Company's photo sets Guinness record

Who says the Gulf Coast construction industry is dead?

Transitions Optical, a Pinellas Park-based adaptive eyeglass lenses company, clearly doesn't see it that way. Indeed, the company recently built the largest photo mosaic in the world — as judged by Guinness World Records.

The record-setting photo mosaic, consisting of 176,750 individual photographs that make one recognizable image, was assembled Oct. 11 at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. The project, according to the company, commemorates World Sight Day.

The idea behind the mosaic began when Transitions asked customers to submit photos of their favorite sites, the ones they would miss the most if they had vision problems. “We are proud to have set the new Guinness World Records title for the 'World's Largest Photo Mosaic,'” Transitions Marketing Manager Dan McLean says in a release. “Throughout our Sightseeing City Tour, we've raised awareness among tens of thousands about the importance of healthy, enhanced vision and the role it plays in 'sightseeing.'”

Some other facts about the record mosaic include:
• It spread 21,645 square feet;
• It used 15 miles of tape;
• It had 350 rows by 505 columns of pictures;
• It took 34 hours to lay photos;
• A team of about 50 people worked on the project.