Who Sells Solutions? Action Photo Systems actionphotosystems.com
Capturelife capturelife.com
Fotaflo fotaflo.com
PicThrive picthrive.com
REVL revl.com
Guests at Legacy Mountain Ziplines, Tenn., can search and purchase photos from wall mounted PicThrive kiosks. ^
Singenuity singenuity.com
Viewpoint Videos Ltd viewpointvideos.com
An Action Photo Systems touchscreen sales kiosk at Snow King, Wyo.
really want to take a picture and show it off, so then they post it on Facebook or Instagram.” Azarm likes to replace the banner annually to ensure it looks good in every photo, a small price to pay for the otherwise free promotion he gets out of his guests. EVOLUTIONS IN WEB-BASED MEDIA Like most industries, the needs of and technology available to aerial adventure operators are constantly changing. From the prints provided by profession- al photographers to the nearly immedi- ate transfer of digital images on social media platforms, photo technology has evolved significantly over the past decade-plus. Video technology. More recently, with social media algorithms changing to favor those who post more interactive media, videos have become an offering worth considering. “It’s a more engaging media,” says Casey Dixon, vice president of sales for REVL, which offers automated video systems. “With photos, you look at it once and then move on, whereas with a video, you can capture some funny moments that might turn viral. Every
social media [platform] like TikTok, Snapchat, and even Instagram is now geared towards video.” Dixon sees video as an additional reve- nue stream rather than a free market- ing tool, but with the popularity of video content on social media, the benefits are twofold. The initial investment for a REVL video system can range from $2,000 to $12,000, according to Dixon, and covers a server that does the editing, docking stations that pull footage off cameras, and self-service kiosks for purchase, if necessary. Artificial intelligence. In the past, operators utilized GoPros that guests would use to film point-of-view (POV) videos they could later purchase on an SD card. But often, the guests would get home to find out they never turned the camera on, turned it on at the wrong time, or best-case scenario, have a bunch of raw video content they were unsure what to do with. Now, with the help of artificial intelli - gence (AI), REVL offers a solution that provides visitors with a finished, edited product that blends the guest’s POV video footage with stock footage.
AI, which has improved significantly even in the last year, is being used for photo editing, too. Companies like Fotaflo utilize AI to edit images, creat - ing consistent photographs that get delivered to guests almost immediately without any manual work. Pfefferkorn, whose company is current - ly using RFID, or a barcode scanner, to deliver photos sees a future industry in which AI can do even more. “We’re using AI for image enhancement, and it’s gotten way better just in the last year,” he says. “I expect there to be continued advancements in the facial recognition. Maybe the software can au- tomatically determine who the person is and how to get the images to them.” Of course, “We’re still trying to figure out whether or not people really want that,” Pfefferkorn adds. “Is it creepy?” Creepy or not, it’s inevitable that tech- nology—AI and other—will continue to evolve, and operators will have to figure out how to adapt and get the most out of the photo and video content available to their parks, both for their customers’ expectations and their own bottom line.
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