Pixiq

Last Thursday superstar quarterback Tom Brady was in an early morning car accident. It was quite an eventful week for Brady, considering the New England Patriots announced a significant contract extension for their QB later that day, and he led the team to a 38-24 triumph over the Bengals in the teams season-opener yesterday.

But, one interesting aspect of Brady’s week is how well documented, photographically speaking, his accident was on the normally serene Back Bay streets at about 6:30 a.m. (Full story on The Boston Globe.)

Before local newspaper staffers, AP photographers, or Reuters could get to where the accident occurred (in which a passenger in the other car was injured), resident passerbys with cameras had snapped images of Brady at the scene, as well as photos of the cars that were involved.

With the current abundance of digital cameras, on our cell phones or otherwise, how much bigger is this story today, in terms of being a media event, than it would have been even a mere ten years ago? Other forms of digital communications technology certainly contribute to the ever present 24/7 news cycle, but how big do you think the influence is on popular culture now that so many of us are carrying digital cameras in our pockets, purses, and belt cases? Aside from news stories, in what other ways has digital photography brought cultural changes in the past decade?