Erik Dahl

Like many Americans, I have a mostly uninspired commute to and from work every weekday. I typically spend my commute relaxing to music, catching up on the news, or in silent contemplation of something that may be on my mind. The actual environment or surroundings of my commute have become habitual. Recently, I decided to take a fresh look at the environment that I drive through twice a day. Below are just some of the results.

There are many places in our fabricated world where things/items/objects seem to collect. There are “corners” in the world were things come to rest. When we design environments we need to remember that the corners we create will be a collection spot for debris.

Everything exists within a context, and this billboard is no different. More often than not I find myself stopped at this light looking across the intersection at two guys and a stop light. Poor thing, even on a billboard she still doesn’t get as much press as the boys. I doubt the designers of this billboard gave any thought to how its view would be obstructed when it is displayed in an urban environment.

I love this. Its a beautiful expression what is meaningful and what isn’t to this particular business owner. He cares enough to mow his grass, not enough to trim the strip that the mower doesn’t reach along the edge of the building (or to make sure its grass and not weeds he’s mowing in the first place). Now, I’m not making a value judgment that he should or shouldn’t have edged the grass along the building (the grass looks like this at my house). But it is an physical expression or manifestation of what is valuable to him. The little things can tell alot about our personalities and priorities.

For reference, the above photo is directly across the street from the previous photo of the grass along the wall. Two things are happening here that I wanted to point out. The first one is in obvious juxtaposition to the previous shot. The well manicured, fenced lawn of this school is representation of different set of public values than the auto shot on the other side of the street (represented in the previous photo).

The second point is a bit more interesting to me. Its what I like to call “urban tree rings.” First off, there is obvious oxidation on the pole, which has also bled onto the sidewalk. Now, do you see all those metal bands holding the various elements (boxes, signs, lights) to the pole? If you look closely you can see the varying levels of oxidation and wear on the metal bands. So what, right? Well, now we know in what order these different attributes were placed here and we can interpretively deconstruct the narrative of this one pole. And by proximity one aspect of the developmental narrative of this street corner.

Just another example of urban decay and deconstructive storytelling. By the textures and composition of the various elements of concrete we can start to see into the lifecycle of this street corner.

I really do love this photo, and not just because its of some girl’s butt crack on the back of a motorcycle. I don’t really think that is what this photo is about. There was something very beautiful, natural and right about this whole scene. I don’t know if its something I can explain exactly. It was a feeling I had, and I had to try to capture it on film. What do you think?

These are just some of the things I see and think about on my ride to work every day. What do you see, do, or think on your commute into work?

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