I was just having some fun with some old chords and brightly colored paper.
People on Busses
In the kind of non-creepy way, I like to watch people. I like to write about watching people. In one blog, I write about watching (reads stalking) boys that interest me and my co-author Kristen. Visit the Adorable Stalkers for that.
In this new blog, I write about watching people on the busses of San Francisco. These character sketches capture moments almost always forgotten while giving me the opportunity to practice writing. The process is simple. I write the post and hand it off to Linzi Bergmann who then interprets the character through her own style of illustration.
And there you have it. I hope you like it!
Photography: Bean
Bean is a dog that I know. She likes to stick her tongue out. I hope you enjoy my photographs of her.
Odopod by Color
It’s so easy to overlook the small details that make up the world. I make it an effort to observe and document my surroundings as much as possible and my obsession with color and my interest in photography has lead me to explore my office by color. Every day, it seems my life is made up of the same mixture of colors and textures but when I began to look a little closer, a whole new spectrum of shades began to emerge. Using Hisptamatic for iPhone as my tool and my office as my canvas, I’ve uncovered a colorful world of Odopod.
Photography: Flora Part I
On an overcast day in May I stepped out into my backyard garden and picked up several fallen bits of flowers, leaves and foliage as subjects of a new photo set and as tests for my new macro lens. These are the results.
Birthday Stats: 28
May 7th has come and gone and so I have aged another year. Another birthday filled with greetings, cards and dinner with pals. Filled with Facebook hellos, tweets and hugs. Filled with slices of cake, drinks and presents. Of course, I’ve tracked all of these wonderful things with Daytum, thus visualizing all the bits that made this year’s birthday so wonderful. See the page on Daytum.
iPhone, Organized by Color
I love to organize anything I can get my hands on by color. Color order always makes the world feel so right. Here’s what color organization looks like on my iPhone. Awesome, right?
My Favorite Things
The other day I purchased a Polaroid Jacket and instantly fell in love with it. It fits perfectly and is a wonderful representation of my interests in photography, color and design. It got me thinking about other physical objects that I own and love. So, here is where I pay tribute to my favorite things in the physical world.
Sunday Night Movies
My friends and I watch a movie together every Sunday night. Each week, a different host picks a movie and asks the guests to bring a food related to the film. When everyone arrives, we set up the food items in a nice little arrangement and snap a photo. It all began on April 13, 2008 and continues to occur weekly to this day. The members of Movie Night are managed through Facebook where there is also a complete archive of every event. As of this post we’ve seen 71 movies!
Welcome
Hello. This is my new website and it’s all about my creative and professional digital life. Half-portfolio, half-I don’t know what, this site has the intimate details of what I do everyday. Not so much blog, but hopefully a place to observe and document, this site is my little piece of the internet that I hope you like.
About
I’m Allison and I love to observe the micro details of life and to dream up new (mostly interactive) ideas and projects to start. I’m living in San Francisco, working and paving my way through the Internet on a day to day basis as an interactive marketing manager and producer. Gadgets, computers, design, and technology pretty much run my life and I like it. Other obsessions include taking photographs, music, movies, vintage poster design, infographics, science, furniture, swimming, hiking, travel and being outside.
Currently…
- Reading: iPad
- Listening: Beach House, Band of Horses
- Playing: PS3: Red Dead Redemption
- Shooting: Canon EOS 40D, Diana F+, iPhone
- Waching: TED Talks, Streaming NetFlix
Care to get in touch? Reach me at aqm[at]allisonqmccarthy[dot]com
The Places I've Lived
Every time I move out of an apartment, I make it a practice to take a photo of the outside/door so that I have a personal catalog of all the places I have ever lived. Since I have already moved quite a bit, I have a nice collection of apartments from Philadelphia, New York and now San Francisco.
cole valley: san francisco, ca
pacific heights: san francisco, ca
park slope: brooklyn, ny
park slope: brooklyn, ny
park slope: brooklyn, ny
northern liberties: philadelphia, pa
old city: philadelphia, pa
north wales, pa
A Year in Photos
At the dawn of every new year, I take all my Flickr photos from the previous year and produce book of photos. I started doing it in 2007 and have continued every year since. I love having something physical to hold and to look at in addition to all the digital things I’ve collected and created. The original idea came from a similar practice of selecting the best moments of the year – one per month - and creating a “year in review” set. These images represent 2009.
Photography: Pipes
I shot these pieces of plumbing as my final assignment for a digital photography class I took this summer. I’m only about half-way through the shots I wanted to achieve, so this is the first set in a series that I will complete in the future. The next set will include more colors, more lights and more bits and pieces from my local hardware store. I was really seduced by the curvy shapes of the objects out of context, the color backgrounds and the lighting in these shots. I cant wait to keep exploring.
TED with Breakfast
I’m constantly looking for sources of inspiration and one resource that will never fail is TED. As such, I started to make it a daily practice to do something good for myself both in mind and body each morning. Here’s a running list of my TED with Breakfast log.
- 026: “Daniel Libeskind’s 17 words of architectural inspiration” with a fuji apple and something else later.
- 025: “Tom Wujec on 3 ways the brain creates meaning” with a homemade rosemary ham scone.
- 024: “David Gallo shows underwater astonishments” with organic fig waffles and a cup of strawberries.
- 023: “Olafur Eliasson: Playing with space and light” with apple cinnamon oatmeal and lemon tea.
- 022: “Pattie Maes demos the Sixth Sense” with breakfast TBD when I get to work…
- 021: “Tom Wujec on 3 ways the brain creates meaning” with a strawberry smoothie.
- 020: “The design genius of Charles + Ray Eames” with apple cinnamon oatmeal (really exited about this one!)
- 019: “Diane Benscoter on how cults rewire the brain” with breakfast TBD when I get to work…
- 018: “Ray Zahab treks to the South Pole” with apple cinnamon oatmeal and an orange.
- 017: “Philip Zimbardo prescribes a healthy take on time” with a scrambled egg sandwich.
- 016: “Ueli Gegenschatz soars in a wingsuit” with apple cinnamon oatmeal.
- 015: “John Hodgman’s brief digression” with breakfast TBD when I get to work.
- 014 “Jane Poynter: Life in Biosphere 2″ with papaya and the last of my cherries.
- 013 “Richard St. John: Success is a continuous journey” with cinnamon oatmeal and cherries.
- 012 “Robert Full: Learning from the gecko’s tail” with a strawberry banana smoothie.
- 011: “Carolyn Porco flies us to Saturn” with a chocolate chip peanut odwalla bar and cherries.
- 010: “Joachim de Posada says, Don’t eat the marshmallow yet” with rosemary scrambled eggs and cherries.
- 009: “David Gallo shows underwater astonishments” with a croissant.
- 008: “Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity” with a rice cake and a fuji apple.
- 007: “Stunning data visualization in the AlloSphere” with apple cinnamon oatmeal and a fuji apple.
- 006: “Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight” with wheat toast and red raspberry jam.
- 005: “Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen” with cherry vanilla yogurt and an apple.
- 004: “Mary Roach: 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm” with a bowl of cherries.
- 003: “Dan Barber’s foie gras parable” with apple cinnamon oatmeal and a bowl of cherries. (i really like cherries).
- 002: “Dan Ariely asks, are we in control of our own decisions?” with vanilla yogurt & a bowl of cherries.
- 001: “elizabeth gilbert on nurturing creativity” with sausage scrambled eggs & a bowl of cherries.
Find Me On:
Flickr:
