Unintentionally echoing Seiko’s “You are what you wear”campaign, the New York Times profiled architect Giuseppe Lignano, not because of his work, or his art installation for what he takes pictures for but his affinity for a camera watch gadget and how it makes him a curiosity:

“Having taken countless pictures of industrial sites for his work – airports, factories, truck yards, ductwork – he noticed a few years ago that there were never any people in his shots. That was when he bought a Casio wrist camera (black and white, introduced in 2000) and started snapping his friends. Soon he was taking pictures of almost everyone he met. He upgraded to a color model, the WQV3D, and a few months ago upgraded again to the WQV10, for about $210 at B&H Photo.

With one megabyte of memory, the camera can hold 100 pictures, albeit those with only 25,000 pixels. Mr. Lignano downloads them to his home computer – some 2,500 so far – and lets them play on a slide show as a permanent art installation.

The camera’s allure is not in its stealth but its surprise. In that regard, it is a kind of secret weapon, a different take on disarmament. “It really takes people’s defenses down,” Mr. Lignano said, adding that though few people like having their picture taken, people often laugh freely for his wristwatch.”

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New York Times: I am a Wristcam