This log was amazing and covered with moss and tiny trees as a small stream/river ran underneath. So stay tuned for the iPhone retina pack that I know many people have been looking forward too for some time now. Ive even noticed some of you out there cropping your own versions out of ipad size wallpapers heh, just please keep them to yourself if you can, or at least show a little love and link back here if you are doing something like that, thanks and I will see you guys again soon!
Twelve South
I don’t write too much about tech here on 50ft anymore and that is simply because I feel like there are plenty of people out there reporting on the latest and greatest and I figure its best left to the tech blogs to cover such things but I do find myself in a position somewhere between the photography world and the tech world because the large majority of my readers are here looking for great new imagery for their devices so why not poke my head into the tech side of things from time to time. Those of you who have followed along for a long while know that I have pretty high standards for products that I decide to spend my money on. One such product is a portable stand for my iPad, something I have been looking for since I first bought mine but none of the ones on the market really impressed me at all or were too expensive to even consider.
Sometime last week while picking up something at the local Apple store I noticed way up on the top rung of the accessories wall a really slick iPad stand simply called Compass made by Twelve South and was immediately drawn to its sturdy looking simplistic approach that would allow for use with the Speck Candy Shell case I use for it at times. I took a chance and bought it on the spot and I have been really happy with it. The stand is able to function in two different ways. One, as a slightly elevated and tilted surface for typing and two, a tall upright easel like position that is able to support the iPad in either orientation. It accomplishes these two functions effortlessly using simple mechanics and a minimal approach that I love. There are two small rubberized arms that fold down out of the stand in the bottom for its taller standing position which I find get in the way while in the typing position but I find that the rubber pad at the top of the stand does a fair job of holding it in place while I type without these little tabs poking into my palms as I type. The construction is incredibly solid and has a really nice weight to it. Im sure this will last longer than the iPad itself.
The only negative I could speak of is something that is unavoidable with this design style and that is the fact that if you tap with any force int he top edges of the screen while its on the stand it does shift in position a bit but I quickly adapted to this and tap lightly when using the upper corners of the display. The only other thing that has happened during its use is that if pushed back slightly in its taller setting the supporting leg in the back starts to fold in on its own and a couple of times I have had the stand collapse but again, its something I was able to quickly realize was happening and adapt to. These negatives are simple compromises for such a wonderful minimal design and I am overjoyed to have such a perfect portable stand that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to use in public hehe.
Also worth noting is a little black sleeve that it comes with that further added to its obvious inspiration a compass meant for drawing perfect circles. The sleeve is a nice tight fitting affair and while I wish there were a small snap rather than a little piece of stretchy material to hold its flap I still find it a really useful addition to the package that I did not expect to find in the package.
When I first bought the Compass I tried to find information on it online and was surprised no one had reviewed it or talked about its release but that was quickly remedied as I have seen it popping up all over the tech web the past couple of days and there is a product page in place now for it. Im sure they will sell well so get em while their hot. I can easily recommend this to any one looking for a great portable stand for their iPad!
The Wind
Ironically, thanks to the flash video wars, the video above wont work on the iPhone, I will put up a link when I have it somewhere that does.
I have not come across many opportunities to capture something nice with my new iPhone 4G camera but while I was at work this weekend at a concert in the mountains I looked up above me and saw this long flag slowly blowing around in the wind set against this beautiful sky and pulled out my phone to record for a few seconds before going back to loading a truck full of audio gear.
The thing that caught my eye was the fact that I knew YoungDoo would enjoy its peacefulness and the vibrant blue of the sky so I think it’s good some of her influence has rubbed off on me. Pushing me to find that light sort of peaceful touch in my imagery at times I feel is a good thing because I often gravitate toward the darker, shadowy side of things which is great but too much of it just gets old I think and I love to push myself all the time to learn new methods and approach subjects in new light.
So enjoy the video, I will have some new wallpapers up this week I promise! Also, thanks to everyone who tossed their hat into the ring and claimed one of the prints.
A Few Prints For You
First off, pardon the mediocre photo above, it was taken with my iphone in low light, I have actually been without my 5D for a couple of weeks now as I loaned it to my brother over in Memphis for some work he needed it for. Thats part of the reason for the lack of new wallpapers around actually.
At any rate, the photo here is of 9 prints, small ones (5“x5”) that I had made as simple proofs when I had the last couple of 120 film developed. I have scanned and posted most of these here or on flickr already and was sitting at my desk yesterday thinking to myself that it may be nice to give some prints away to readers. Just for the sake of giving and sharing art and kindness and the like. If you would like to exchange one of my prints for one of your own that would be great! But not a requirement.
I considered selling them but they are simply small matte prints that would have just been stuffed onto a shelf somewhere and not been looked at so why not give them away right? If I decide to sell prints of these images in the future they will be bigger and sold through an edition available but for now, I have these proofs and an urge to spread some kindness.
Also worth noting, I rounded the corners when I got them back from the photo shop (yes, a real one, notice the space between words there) because I thought that it looked nice so they will probably best be suited to simply be taped up onto a wall or a fridge but I still think that some of you would enjoy having them around. They are a bit lighter in contrast than the ones you see online but I like them all the same.
The only trouble is that I don’t have a lot of extra money to throw around so I will have to ask anyone that would like to have one of these prints send me $3 USD through Paypal so I can cover shipping. I am pretty certain that this will cover the cost of postage and an envelope to pretty much anywhere in the world.
They are first come, first serve so if you are interested then don’t hesitate to jump in and claim your print while they are here. There is only one of each and I think I should limit one per person to make it fair.
Simply leave a comment here with which one you would like and I will get back to you via email with Paypal information. This way it’s easy to see who’s first and whats available.. If no one wants one thats ok too
To say which you are interested in simply mention the number of the photo you like in your comment based on the numbers below:
-1-2-3-
-4-5-6-
-7-8-9-
Update: Im off to sleep, the only two left are 1 and 3 so anyone who wants to claim them with agreement to pay that little shipping bit to help out is welcome to them! I will check in the morning and then send off mails to those of you who put your name in tomorrow afternoon.
One Shot
As I mentioned in a post before, I went on a short backpacking trip and while I was there shot a few rolls on my Hasselblad. I have developed half of them, the other couple are slide film and have to mail it off or drive it an hour or so to a place that will develop 120 slide film. Until then though I have a couple of rolls of negative film scanned in and found a number of nice shots hiding in there.
This table was left behind, and freshly made from the looks of it, by a scout troop most likely. Typically they should take down things like this that are built but for some reason they left it up and so I went ahead and used it for the three days I was in the valley there. It was great to have a place to prepare food that wasn’t the ground! A nice surprise that made a nice camping trip even better.
I will have more shots posted each day on flickr. (which has a great new layout for viewing photos!)
In The Woods
I randomly decided to disappear into the woods for a couple of nights last week and took a bunch of photos with my Hasselblad and XA2. The little mini backpacking trip was wonderful and besides all the humidity and bugs, I had the valley to myself that I was in and it was really great to get away from things for a bit, take some photos, and just breathe. I left with a belly full of dehydrated foods, river water, a clear mind, and a few rolls of film exposed so Im looking forward to see if I got anything good. I will get them all developed next week, until then, I also snapped a handful of photos with my iPhone, messing about with a new app to see what it could do. Its nice really, but pretty much the same as the rest, a bunch of gimmicky filters thats fun for snapshot stuff like this but pretty shallow overall. It was really overcast and cloudy and the threat of heavy rain was around every corner while I was out so it was a bit dark in a lot of these still, hope you enjoy them. I will get some new desktops up this week, promise! (a new 50ft radio is on its way too!)
Follow the read more link for the rest of the photos…