So, how were the holidays?

Hope everyone got what they wanted?  Any good holiday pictures?

We went out for a drive to see the holiday lights.  We live on the state border, so we went to the next state and drove past one of those places where the entire house must look like Christmas land inside, or else they rent multiple storage facilities to store their display.  It was awesome, and yes, I took pictures.  But, I have been tired and lazy and haven't uploaded to my computer yet.  The folks were truly in the holiday spirit - they even piped in music and had a radio station coordinate the music.  Well worth the 20 minute drive.  :-)

On to photo news.  I'm sure everyone has heard about Kodak's and Olympus' woes.  There are even some reports that Kodak will not survive the year.  I agree that might be the case, but during a bankruptcy sale, I'm sure certain products, such as paper and printing, and, to some extent, even film (yes, some photographers shoot with film still), will survive even if owned by other companies - and the Kodak name will probably be part of the sale of the products.  Given their behavior at the PDN show in October, I can see why Kodak is failing - the employees there were certainly not interested in showing off or promoting their product - they were surly at best.

Now, Olympus, that I will really miss if it goes under.  I haven't paid too much attention, but there seems to be some sort of scandal brewing and accounting problems.  Olympus put out great products, and, if I weren't such a Sony/Minolta fan, Olympus would be my next brand of choice.  Would love to try the Olympus PEN camera - there's an ad that shows Olympus was giving them away on city streets to people to try - why, or why was I not lucky enough to snag one?  :-)  Unfortunately, although there were signs up at PDN 2011 showing Olympus as a sponsor, we didn't see a booth there - perhaps because of the company turmoil.  Hopefully, Olympus can recover.

I even hope Kodak can recover, but it needs better management that will look to the future and not to the past.  Innovation, Kodak.  Seriously!