Vending machines have been around for a very long time. I can remember during the summers back in Kitsap County Washington, going to the local high school to swim in their pool. In the pool lobby area there was a soda machine, and once in a while my mom would give us fifty cents so that we could get an orange crush.

While the late 80′s was hardly the dawn of the modern vending machine, the ten year old me could still appreciate the significance. I loved the idea of a machine taking my money, and handing over the can of sweet orange fizzy nectar. Take it even a step further and the machine could even make change! Oh the wonder of it all!

Fast forward to 2009 and Coca-cola has created the freestyle. A fountain machine capable of mixing up to 125 different flavors of soft drink. All self contained. No five gallon bags of syrup, just concentrated cartridges that have more in common with printer ink, mixing different ratio’s on the fly to produce a precise recipe of delicious Coke product.

In the world of photography, this same method is being employed. There was a time when you needed a human holding a camera to produce the best images, sometimes even a full room filled with backdrops, lighting, reflectors, and light absorption. This is no longer the case, much in the way that a soda fountain no longer needs a room full of syrups and carbonated water, or the way a computer now fits in your pocket, the photo studio has become a single automated unit. A tiny company in Dallas Texas called Flicker Stage has perfected the art of the all in one photo studio.

Currently Flicker Stage market’s their open air Photo Booth for special events, but I foresee a time when families that currently use a JC Penneys studio, or a Sears Photo Session will simply book a couple minutes in front of the automated photo booth. The quality is as good or better than the traditional studio, and the best part is that it’s a reproduce-able recipe.

This Christmas season, it should be all about your family, and gifts that pertain to family. People who celebrate Christmas usually run up thousands of dollars’ worth of bills, trying to please their family and friends. The gifts are meaningless, there just expensive. If you want to finally give the gift of thought and love this Christmas, then you should purchase canvas prints for your family and friends this holiday season. By purchasing canvas prints for your family and friends, you’re giving them a gift that says you were actually thinking about them. Canvas has a long shelf life, so the gift will always be fresh. You can put holiday pictures on canvas, even pictures of your children. Or if you want, you can get a professional painter to pain scenic views for your friends and family as well. Canvas printing are affordable and they last forever, buy one for your family this holiday season.