This reporter will be in the air long before the doors open for Tuesday, the final, abbreviated day that's left for the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) 2010 show in Anaheim, CA.

Although the attendance numbers aren't in for this edition of the annual event, I feel safe in predicting that neither is the old attendance record in danger of falling, nor will this show be regarded as the morgue that some had feared it might have been.

By all accounts, Canadian attendance isn't helping. The consensus view is that representation from above the 49th parallel is disproportionately low. "Attendance is down a lot," deadpans Fujifilm Canada's Greg Poole in direct response to my query.

There's also a consensus as to why. "The major buyers from the western regional players and some national chains are being wined and dined in Vancouver (for the Olympics) as we speak," continues Poole, connecting the dots. The folks Poole mentions are perennial PMA attendees.

A few hours later, Pentax's Glen Sealy, ensconced in a nearby off-site hospitality suite, echoes these sentiments. "But we were full up with appointments here," he adds, "and the attendance from all points east of Manitoba was actually quite strong."

People attend a tradeshow for many reasons: seeing new products, observing or confirming trends, and networking are high among them. The tagline for this year's show (Connect. Energize. Succeed.) sums up the objectives concisely enough.

A lonely, poorly attended event would be dispiriting, far from energizing. By that metric, there's no question that PMA 2010 was a success.

The buoyant spirits of exhibitors certainly helped. As it turns out, my first stop was Colorado Timberline, a Denver-based firm that takes a consumer's image and prints it onto a polyester towel, or large blanket.

They use a retailer's portal and don't sell directly to the public. You've probably seen them before at PMA, although some samples here seemed particularly riveting.

Before I can get on my horse and clear out of Dodge, a smeary mess of a rendering on a huge blanket stops me dead. Oh no! It's a 3D towel! And what's worse, my exit is blocked by the firm's President, Dan Greene. He tosses a pair of red-blue cardboard glasses this way and entreats me to sample the image. Admittedly, the scene (with firemen holding a hose in a field) is surprisingly effective, this coming from a habitual 3D naysayer.

"But Dan, who'd want to stick on a pair of glasses just to see a 3D blanket?" Greene is undaunted, and clearly juiced about the future of the 3D blanket business. "It may be early days," he allows, "but when the 3D TV craze takes off, everyone will want to hang one of these up on the wall."

When all I can see is the black-velvet Elvis painting of the new millennium, here's entrepreneur Greene, seeing barrels of ‘green' piling up from countless hoards willing to pay for a 3D towel. But I'm coming around, and quickly. His enthusiasm is contagious, and with every minute spent at this booth, I feel an urgent and mounting desire for towels in all shapes sizes, emblazoned with all my precious images (some in 3D, and some not).

I eventually leave without a towel, but with plenty of energy.

In further 3D news, Fujifilm's Poole says the printer capable of producing 3D output (with a lenticular overlay) from the firm's 3D camera will be available to Canadian photo finishers during Q3. At present, Fujifilm 3D camera users have to wait weeks for output to come from Japan.

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