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Photo History

When I heard the space shuttle would be going up at night on December 7, 2006, I decided I wanted to try to catch a picture of it as it flew over our local landmark, the Jupiter Lighthouse. The only problem was, I had never watched the shuttle go up from that location before, so I wasn't exactly sure where to set up my camera.

I knew I would only get one chance, so here's what I did. Kennedy Space Center is about 120 miles to our north. I got a map and drew a line from Launch Pad 39B at Cape Canaveral to the Jupiter Inlet. After that, I took the map and a compass to the waterway and aligned the map pointing north. I kept adjusting my position until the lighthouse was just to the right of where I had calculated the shuttle would come up. I actually ended up about ¼ mile east of where I had initially started.

The night before the planned launch, I showed up to take some test shots. There was one very bright light by the lighthouse shining directly at me, so I had to position my camera on a tripod with the light hidden behind one of the pillars on the pier.

The following night, my family and I showed up early, set up and waited for the launch only to have it cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather at the launch site. The following night, the weather was still too bad to fly, so it was tentatively scheduled for the following day.

Once again, we returned to my spot on December 9, 2006, set up my camera and waited. 5,4,3,2,1,LAUNCH! We knew the shuttle had taken off because we could hear people at nearby restaurants watching it on television, but we couldn't see anything. After about 45 seconds, I started thinking I had miscalculated and was looking in the wrong direction. I started looking all over, and then suddenly, my wife saw a glow in the sky right where I thought it would be. Because it was so dark, we hadn't noticed there were a lot of clouds that night.

I calmed myself for a second, pressed the shutter button, formed a shield with my jacket so the wind wouldn't blow on my camera and move it, and held my breath. For the next 18 seconds, we had a clear view of the space shuttle flame lighting up the sky before it went behind the clouds again. It just so happened I had set up my camera perfectly to take a 20 second exposure.

As you can see by the photo on our site, the set up, timing, and exposure couldn't have been any better for this technically difficult shot and I was able to capture the picture I had been after. If you think the photo is impressive on the web, you should see it firsthand. What happened next was totally unexpected and unbelievable.

After the shot

The whole purpose of going through all the trouble of getting this shot was to have a nice picture to hang on our wall at home. I really wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Obviously, I was very proud of my picture so I started showing it around and almost everyone that saw it asked for a copy. With Christmas just around the corner, my picture found its way into hundreds of homes in 10 different states all across the nation.

I entered and placed in a local photo contest and my photo was displayed on their web site. People started copying my picture from that site and e-mailing it around to their friends. Someone actually took my picture and recreated it as a chalk drawing at the 13th Annual Lake Worth Street Painting Festival on February 24th & 25th, 2007. Lake Worth is about 25 miles south of us and someone in our area had gone down to the festival and recognized my photo, so they brought me back a picture.

As I was picking up some more copies of my picture at my photo processor, another customer overheard the technician remarking how he liked my picture. The other customer asked to see my picture because she had just gotten a picture of the shuttle flying over the lighthouse as a gift. I showed her my picture and she was shocked to find out that I was the photographer of her recent gift… it was the same picture.

Due to the incredible attention my photo has generated, it is now on file at the copyright office of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. to help protect against unauthorized use. Please respect the copyright and contact us if you wish to use the photo.

During all this, just when I thought things couldn't possibly get any crazier, they did. On January 10th, 2007, I woke up out of a dead sleep with an idea so amazing that I barely slept for an entire week as I laid out a plan. I might not be able to make my picture into the most famous picture in the world, but I knew I could make it into the BIGGEST picture in the world... and I do mean that literally. Within 2 days, PowerfulPixel.com was established and the world record breaking journey had begun.

* Photograph taken by Marion Dimick and used with permission

Project Overview

This photo of the Discovery Space Shuttle was taken from the Jupiter Inlet on the east coast of Florida on December 9, 2006. It was the shuttle's first night launch in about 4 years and I was fortunate to have captured an incredible shot. From that moment, the photo has attracted significant attention, not only locally here in Florida where it has placed in photo contests, but also across the nation. Within a month, thanks to an upcoming Holiday Season, this photo found its way into hundreds of homes in at least 10 different states all across the country.

What followed was an idea intended to unite people from all across the nation, regardless of age, sex, race, religion, or political beliefs. On September 1, 2007, after nearly 7 months of intense planning and preparation, this project was officially launched and it's like nothing you have ever seen before.

We will be using our photo to set a NEW WORLD RECORD as the world's largest photo mosaic and will completely destroy the current world record set in Spain on October 31, 2006 by over 43 times. It will be almost 5 acres in size and visible from satellites orbiting miles above the earth.

Every picture is made up of little dots of color called pixels. We will be printing out each and every pixel in our picture as a 4 inch square of color which will then be affixed to pieces of plywood. Over 6,650 pieces of 4' x 8' plywood will then be laid out on the ground like a puzzle to recreate the original picture. Once the project has been certified as a new world record, the project will be dismantled, and all the plywood will be used to build new homes for fellow Americans.

Here's how you fit in: there are a limited number of pixels in this photo and all are available for sponsorship. Once all the pixels have been sponsored, the project will be built, displayed and certified. We are inviting you to be part of this record breaking journey with us. If you are the sponsor of a pixel, you will receive a certificate of authenticity, your name will be displayed on our web site, and once we have reached our goal, you will be known as a world record holder.

There are additional benefits to being involved with this project as well. You can sponsor a pixel to honor or memorialize a friend or family member as a unique gift. Your child's school can participate in our fundraising program and get their share of up to $3.8 million and you can earn rewards including mp3 players, digital cameras, trips to Florida, and even rides on G-Force One (ZERO-G'S airplane) where you can experience weightless flight just like the astronauts on the space shuttle.

Finally, if we can all pull together to do something as insignificant as set a new World Record, we can surely pull together to do things that can make our country better. Based on that, we are putting forth the following challenge: During the course of this project, we encourage everyone involved to do something selfless for someone you know and for someone you have never even met. Check out the "you did what?" pages for more details.

To learn even more about this great project, take a look around our site and see all the great things going on. Specific answers to some of the more commonly asked questions can also be found on the FAQs page.

Sponsoring Pixels

There are a limited number of pixels in this photograph, but every single pixel is available for sponsorship. Pixels will be sponsored starting at the top left corner of the photo and moving across the row to the right. Once we reach the end of the row, we will move down to the next row beginning at the left of the picture again. We will continue in that manner until all the pixels have been sponsored. Once all the pixels have been sponsored and the record breaking picture has been constructed, it will be displayed and certified as a NEW WORLD RECORD. At that point, anyone who has sponsored a pixel, either personally or received one as a gift, will be a world record holder too.

When you get ready to sponsor pixels, decide the total number of pixels you would like to sponsor and enter that number during the checkout process. Keep in mind that many people are sponsoring more than one pixel and giving the other pixels away to people as unique gifts. You can also sponsor pixels on behalf of someone to honor them for something or as a memorial to a loved one that has passed away. We have set up 2 special pages which lists everyone that has been honored or remembered and can be viewed here.

Once you have completed the checkout process, you will be taken to the "My Certificates" page in your account. On this page, you will see how many pixel credits you have paid for. For example, if you just sponsored 10 pixels, you will have 10 credits, and it will list the range of pixels you have sponsored (i.e. Pixel #850 — 859). Now, from this page, you decide what to do with your pixels. You can keep them all for yourself, or you can give them away. Let's say you want to give one to your nephew, you simply enter his name into the space on the page as well as his e-mail address. Now, decide why you are giving it… as a gift, or perhaps to honor him for serving in the military. Next, just decide how many pixels you want to give him and press "Redeem Credits". An e-mail will be sent to him with his Certificate of Authenticity attached and some simple instructions. He will be a world record holder once the project has been certified, but in order to be listed publically on the web site, he must follow the link on the e-mail, create a free account with PowerfulPixel.com, and accept our terms and user agreement. As soon as he does, his name will be added to the public list.

One last important thing: This is a project intended to unite people and families all across the United States. This is our chance to show what simple average American people can do when we all pull together, regardless of age, race, sex, religion, political belief, or economic status. I know it doesn't happen that way in the real world, but right here, right now, on our site, EVERYBODY COUNTS AND EVERYBODY IS EQUAL and we can't succeed without you. Then we would like to challenge everyone to take that same philosophy back into the real world. Check out how simple that can be with the challenge on this page: You did what?

**Because this is a project of individuals joining together, companies are asked NOT TO SPONSOR PIXELS AS A COMPANY. We will not allow this site to become just an advertisement site as it detracts from the true purpose and any company names will be removed from the public listing. We do, however, invite the individuals in your company to participate.

Marketing

Everybody knows that the best way to let people know about something is through personal referral and by word-of-mouth. During the 7 months that we were planning and developing this project prior to launch, people from 21 states and 6 different countries visited our temporary web site to see what we were doing; ALL of those visits were generated just because people who had been to our site and thought it was interesting passed our web site on to other people. It really makes you realize just how small the world has become because of the internet.

At that point, we decided to take the money that would normally be used for high priced marketing to promote our project and instead, use that money to reward the people that were already helping us spread the word about this project and those that would be helping in the future. If you've looked around the site, you have probably noticed we have 2 children and every year, we have school fundraisers. We decided to set up a program that would serve two purposes: promote our project while helping schools all across the nation at the same time.

I don't know about you, but I can only buy so much popcorn, cookie dough, and wrapping paper during fundraisers and we usually bought most of it ourselves so we didn't have to bother people. Our project is so unique because we are attempting something that has never been done before. In addition, not only does it give all participants a chance to be a World Record Holder, but the project is designed to help make positive change all across the nation. Because of all this, it almost "sells itself" because people just want to be involved once they hear about it.

Besides school fundraising, we have also set up a Reward Program for individuals that help us spread the word about the project. Rewards include mp3 players, digital cameras, trips for 4 to Florida to see the completed project unveiled to the media and certified as a New World Record, and even tickets on G-Force One, which is an airplane owned by ZERO-G, where you can experience weightless flight just like the astronauts on the space shuttle.

Individual Rewards

This project involves individuals from all across the country joining together to do something that has never been done before. In order to do this, we will need a team effort to spread the word about this project too so other people can get involved and we can ultimately reach our goal and set a New World Record.

It's as simple as this. I know a lot of people, but obviously, I don't know everyone. So, if I don't know you and really wanted to find you, how could I do that? The easiest way would be to ask everyone I do know to help me look for you. My friends know a lot of people that I don't personally know, so if they ask their friends to help me look for you too, my chance of finding you really increases because I have a lot of people all looking for you at the same time. Does it work? Well, if you're reading this page right now and don't personally know me, then obviously, it does work. If you're reading this page and do know me personally, I'd like to thank you for your support on this project.

There's a theory called the six degrees of separation which implies that every person on earth is connected to each other by no more than 6 common contacts. The great news is that we don't need everybody in the world to know about this project and participate in order to reach our goal. In reality, we only have room for 1,920,000 individuals on the World Record Attempt Team. Still seem like a big number? Well it is... and it isn't. It depends on your perspective. This number is only 0.029% of the world's population and only 0.6% of the United States population. So, our challenge to each of you is to help us find the other 1,919,999 people in the US, other than yourself, who also want to be a world record holder.

We have developed a fun, easy, and rewarding way for you to help us find those people. Simply create a free account with PowerfulPixel.com and begin using the tools in your account. When you create an account, you will get a unique referral code so that we can track your activity for you. Then, you can easily send out e-mails to your "contacts" to tell them about the project or even print out personalized flyers to post on a wall or even hand out. The best part is that you can earn great referral rewards when you help us spread the word about this great project.

THERE ARE 2 DIFFERENT REWARD SYSTEMS FOR INDIVIDUALS THAT HELP US SPREAD THE WORD:

If you are directly responsible for someone coming to the site and sponsoring at least 1 pixel, then you will receive a $1.00 credit which you can then spend in the PowerfulPixel store. If you refer 20 people to the site and they all sponsor at least 1 pixel, then you will have a $20.00 credit in your account that you can use at any time. You can use your credits to purchase various sizes of the original "Space Shuttle" photo, sponsor more pixels to give away as unique gifts, or you can save your credits and use them to purchase the aerial photo, which will be taken after the project has been completed.

** IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT REFERRAL CREDITS:
- You may use your available store credits at any time and apply it toward up to 50% of your current order total. For example, if you have earned $20 in credit and your current order total is $20, you will be able to use $10 in credit (or 50% of the purchase total) toward that purchase. Essentially, you have received a 50% discount on your current order and still have another $10 in credit to apply toward any future orders.
- All store credits must be used within 30 days after the final project has been displayed and certified as a new world record. Failure to use your credits by that time will result in the forfeiture of any remaining credits.
You will earn Bonus Referral Rewards based on the total number of pixels sponsored because of your direct referral. Your bonus level will be determined once all of the available pixels have been sponsored and your reward will be determined based on your total Pixel Referrals according to the following list:
- 0 — 249 pixels No Bonus Referral Reward
- 250 — 499 pixels Bronze Referral Reward Level
- 500 — 1499 pixels Silver Referral Reward Level
- 1500 — 3499 pixels Gold Referral Reward Level
- 3500 — 6999 pixels Platinum Referral Reward Level
- 7000 or more pixels Platinum Plus Referral Reward Level
Reward Level Descriptions *
- Bronze Reward Level (estimated retail value of approximately $250.00)
  - MP3 player
- Silver Reward Level (estimated retail value of approximately $500.00)
  - Compact digital camera (point and shoot variety)

* Specific brands, makes, and models have not been listed for the rewards above for the following reason: Technology changes so fast that we did not want to get locked into a specific reward that, at the time of project completion, might already be outdated and/or discontinued. In addition, product warranties are based on purchase date. What we will do is evaluate the products that are available as the project nears completion, and make appropriate arrangements to obtain the most technologically advanced product in the specified retail price range for each reward listed above. We will be using dpreview.com to assist us in our digital camera review at that time.

Actual retail prices of the Platinum and Platinum Plus Rewards will vary based on the location you fly from, the makeup of your family (meaning the number of adults and children travelling) and Hotel/Resort availability at the time of travel.

A single flight ticket on G-FORCE-ONE has a current value of $3,500 + $175 tax for a total value of $3,675 value. We have already confirmed with ZERO-G since they are the only company currently in the United States approved by the FAA for weightless flight service.

IMPORTANT: You must keep the e-mail address in your account current. Once the last available pixel has been sponsored, we will review all accounts and determine who has qualified for the rewards as detailed above. If you qualify for a reward, you will be notified via e-mail with specific instructions on how to claim your reward. Reward recipients will be responsible for any applicable local, state, and federal taxes based on the retail value of their reward. Platinum and Platinum Plus Reward recipients will be required to complete travel waivers before their designated travel date. If you fail to respond to Reward Qualification Notices within 30 days, you will forfeit your Reward. Please see our User Agreement for full details.

School Fundraiser

Because schools always seem to come up a bit short with regard to the money they need to operate, fundraising has become a way of life for most schools. But be honest... have you ever really gotten fired up about something your kids are selling with those fundraisers? Probably not, and one of the reasons is because they do the same thing year after year. How boring is that? But you keep doing it year after year because you don't have a choice. Now, maybe you do. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to walk up to someone with excitement and say, "Well it's that time again, but we're doing something new and it's really pretty neat. I think you'll like it, check it out." Then you just hand them a personalized flyer from your private PowerfulPixel account and walk away. The uniqueness of the project takes care of the rest because people just want to be involved in something so big. Will this be the biggest fundraiser your school has ever had? Hard to say. Will it be the easiest? Without a doubt because this is how simple it really is:

A school administrator contacts PowerfulPixel through the "schools contact information" tab on the schools page. Once the school's information is verified, the school will be allowed to create an account.
Once the account has been created, the administrator can print off flyers that they send home with the kids which explain the project to the parents. The flyers will include the school's unique referral code.
Now, the parent just helps the children create a free account at PowerfulPixel.com and includes the school's referral code during the registration process. This registration process creates a new unique referral code for the student. Even though it is only a single code, it tracks activity for both the school and the student.
Next, the student can sponsor some pixels if they want to be part of the World Record Attempt Team and the school will get credit for the pixels sponsored. Now that child can print out a personalized flyer from their account and just start handing them out whenever they want. When people sponsor pixels, both the student and the school earn referral rewards.

So how does the school make money with this fundraiser? We actually have 2 separate reward systems for the schools and 2 separate reward systems for the students (explained on the "Individual Rewards" page)

The first school reward system is straight forward. The school gets $1.00 for every pixel that is sponsored because of their students' direct referral. If a student is responsible for 1 pixel being sponsored, the school gets $1.00. If the student is responsible for 100 pixels being sponsored, the school gets $100.00. The total pixels sponsored because of the entire school's effort will determine this first referral reward. These rewards are paid out to the school every 6 months (about October 15th and April 15th) during the course of the project.
The second school reward system is based on the total number of pixels sponsored due to the school's effort at the conclusion of the sponsorship phase of the project. This bonus is determined based on the following levels and is paid to the school within 30 days of the final pixel's sponsorship.

Bonus Reward Levels based on total number of pixels sponsored because of a school's efforts:

0 — 499 total pixels: No Bonus
500 — 999 total pixels; $500 Bonus
1000 — 2499 total pixels $1000 Bonus
2500 — 4999 total pixels $2500 Bonus
5000 — 7499 total pixels $5000 Bonus
7500 — 9,999 total pixels $7500 Bonus
10,000 — 14,999 total pixels $10,000 Bonus
15,000 — 19,999 total pixels $15,000 Bonus
20,000 — 24,999 total pixels $20,000 Bonus
25,000 or more pixels $25,000 Bonus

For example, if a school is responsible for 9,964 total pixels being sponsored during the course of this project, they will get a total of $9,964 paid to the school at 6 month intervals during the course of the project ($1/pixel). At the end of the project, they will get an additional bonus of $7,500 (based on levels above) for a total of $17,464 just for handing out some flyers.

The school administrator can log into their account at any time and see exactly how many more pixel sponsorships are needed in order to reach the next bonus level. In this case, if the school had been responsible for only 36 more pixels, they would have reached the next bonus level of 10,000 and would have earned an additional $2,536 for a total of $20,000. Click here to see an example of the School Account Page.

One more important point; when a person sponsors a pixel because of a student's referral, that person will enter the student's referral code during the registration process. That action links that person to the student and the school for the duration of the project. That means that if they sponsor 4 pixels today, both the student and the school each get credit for 4 pixels. Then, 2 months down the road, if they return to the site and sponsor 8 more pixels, both the student and the school will get credit for 8 more pixels because they were ultimately responsible for all 12 pixels being sponsored because of that first referral.

No orders, no product, no inventory, no delivery and no tracking. Everything is done by our sophisticated web site. So you decide: You can either hand out some simple little flyers explaining a great project, or you can go bug your friends, families, neighbors and coworkers to buy some more cookie dough or popcorn.

You did what?

Initially, this project was simply a way to see how far we could take our photograph of the Discovery space shuttle as it passed over a local landmark, but it has turned into much more than that. As this project developed, we looked for ways to use this project not only to set a new world record, but also to make a lasting difference, not only in our community, but all across the nation. As parents, we are worried about what the world has in store for our children. Our great country has become divided on many issues including war, religion, race, politics, and economic status. Every day, when you turn on the television or pick up the newspaper, you see people hurting other people. What are we doing to ourselves??? We think it's time to take a stand and do something positive, something that will put the UNITED back in the United States, and we'd love to have you join us.

This project will show the power of what individual people can do when we join together for a common cause and create the World's Largest Photo. We would like to take that concept one step further and show how individual people can also have a positive impact on our nation. Change can start with just one person. As other people join "the cause" we can have an impact.

Based on that, we are putting forth the following challenge: During the course of this project, we encourage everyone involved to do something selfless for someone you know and for someone you have never even met. Giving a little of our two most precious commodities, time and resources, can have a profound effect, not only on those receiving, but also on those giving.

Examples would be things like: helping your elderly neighbors mow their lawn or shovel their driveway, taking dinner to a family who is having some financial hardship, visiting the local nursing home and just spending some time with people, or volunteering to help with your child's various activities, such as coaching or helping at school. Examples of things you can do to help others you may never meet include supporting a charity or mission, filling out your organ donation cards, donating blood, or registering for Bone Marrow Donation. Think about it; if we each do these simple little things, Americans will be better off for it and we will be setting an example for our future leaders, our children.

Check out what people are doing in their communities by visiting the you did what? page. We are providing this forum so people can share what they have done for this challenge and, hopefully, inspire others to follow their example. If you would like to share what you are doing to make a difference, please send your e-mail to you_did_what?@powerfulpixel.com.

The Finale

OK, so you've sponsored a few pixels. You kept one for yourself, gave one to your son to honor him for graduating from college, and sponsored one in great Aunt Millie's name as a memorial. You still have 5 more left, but you decide to just keep those in your account and give them away at Christmas as unique gifts. Every one that either personally sponsors a pixel or receives one as a gift will be listed on the web site as a member of the "World Record ATTEMPT Team. So, what happens next?

It all depends on what you really want. If you're satisfied just being a member of the World Record ATTEMPT Team, then you really don't have to do anything else because we can always say, "oh well, we tried". But, if you want to be known as a World Record HOLDER, then you're going to need to help us out by letting other people know about this great project. Wouldn't you want your friends and family to be part of this World Record anyway? Besides, we have made it as easy as possible for you to share this project with people you know just by using the tools in your account.

Now that we know we're all working toward the same goal, here's how we will get to the GRAND FINALE. Once about 50% of the pixels have been sponsored, we will begin the actual construction process which basically entails printing out 320,000 individual "pictures" while still keeping them in the correct order. Then we must affix each of those pictures to over 6,650 individual pieces of 4' x 8' plywood. This will be performed in a warehouse one piece of plywood at a time and will result in 50 individual stacks of plywood with each stack containing roughly 133 pieces of plywood. (50 x 133 = 6,650)

As pixel sponsorship approaches 75%, we will determine the actual display location and display date and make appropriate arrangements. Display date will be somewhere between October and May due to the weather here in Florida.

The Final Show: By the time we have reached the designated display date, all the pixels will have been applied to the plywood and will be stored in 50 individual, orderly stacks of plywood. Those stacks of plywood will be transported to the display site in 10 separate transportation containers. Each container is 10 feet wide by 25 feet long and will house 5 stacks of plywood.

At the display site, the plywood stacks will be unloaded in a specific order, and then each of the pieces of the plywood will be laid out in the appropriate position. So who's going to be laying out the pieces of plywood? Well, we have some pretty exciting plans, but formal agreements have not been reached at this point, so we can't give out any specifics details yet.

During the "unveiling" of the completed project, we will have various activities for those spectators who have come to see the event in person. Don't forget, you and 3 of your family members can be at the unveiling in person to witness the actual assembly and measurement of the New World Record if you qualify for either the Platinum or Platinum Plus Reward Levels.

Once the project has been certified as a new world record, aerial photos will be taken before the entire project is disassembled. Arrangements will have been finalized so that the plywood can then be used to construct new homes for fellow Americans.

That's it fellow Team Members. We will have finally reached our ultimate goal and all it took was a bit of planning, commitment and teamwork. To look at this accomplishment from a different perspective, think about this: There are 1,920,000 individual pixels in this project. Because each pixel can have only 1 sponsor, there can be no more than 1,920,000 members on the World Record Attempt Team. Those members represent only 0.6% of the people in the United States and 0.029% of all the people in the world. If you've ever wanted to be in an elite, exclusive "club", it doesn't get much easier than this.