Roger Hicks gets it

Small is the new big. Read Rogers post here (halfway down) and read the rest of the page for some extremely interesting photographic news and perspective.

shutterbug: Future Report: "Small Is Beautiful In The Hands Of Enthusiasts
The easiest way to envision the future for photography is to look at the American automobile market. Fifty years ago it was considered downright eccentric, possibly even a little suspect, to drive anything other than a big, heavy, domestic sedan. Oh, sure, there were people who drove imports, or sports cars, or Jeeps, but not, you know, our kind of people.

Fast forward to today. Imports? Look around you. And look at the proliferation of different kinds of vehicles: sports cars, luxury cars, super-economy cars, SUVs, serious off-roaders, crew-cab pick-ups, people carriers…

The photographic market is fragmenting the same way. Almost all the small players at photokina were singing from the same hymn sheet. Our best year ever; 75 percent growth last year; very happy with our market share; maybe the industry is in decline but we are growing; can’t keep the stock on the shelves; the show has gone better than we could have imagined; the litany went on and on.

This is the future. Small is beautiful. The big guys must adapt—think Dodge Viper—or go under. Of course the mass-market boosters try to talk down the small guys, but ’twas ever thus. Ignore them. The future of photography is today more in the hands of enthusiasts than it has been for a century or more. And in case you aren’t sure who the enthusiasts are, that’s you and me. Vote with your pocketbook: we’ll get what we want.
—Roger W. Hicks"