I met Wayne Sutton on Twitter, where he was asking about what handheld video camera he should buy to take with him to the Inauguration of Barack Obama. I told him about the Kodak Zi6 and we had a few tweets back and forth. He finally decided on the Zi6. Pretty soon we realized that he was going to have an experience of a lifetime and thought it would be great for him to share his story here. And here it is...



Wayne Sutton
Social Media Strategist & Technology Evangelist
Raleigh, NC, USA
socialwayne.com




I knew going to Washington D.C. for the Inauguration was going to be an experience of a lifetime and I wanted to capture as much as I could and post online for everyone to see.  Before leaving for the Inauguration I posted on twitter that I was looking for a handheld device to capture short video and take photos and from the conversation it led me to purchase the Kodak Zi6. On Tuesday January 19, I met my sister Janet Sutton who's a photojournalist for the Kinston Freepress and Rodney aka DJ Supreme who's a radio host for Kiss 101.9 and we left North Carolina for one of the coldest and exciting trips that we'll never forget. While riding to Washington, D.C. I was thinking about how the three of us made up different forms of news media. We had a radio host, a newspaper photojournalist and a citizen journalist/ new media strategist. I thought about how the inauguration is being covered today vs four years ago.



If you look at the tools that President Barack Obama used to reach his supporters and share his message of change, a lot of them were not around four years ago during the last election. President Obama's message was live video streamed, tweeted, blogged and pushed through various forms of new media and almost immediately shared on the internet. You can use something as simple as the Zi6 to record HD quality video or take a picture and have it on the internet in less than 30 minutes. It's a sign of a new generation of America that causes for a greater responsibility from our government and one another using social media tools. For the three of us it was an opportunity of a lifetime to use these tools to report back the sites and sounds from Inauguration 09 for our various media outlets.

On Monday night we attended the Obama Inauguration Tweet Up at the The Continental Modern Pool Lounge where we met a few twitter friends who we have only had conversations with online.  We shared our experiences about being in Washington for the Inauguration and what it meant to us. Watch the video. It was great to meet other tweeple and we stayed there awhile but everyone was excited about Tuesday, Obama's big day. Watch the video.



After a night of little sleep we arrived at the Greyhound bus station at 6:00 a.m. to catch the first bus to Washington from V.A. only to find out that we would have to wait for the second bus due to so many people trying to ride into Washington. So we waited, which allowed for us to meet a few families who had to catch the second bus also. Watch the video.

Finally we made it Washington where as soon as we left the bus station we saw thousands of people walking to try to catch a glimpse of President Obama and hundreds of vendors selling everything from Obama water to Obama Sauce (watch the video)  to Obama shirts and even Obama bobble-head dolls.

So the journey began, a radio dj, a photo journalist and a blogger/citizen journalist and if you would ask each one of us two things that we'll remember from the Inauguration we'll probably each say, it was cold and people from all around the world were there. For example here's a father and son from London.



Before the Inauguration started everyone was walking around and others with tickets were trying to get in, such as the hundreds of people who waiting hours outside at the infamous purple gate of doom. But as soon as President Obama had taken the oath and was giving his speech everyone gathered around handheld TVs and mobile phones listening to the first words of our new president. That moment, it seemed like the world has stopped and it was one of those moments you can say you're proud to be an American as I saw people from all races, ages, colors and nationalities come together to listen to the first words of President Barack Obama. I listened and saw the moment to capture as many pictures of groups as I could and afterwards I caught up with a school teacher and her students who made the trip. One of the students was filled with so much emotion she started crying and the teacher shared their journey with me on video. Watch the video.

After the Inauguration, for us, the journey came to an end so we headed back to the bus station. We knew it was going to be very difficult trying to get out of the city so we walked past a few more vendors and headed for the bus station filled with joy, hope and love for our country.

Thank you Kodak for making capturing the moments of the Inauguration easy and fun with the Zi6.

I'm Wayne Sutton and as always, I'll see you online.

Like Wayne, Gavin of The Gavin Show Blog took a Zi6 to the inauguration and here is a video he shot during Obama's oath.

"Here's where I was for the big moment, huddled in the cold with a few million of my close, personal friends. The video was out of sync with the audio on the jumbotron by a few seconds, so don't blame Vimeo or the Kodak Zi6!"

Obama Takes the Oath of Office from Gavin on Vimeo.

He also had the Zi6 with him when Obama had his whistle stop in Baltimore.

"Tens of thousands of people braved the cold to wait in line all day to see then President-Elect Barack Obama deliver a speech at the War Memorial in downtown Baltimore, a whistle stop on his train ride to Washington."


Barack Obama Comes to Baltimore from Gavin on Vimeo.

Here is what he had to say about the Zi6...

"Again, the Zi6 was a trooper. I never had to change the batteries once, and I shot all day in HD mode (30 frames per second). My 16GB SD card laughed as I recorded over 140 videos that added up to well over an hour's worth of footage, with gigabytes to spare. The digital zoom was surprisingly sharp. When I used my Flip Ultra, I avoided touching the zoom like the plague. But on this camera, it's not bad. Sure, you're not going to get anything as crisp as you would with an optical zoom, but for a sub-$200 pocket-sized point-and-shoot video camera, it's amazing."

Here is a fun and really easy photo project for making a splash at your next dinner party or if you just want to make a meal extra special... Photo Napkin Rings.



Really you just need some photos that will work well when cut in half length-wise.



The possibilities are endless. If you have photos of your dinner guests, you can match their napkin rings to their place setting!

Or match the photo to the season or holiday. Or feature the food you are serving!

For step by step instructions visit the Photo Napkin Rings project page on the Tips and Projects Center.

This week I can be found in Las Vegas at the Kodak CES booth.

I will be at the Kodak booth blogging about our new products and other exciting news right from the show floor. You can read all about it over on Plugged In blog.

As soon as I got off the shuttle bus at the convention center, I saw Kodak everywhere and I knew it was going to be a good show!

It's so hard to communicate how big the booth is and how many people come through.

A good excuse for a panoramic I think! Click on the image below to see a larger version.

So be sure to check in on Plugged In blog to see what's happening at the Kodak booth at CES!

A few months ago we started a Flickr group "What's Your Story?" where users could share their photos. Each month there is a theme where photographers can illustrate a concept or idea through their pictures.

The first month's theme was "Where would you like to be right now?" We got lots of great photos. People were thinking of spots all around the globe. Being near water was a common desire.

Sergei Lewis from the UK added this photo "Prague at Night" and said "A week just wasn't long enough."

December's theme called for photos that communicated what home was to the photographer.

Ryan O'Callaghan also from the UK included this diptych and thought of home as "my bed - the best place to sit and think everything out... & sleep :)"

Natalia Gladysheva of Polyarny, Russia shared a photo of her living room and mentioned "no IKEA at all".

Tom Lin from Ridgewood, NY offered this familiar homey scene "Soggy Day".

Scott Rennie had one of the most creative shots..."On 10 May 2007 I started the 365 days project. Since I work from home I have lot of free time to waste on photography, and little did I know it but over the following 12 months my home would become (most days) my photo studio, my inspiration and my prison as i tried to take an interesting self-portrait each day."

The photos in these themes are amazing and they are coming from all around the world. A big thank you to the photographers that allowed me to share them here on the blog.

It's a new month, and a new year, so it's time for a new theme. January 2009 brings the theme "new". Photos that communicate fresh, pristine or beginnings. Do you have a photos that just says "new" to your! Please share it! I can't wait to see what people contribute. I am sure it's going to be a brilliant year of wonderful photos.