I didn’t think Pasta Man would talk to me. Wearing Ray-Ban Meta glasses and recording a video, I was an onlooker. Pasta Man had other plans. He talked to me; of course he did. Blocks from Times Square, making cheesy pasta at a food stall - he knows he’ll be on videos. I wasn’t ready for the ways that wearing smart glasses would change my New York City experience, but the City was definitely ready for me.
When you read about smart glasses or see them in use, you think that it’s all about the camera and sharing photos to Facebook. I haven’t shared a single photo to Facebook yet, even though Qualcomm sent me these Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses two weeks ago.
Mostly, I listen to music. They aren’t as good as the best earbuds I own, but they’re nice for listening to music on a dog walk, or strolling from my train to my office in the morning (it’s already too dark at night to wear sunglasses on the way home).
The speakers stay relatively undetectable except in the most stern surroundings. In my talkative office, co-workers couldn’t tell if I was listening to music.
Wearing a creepy camera on my face
Then, of course, there is the camera. It is creepy to wear a camera on your face. I feel that creepiness. I enjoy taking photos but I’ve never been a fan of street photography because I hate the idea of pointing my camera at a stranger.
With the smart glasses, I took the shot. When I take a photo or record a video, a light turns on. It’s bright enough that others can see it. The Ray-Bans look like they have two camera lenses, but actually, the right side is a light. It isn’t bright enough to act as a flash, so the purpose seems to be to tell everybody that I’m recording.
With that in mind, I decided to shoot freely. I took photos of whatever I liked. I work near Times Square, one of the most heavily photographed locations in the world.
A strange thing happened. Some people smiled. People waved. Not just the dudes dressed like Batman and King Kong, Normal people playing guitar or smoking a cigarette under a streetlamp in a poetic fashion. They saw me and they smiled, or kept about their business. Nobody got angry.
The light is very self-explanatory. When my glasses gave them a warning light, they presumed that they were on camera, even if they didn’t know that camera glasses were a thing.
Cheese Wheel Pasta is made to be on camera
Then I found Pasta Man. In Bryant Park, behind the Public Library on FIfth Ave, there is a winter village with food stalls. One of the food stalls makes pasta: “Cheese Wheel Pasta.” OMYUM.
They blow torch a gigantic wheel of grana padano cheese. Pour on vodka that is set ablaze. Swirl it around until a cheesy sauce melds. Toss in fettuccine and swirl it until it is coated. Add fresh pepper.
They do this in a red food stall in the middle of NYC. The theater of it is the entire point. You can get cacio e pepe anywhere, but here you get a TikTok video to go along with it.
When I started recording, my light came on. I thought I’d watch Pasta Man cook pasta. Pasta Man squared his shoulders. He spoke to me confidently: “How are you?” In New York City!? We don’t just … GREET people here!
We need to be camera ready all the time now
Ever been caught on camera unexpectedly? It’s disconcerting. It’s hard not to stammer, or sound awkward if you don’t practice.
I stammer. Not Pasta Man. He knows just what to say. “Would you like some?” He’s talking through me, to my audience. Pasta Man is ready to make your pasta, whether you’re a local walking through Bryant Park or watching TikTok via your favorite influencer.
I worried about feeling embarrassed. I worried about being intrusive. I had it wrong. Smart glasses photography is participatory. You aren’t taking the photo, you are part of the photo.
The good news is that people are ready. We’ve all seen this coming. If you do anything interesting, people record you. We are more ready for this moment than I imagined.
Soon, everyone will wear a camera on their face everywhere. So what? We’re used to it. In fact, smart glasses are going to be more polite, because I’ll have a shining light that lets you know I’m recording.
With smart glasses, I’ll look you in the eye and talk to you directly when I’m recording, and you can just talk back. I can use my hands and be part of the scene in ways never possible before. I thought smart glasses would change the way I record. They may also change the way we feel about being recorded.
