Twitter put bread on my table today.

Today was supposed to be a quiet day packing my baggage and my camera bag for my gig at the G8 in Huntsville as one of the host photographer.

I woke up at 6h30 and, as I do everyday, I took my iPhone to read my mail, my Facebook friends updates, and my Twitter feed.

I then read a tweet that got my attention. Something like “it’s fun with Twitter, big spot news are available right away”. Ok, what was going on? I quickly scroll to find out that 30 minutes earlier, a small plane crashed with 7 peoples, likely dead, inside. The crash site was just a kilometre north of the Quebec City airport, 30 minutes from my home.

Jumped out of bed, took my gears and my laptop, updated my Facebook statue and my Twitter feed (very quickly as you can see), and headed to the airport. It did not took long before a newspaper messaged me to get photos.

After difficulty made my way through the first line of police blocking the road to the scene, I arrived on site, and saw CP staffer Jacques Boissinot, who arrived 3 minutes before me. “I’m supposed to leave for the G20. I can’t stay. Can you freelance for us?”, he asked me.

So I messaged the newspaper back to tell them my photos would be on the Canadian Press feed and they would have them there.

My quiet day, thanks to Twitter, turned into a 6 hours gig for the Canadian Press.