One of our favorite websites, Marginal Revolution comments about how there is a market for just about everything. It turns out there is a cottage industry that pretty much proves this point. This industry deals with the problem faced by prisoners and their families when it comes to vacation photos and the fact that the armed robbers, rapists, & murderers can’t be in them. Another prison-problem is when photos are taken in the penitentiary visiting rooms, family members have the embarrassment of having to answer where the photo was taken. I’m sure we all have experienced these situations and have wondered why there wasn’t something that could be done about it.

It tuns out there is. Companies like Friends Beyond the Wall and Point of View Photography have developed the ability to take a photo of your locked-up loved one (alone or with you) and then use Photoshop to put them in a family vacation photo or some other attractive background.

Here is a before & after from Friends Beyond the Wall:

and

There really is a market for everything. It also goes without saying that the concept has enormous international potential.

h/t: Wall St. Journal

UPDATE: Welcome Marginal Revolution readers. You might enjoy our category: “I Knew I’d Use My Econ Major.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 7th, 2006 at 10:32 pm by Insider and is filed under Not the conventional wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.