An unexpected picture event

  Annualized retail and online digital printing growth slowed significantly for the year ending November 2008 – according to the PMA Monthly Printing Survey – meaning consumers printed fewer images in October and in November of 2008 than the year before. A sign that even the relatively recession-proof – due to a small portion of income being spent on photo prints – digital photo printing industry has been affected by the negative economic climate. Typically there are few major picture taking occasions between the turn of the year and graduation time to look forward to, such as St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. But this year a historic turn-out at the Presidential inauguration unexpectedly produced millions of photos and could help the industry get back some of the lost opportunity. People who attended the inauguration – as well as those attending thousands of local celebrations – will most likely be interested in commemorating the historic event by printing and framing their photos. Commemorative framed collages could be just what they might be interested in. At least one website is already capitalizing on this year’s inauguration. Inspired by Shepard Fairey’s iconic poster – that became synonymous with the Obama campaign – Paste magazine partnered with Zazzle to let consumers create T-Shirts, mugs and other posters with their personal “Pop Art” pictures.
  And remember, those presidential portraits, taken by federal employeed photographers are your property, too, so anyone can use them to create commemorative products. For more information on free government photos, visit http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml .