Flickr

Okay, what does this say about the photo industry? I just took a quick tour through Flickr and found FAR MORE interesting work than I find on most of the "industry" stops. Wow. Really, blown away. There are some unknown pioneers, blazing their way through the world, and unless you go hunting you will never know they exist.
These folks won't show up on any top ten list, contest results or glossy pages. They just go create, and by the looks it, they are creating more than most of the "pros" I know. But, as you know, "pros" have many demands the casual creator won't have to deal with. Not knocking the "pros" by any means. In some ways it is far better and more fun to shoot for yourself than for others. I've done both and can see an upside to both.
The Flickr crowd doesn't seem to be hung up on retouching, on perfection, on making everything look bigger, better, smoother, faster and more over-the-top. They just experiment. Remember doing that?
And, with the revolution happening in the printing/publishing industry, this could mean big changes in the world. I don't about you but I'm smiling.