Before I went and got cancer, I used to visit a photographic show at the NEC called Focus on Imaging. It's a show open to the public that features all sorts of different aspects of photography.
Photographic bodies like the Royal Photographic Society, SWPP have stands as well as companies selling equipment, storage media, display media, and the camnera gear itself. Seemingly it's quite important for folks like Nikon and canon, who usually have huge stands, and Nikon usually have lectures from their tech guys, professional photographers, and sometimes folks from the photography magazines.
Until 2009, I had done the show 3 times, the last 2 in consecutive years, during which I noticed just how dominant Digital photography was becoming. Fujifilm were almost non existent and even the mass producers of photopaper were becoming scarce, replaced by a few boutique specialist producers, and purveyors of both online and 'real' album manufacturers.
I was really pissed off that I couldn't get out of hospital until after the 2009 show. Not that if I had gone, I'd have been up to much, what with my short-range walking abilities, and need for plenty of sleep after walking oohhh 200 yards in a few minutes! I'd checked online when the show was on, and tried to work out when I'd stop getting the chemo, and then allow a few days to be neutropenic, and then they'd let me out.. and... and....
For those that don't know (ie probably everyone bar me, nowadays) neutropenic is the after effect of some chemo drugs that wipe out your white blood cell levels. Having B-Cell Lymphoma, and with it being in the bone marrow (and elsewhere) it was pretty important to kill off infected cells, and if that involved collateral damage, like healthy cells, tough titty. It can last for a few days post-chemo. Being in hospital having daily blood checks let the docs know how I was doing. God it seemed ages waiting for my white cell level to register.
Anyway, I missed it in 2009, and from the shots on Flickr.com, I missed a great time.
Some of the stands have promo-girls, and in 2010, there was even a promo-boy, who should have taken bravery pills by the bucket! LOL! xSome are there to hand out leaflets, others to be the muse of the photographer on the stand for the week.
During my visits in 07 and 08, I discovered a producer of flash and lighting systems called Bowens. They had a big stand, with a few sales bods hanging around, and one side had a lighting rig, and a big sign giving timings of demonstrations.
Jon Gray was the photographer and Jade Cartwright was the model. Jade had been in Page3 and done various other lads mags. His set-up was simple. Have a camera set up pointing at Jade, and talk through various poses, lighting rigs, how different gels have different effects, different cones on the flash concentrated the light in different ways, varying the flash on the back etc.. All the while he would take photos of Jade, and they'd be shown on big monitors, so Joe Public could see. Then we could give it a go ourselves.. using our camera, and his set-ups.
Oh that was fun. I've posted a few on my flickr feed here.
example...
That pose became known as the 'Pulp Fiction' look.
Anyway, this year I went back to the show, unsure if Jon or Jade were going to be there. I knew pro-photographer Andy Rouse was going, and talking on the Nikon stand. Until 3 years ago, there wasn't a hope in Hell that Andy would say anything remotely complimentary about Nikon. Nikon was the work of Beelzebub. Then he got given one of their new cameras, and.....as he demonstrated with shots of Rwandan gorillas taken at ISO levels a mere 400D Canon can only dream about, and a clarity I could then only dream about.. he converted. Andy was doing a talk, and publishing a new book of Tiger shots, to help his Tiger charity.
I entered the show and found the Nikon stand. Not hard as its black and yellow Kubrickian Monolith dominates the hall it's in. I then walked round the place to find the Bowens stand. No Jon, No Jade, and a very different, more ad hoc set-up. No microphones, no real area to demonstrate.. No attendance from me!
I walked around the place again, and watched a few other demos, better set-up than Bowens, and got some gear ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment