One of my first projects as an intern was to implement a feature we call Customer Images. The project took a while, partly because it was a new and unfamiliar codebase to myself, partly because the technology didn’t want to play nicely, and partly because some other unforeseeable issues came up. Nonetheless, when the first image came in, I remember everyone in the office being pretty excited. Here it is:

Actually, that image came from Jim in the office, taken on a sub-par camera phone for a mousepad
on Allsop. No shame in bootstrapping the feature, right? That was August of 2006. By now, thousands of customer images have come in, and I’ve graduated from intern status. Fortunately, I will admit that all of the images look better than Jim’s hand in the first customer image. Here’s a recent example from a review on the Nikon D200:

We’d love for you to try out the feature yourself. Perhaps you already own a product from one of the following popular retailers that use Customer Images. If so, share your experience with the product by writing a review and be sure to attach an image while you’re at it!

• Adorama
• Netshops
• Evogear
• Ritz Interactive