On Layover

I’m in the middle of what is shaping to be one of my craziest travel months ever. It started three weeks ago with Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Then came eComm Europe in Amsterdam. And then, last week, I was in Mysore for TEDIndia. I’ve been living through lots of stories, making loads of photographs (over 16,000 at TEDIndia!), and racking up the miles.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev at TEDIndia (Photo: TED/James Duncan Davidson)

And my travels are only just a bit over half way done.

Tomorrow, I’ll be photographing NewTeeVee in San Francisco and then I’ll be jetting off to New York to shoot Web 2.0 Expo NY. After it’s all done, I hope I remember my name.

First, however, I have to get there. I’m currently stuck at PDX due to a mechanical problem on my aircraft. It’s shaping up to be the longest airport wait of the entire trip, and I’m only flying 550 miles to SFO. But hey, the Wifi works and they don’t block sites such as Flickr like they do in Dubai, so it could be worse.

So, while I’m stuck, I’m going to take a few minutes and throw out a quick set of updates and random thoughts I’ve been having.

The LumaLoop

First, the strap project that I’ve been working on with my business partner Greg Koenig is just about to come to fruition. We’ve got a finished design. We’re able to produce in volume. And, through a test program that I snuck out on Twitter earlier this month, we’ve proven we can ship. We’ve gotten lots of feedback and we know we’re on the right track here. Even better, we’re almost ready to open it up to the public. The product is called the LumaLoop.

Some of our test recipients have published their thoughts about the LumaLoop. Check out Ted Leung’s writeup, @gnb’s tweet, and BWJones’ Flickr write up. Thanks to all for their awesome thoughts, both in private and in public.

So when is it available? Our To Do list is very short at this point. Look for it by early December.

The Website

Part of the reason I’ve been quiet on the blog here—in addition to all the travel—is that I’m working out what my main website should be. What photographs should be part of my portfolio. How it all should go together. So, my meager free attention for web stuff has been going in that direction. I’ve given myself a personal deadline to have a real portfolio of some of my best work, including some of the photos I made in India, up by January 1st. It’s an arbitrary date, and I may blow it, but I’m going to try not to let that slip. I think I’ve worked out what the next evolution is in my business as a photographer and the website is a key component of that going forward.

Sidi Goma at TEDIndia (Photo: TED/James Duncan Davidson)

India

My short time in India was awesome, inspirational, and humbling. It was a totally amazing experience. Throughout my career as a software developer, I’ve worked with outsource groups in India and learned a lot about their culture and how they work from afar. Being in India, even the glossy version of India that is the Infosys campus in Mysore, crystalized those lessons and brought them home in a way I wasn’t expecting. Indian time is fluid. Agreement isn’t always what you think it is. And great things are possible even if they’re not accomplished in a way that makes sense to the mind of an American.

Beyond the simple lessons of learning a tiny bit more about India by being there, being in the middle of TEDIndia meant that I met more Indians from more walks of life in a week than I might have in months of travel. Filmmakers, lawyers, photographers, sailers, singers, developers, musicians, farmers, scientists, politicians, doctors, inventors, and teachers. It was an intensely fascinating cross section of people who are moving India into the future. I may still be quite fuzzy on what it’s like to wander the streets and markets of current-day India, but I got a crash course in where India is going in the future and what the people that are in the vanguard of that movement are like.

Sivamani at TEDIndia (Photo: TED/James Duncan Davidson)

My only regret about the trip is that I wasn’t able to spend more time. Alas, I’d already had booked gigs the week before and after TEDIndia. Hence, part of my crazy travel schedule. However, I have an address book full of new friends all over India and I plan on using it when I return.

Photographs

For a quick photographic overview of TEDIndia, check out the TEDIndia Highlights set on Flickr. Also, check out the Web 2.0 Summit Flickr set and the eComm Europe Flickr set.