Russell Would Have Been In This Picture, But The White Railing Ruined It

My good friend Russell (who, once upon a time, was going to run for office with me on what was going to be a groundbreaking bi-racial ticket) took his grandmother, Isaac, to the Inauguration. Isaac also happens to be the founder of our local NAACP chapter, and is also a very sweet lady. Somehow, she scored an inaugural ticket that also landed her in the second-tier, loge section.

I didn't realize that I might actually be able to see Russell and his grandmother on the Giant, ten-trillion Gigapixel, multi-stitched patchwork photo that is making the rounds. I called him up to ask him where he was sitting, and within the hour, Russell was at my place of employment with a photo album in tow. Man did he have some cool stories.

Their proximity and placement killed the chance for the hi-res thing, but Russell did manage to get a nice series of pictures of Alicia Keys (who was sitting in front of him), right along with Samuel L. Jackson, Don King, and Dustin Hoffman. That would be a bit surreal in and of itself.

Click on the picture to see an unbelievable pixellated composite. And before you write off this thing as a panoramic oddity, start clicking on an area (say the President), and see just how close it brings you. Amazing. Just for kicks, try to see the faces of the people pictured farthest away. Still recognizable.

Oh, and if you have a dial-up modem, just forget it.

-R