Thinking Outside the Frame

Greetings.  The world of photography has experienced remarkable change since the invention of the first camera or "Camera Obscura" by Alhazen (a.k.a. Abu Ali Hasan Ibn Al-Haitham) roughly a thousand years ago.  Born in the present day Iraq, Alhazen was a brilliant scientist, mathematician and writer and considered by many to be the father of modern optics.  But it wasn't until 1827 that the French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce would create the very first photographic image. Today cameras are nearly ubiquitous and an essential part of life around the globe. In fact, we seem to take pictures of anything and everything and delight in sending them to family and friends, uploading them to our on-line devices and using them to express ourselves in a variety of ways.  We also use them to explore the galaxy, study the smallest forms of matter and examine the inner workings of our bodies in order to diagnose the things that ail us.  Enabling us to see things beyond the abilities of the naked eye.

So it shouldn't come as any great surprise that a brand new camera is stretching our vision and imagination in a very different way.  But that's exactly what Jonas Pfeil's "Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera" is doing.  Designed by this German student and a team of innovative colleagues, the Ball Camera enables users to take "full spherical panoramas" of city streets, amazing venues and events and the most interesting natural places–by simply throwing it in the air and then catching it.  

The camera does the rest…by automatically piecing together a complete view of a particular corner of the world–including the view behind us.  

Necessary?  Maybe not.  Awesome?  Absolutely.

And here's a video of how it works…

Which should lead us to wonder how we might act differently if we could see every dimension of an important problem or opportunity.

We win in business and in life when we stretch beyond the limits of our ability to see in order to gain new insight about the whole of a problem or opportunity that really matters.

Cheers!