Speaking as someone who has watched the photo industry from black and white prints to color to Polaroids that provided instant gratification to the ever advancing digital cameras we all use today, I continue to be fascinated by the power and value of images.

A few months ago, I sat in a conference session with a company that manufactures very tiny miniature cameras. Their vision was for these little cameras to be located literally everywhere so that consumers no longer had to take their own photos, but could request images taken from a specific location, time, perspective, etc.

As you can imagine, this triggered a lot of discussion about whether or not consumers would ever adopt such as a system, given that it removes the personal expression and creativity of photography. Let’s face it; the images we take contain bits of who we are and what we want to communicate to others. Personally, the thought of tiny cameras recording every aspect of my life sort of creeps me out.

Today I read about the images taken during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign – which was the first ever to take place on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. To help people feel personally connected to the presidential election, you can now produce your own photo book on Obama’s journey to the White House. Consumers can use photos provided by CNN in addition to uploading their own. They can even customize an image of a TV set showing inauguration coverage with their own thoughts on this time in our nation’s history. This definitely takes the popularity of photo books to a new level.

The old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words” still holds true and I find it fascinating to watch as the image industry continues to transform itself and look to the future. Would love to know what you think about the little camera idea...