Simon Gardiner - From The Sky Down

One word. WOW.

Taking GIFs beyond the realm of a cat falling off a sofa. Click the link for more cinemagraphs.

Photo by Sean Heavey from National Geographic's Photography Contest 2010.

Be Good Be Social took place in Edinburgh last night (that’s the charity sector social media event I blogged about last week), attracting delegates from the likes of Oxfam Scotland, Childline, Young Scot, Quarriers, Yorkhill Children’s Foundation and MND Scotland.

One of the joys of social media is the instant feedback – at events like this you’re positively encouraged to post Twitter updates throughout (it’s a delicious feeling, like you’re getting away with passing notes in class) and it adds to the experience to see what people are saying. We used the hashtag #begoodbesocial on Twitter – a useful thing to seek out if you want to learn a bit more about the benefits and challenges charities are discovering in social media. As well as taking ‘proper’ photos, I tweeted a few from my phone to complement the commentary.

I was too busy to pay attention to all of the advice on offer but there was a great atmosphere and a lovely bunch of people – a big enough crowd to feel like a worthwhile meet, small enough for friendly collaboration. Massive congratulations to Ross McCulloch, who instigated, organised and put his own money into the event, and a round of applause to his team of volunteers. I’m not sure anyone’s going to let him catch his breath before he organises the next one

You can see my photos on Flickr and on Facebook.

Linevo village in the Volgograd Region of Russia was ravaged by fire recently. The image above isn't a photoshop trick, it's the remnants of a burnt telegraph pole.