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We have just spotted a couple of articles announcing there are to be 2 new photographic equipment exhibitions being launched next year.
Both will be in March, the first will be at the ‘home’ of Focus (NEC Birmingham) and is being organised by Future Publishing, the second exhibition is being organised by Life Media Group and will be held in London at the ExCeL centre.
Update.
It has just been announced by Mary Walker Exhibitions, that Focus on Imaging 2013 was the last Focus on Imaging to take place. No reason for the finish has been given.
Rising costs, falling visitor numbers, reduced revenue? We can only speculate.
The show has taken place annually for the last 24 years. In the early years the exhibition alternated in location between London and Bath, only later settling upon Birmingham as its ‘home’.
We understand from their statement that the exhibition has not been sold to another company.
There are a number of much smaller trade/pro shows of this type held in the UK, but whether another exhibition organiser will try to launch an exhibition of this size, we will have to wait and see.
We will definitely miss it.
Well, we got there, a little late, due to an incident on the M25.
G provided invaluable navigation support when the Sat nav got confused by the diversion.
Our annual trip to the Midlands gives a chance to meet up with some of our long time acquaintances, check out what is the next new big thing and generally stock up on those not to be missed bargains.
Almost as soon as we were through the door we bumped into Kelvin from Protech Repairs, the only man we trust with our repairs.
Kelvin does a very good line in Infra red conversions, check out the website: http://protechrepairs.co.uk/ for full details.
The crowds were starting to thin a little, so we were able to take our time looking around, M was tempted to splash the cash, but decided some of the bargains were not worth the expense of a divorce so showed great restraint, he did however purchase a book on landscape photography and get it signed by both Joe Cornish and David Ward.
We also took the opportunity to pop by and say hello to the folk on the Paramo stand.
They supply great outdoor clothing and worth every penny.
M will be doing a review on their clothing later this year, in the meantime this is their website:http://www.paramo.co.uk/en-gb/index.php
A number of the lighting suppliers had live demos throughout the day, we managed to catch snatches of several as we made our way around the exhibition.
There was a distinct lack of new products being shown, although this is more than likely due to the tsunami of a couple of years back causing major setbacks to almost all the Japanese manufacturers.
We took a quick breather and had a cup of tea, I don’t know which hurt most, paying for it or the temperature it was served at (somehow it remained at almost boiling point).
Fully refreshed, we made our way to the Sigma stand, whenever we go to Focus we make a point of going to Sigma to say hello to Andrew a rep of the company that we have known for many years, and is a thoroughly decent chap.
One reason for going to Focus this year was to look into the possible purchase of some new ball and socket tripod heads, there were several possibilities, but none met all our criteria, so we left empty handed in that department.
I did, however take the chance to stock up on my favorite printing paper (Harman gloss baryta) a truly lovely paper.
In summary it made for an interesting and enjoyable day out, we saw some interesting equipment, despite the tea and the cost of car parking being £10 this year.
If you are thinking of going bear in mind that this is primarily an exhibition for professionals and advanced amateurs, it is not like going into a high street store.
Are we going to Focus on Imaging 2014?
You bet we are!