This year was my first time attending the Photographers' Marketing Association (PMA) International Convention and Trade Show. My first impression was acronym overload. In addition to PMA, you have DIMA, PIEA, PSPA, SPAA, PPFA and PSRO. If you really want to know what they all stand for, you can visit their website at www.pmai.org. What I picked up at this event is yet another industry experiencing the same shrinkage and economic struggles as many others; but with strong promise for those who can figure out how to monetize the onslaught of digital images being used online. Think search, storage and organization. At least that's what I think is needed to manage the volumes of photos that people are dumping on their computers.

Here are the facts... there are more photos being taken now then ever before. Our photographs are just as precious and valuable to us today as at anytime in the past. Film is dead. Everyone owns a digital camera. More and more people are upgrading their cameras and are now buying customized, "designer" cameras that appeal to the individual. It's all about personalizing everything these days — even your camera. While more and more photos are uploaded to the hugely popular social networking sites such as Facebook, people still print photos. And the popularity of scrapbooking, photo books, and printing pictures on all sorts of objects doesn't appear to be going away.

I sat in on a keynote session by Geoffrey Moore on "Dealing with Darwin: Breaking the Back of the Innovator's Dilemma" where he stated the obvious: the industry has undergone a major technology disruption. The move to digital was just the beginning, but new opportunities are endless for those creative, innovative companies that figure out new business models that must and will emerge. According to Moore, tough economic times call for companies to move their business strategy to one of "Volume" or "Value." Anyone who tries to stay in the middle will die. Volume strategies are best suited for large companies who have figured out Operational Excellence as a core competency. It requires taking costs out of the core business and the ability to bring the next, big, great thing to market fast! Those companies who must play the Value game are usually small, local businesses with an in-depth knowledge of their customer. The key here is focus, focus, focus and not try to broaden out your customer base to be all things to all people. Pick your target and deliver the best darn solution possible for that individual. Other customers on the periphery will come, but you must deliver a complete, whole product to your target customer in a way that is better than anyone else.

As I walked the exhibit area, it was very much what I expected to see — cameras of every shape, size, and color, with all the bells and whistles imaginable, and many, many ways to capture life's precious moments in prints, posters, metal, granite, glass, books, mugs, T-shirts... you name it.