Six Pixels of Separation & The Wonders of Photography

Preparing for last night's mini-class, (thanks for coming out, folks... glad you enjoyed it!), I again remembered how fascinated I've become with small digital cameras & camera phones.  They’ve totally changed how we communicate & share, both with loved ones and with the outside world. In his new book, Six Pixels of Separation, Mitch Joel extends the notion of human interconnectedness by six degrees to the virtual world. To quote him," With abundant internet social networking sites and mobile texting, we are all intrinsically connected." While his thesis primarily addresses business applications,  it is equally true in the broader sense, & it has no better example than what happened just 72 hours ago in Haiti. As information trickled in Tuesday afternoon, the first images available from the tragic earthquake were not from traditional news sources but from ordinary citizens. Since internet services weren’t down, they were able to send the pictures that have moved us to tears & action. And the first information of the severity & wide spread damage was not from CNN or Fox News but again from ordinary folks who posted information & photos on Facebook & Twitter. A recent post from Mashable.com states it succinctly: "Social media has quickly become the first place where millions react to large-scale catastrophes. http://mashable.com/2010/01/12/haiti-earthquake-pictures/ .  Please note that some of the enclosed photos are graphic in the depiction of the current events there. Whether it's used for your grandchild's recital or business, a video of a child's first steps or in this case, human suffering of epic proportions, the wonder & power of photography not only enhances & blesses us, but connects us together in ways as never before. It is new, it is exciting, and it helps us to realize that we don't only sell cameras.