A few nights ago I went to a live music festival here in “downtown” Danville. The streets of the courthouse square were blocked off for the food, music, and drinks… just imagine a movie where they’re portraying a small town festival on a warm summer night.
The music of the evening included a variety of local musicians playing Bruce Springsteen covers. Yes, I’m serious haha. But hey, it was a beautiful evening and a great chance to get out with my family and enjoy our small town on a summer night. The scene was great, actually. There’s nothing quite like the small town vibe – and a night like this had everyone feeling neighborly and content. Neighbors, school friends, the local shop owner – you name it, everyone was out enjoying the music, drinks, and community. Oh, and the music wasn’t bad either.
Anyways, there was a photographer there from the local newspaper marching around with several thousand dollars of equipment. At one point in the show I noticed he was on top of the courthouse taking photos of the whole scene – looking down on the streets packed with people, the stage, and really capturing the whole ambiance. Here’s the problem. I want a copy of those photos. He has something that is valuable to me (and hundreds of other people at the festival) but there is no easy way for him to distribute the photos and capitalize on the value. Here’s my idea. It uses the magic of cell phones and high speed data transfer (think 3G network).
What if there was a way that I could pick up my iPhone, select “browse nearby photo galleries”, and see other people’s photographs (which they have chosen to share) nearby me, updated in real time. I could filter the list of nearby galleries by proximity, rating, freshest photos, etc. I could connect to the photographer’s camera (the one on the roof taking professional-quality shots), browse his pics, and buy them for $0.05 each with a tap of my finger. The full-size photo would be transferred to my device just like that. Bam. This accomplishes several amazing things simultaneously.
- I don’t have to stress about capturing the evening with my camera. Instead, I can focus on the moment, enjoying the music and friends.
- The photographer can provide quality pictures to people that care about it – people like me who want to remember the evening but can’t get access to rooftops.
- The photographer makes a few bucks.
This is just one application where this type of technology would be incredibly useful. There are many places and situations where this would be valuable.
The cool thing? It will happen. Soon. Just remember that you heard it here first! Ha! Okay, back to work…
