6 month earning reports and other not so dour news

Photography News that's Fit to Blog (This Week)
by Kerry Raminiak

Howdy from Texas, y’all. Here’s your Monday photography industry news roundup.

News about the economy.

If you have been paying attention, June news has been wedding heavy. But June is also the time of year when all of the six month earning reports are published and buzz about the economy gets a lot of traction. PMA Newsline International has been posting relevant earning reports with heavy news that even the biggest players in the industry are getting beaten up but remain positive about the rest of the year. In summary, the big guys, like Best Buy, Adobe and Kitamura (the largest photo specialty retailer in Japan) are seeing a rather significant decrease in net profits for the first half of this year; while the “hip start ups” like Animoto and Picaboo just got some new private funding.

The Photoprenuer Blog has published and researched a very nice article about how the Real Estate Photographer is actually get a bit of a bump during this economy. Contained within are tips on how to get into the market and some words on giving away “free samples” to hard hit realtors to prove your worth.

News about the photography industry.

InfoTrends (via the PMT group) just published a new report with the assurance that the photo merchandise market “currently offers the highest growth potential of any segment within the consumer digital imaging market.” Other highlights are that “young adults” and “moms” are the most lucrative segments of the market explaining that while 21% of the total population surveyed reported purchasing photo merchandise within the past year, 40% of females with children younger than 12 and 30% people aged 18 to 24 said they bought photo products. If you want to read more, find their press release here.

DARKROOM Professional and Core Editions are on sale until June 30, 2009. For the first time ever, the Windows-based workflow software has been significantly reduced from the manufacturer in order to help burgeoning photogs (although all are welcome) be more efficient and profitable during these tough times. All you have to do is buy from one of the dealers listed here and the instant rebate is automatically added to your shopping cart. One-in-three professional photographers use DARKROOM, if you’re not we think you should see what you’re missing. Free trial downloads are online here.

And now some photography.

Light Stalking has published some authentic (and rather obvious un-authentic) infrared images that stir the soul. At the very bottom (before you get to the comments) they link to these two online tutorials on how to do it yourself:

* Getting Started with Infrared Photography by F. Silverglimth
* Infrared Photography by Mike

And then there are these photos of photographers making fools out of themselves in a variety of ways. If you can’t laugh at yourself you’re missing out on a good time, I always say.

Finally, there is a free “Getting Started with PhotoReflect” webinar set for this Wednesday, June 24 at 3:00pm Central. The webinars have been very popular with individuals looking for free ways to get showing and selling online. Here is the link for more information and sign up.