My Video of the show ....Photography and Video Show 2026 an the NEC, Birmingham UK
Every year I plan to go to some exhibition or photography
show. My given reason is for inspiration, but to be honest I just enjoy getting
out on my own with no obvious agenda.
This year it was to be the Lee Millar exhibition at the Tate
modern, however I totally misread the dates and found that I had run out of
time. Scanning the media for alternatives proved to be fruitless as there was little,
I wanted to see. Instead, I looked at the Photography Show at the NEC in
Birmingham.
To be fair I am not a huge fan of this. It is publicised as
a show for photographers and creatives, but to be honest it is just a glorified
trade fair, with little attempt to highlight the more artistic aspect of
photography.
It is also at the Birmingham NEC which is a bunch of grey
boxes dumped within a soulless industrial estate. It's only plus point is that
it is only 40 minutes’ drive. It used to be its permanrnt home, but now alternates with London. I didn’t bother last year, feeling that travelling a couple
of hours to visit a London industrial estate, was not worth it. However it was now at my souless industrial estate, so I thought why not.
To Photo or not to photo
My first question is always, should I take my camera? This seems like
a strange question about going to a photography show, but it sort of feels showing off. On the other hand, it would be a
good chance to improve my documentary skill, and one plus point is that people
at photography shows rarely have any issues with being photographed.
My next question was should I buy anything. These shows are
a bit like airport departure lounges. You say you resist the duty free, but eventually boredom wears you
down to the point you end up purchasing ny pile of tat just to do
something.
This time however I told myself to be strong and resist. But only time would tell if I would succeed
Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Its always interesting on who exhibits at these shows and
what it says about the state of the photographic industry.
The big 3 players are always represented, Sony, Nikon and
Canon. To be at these shows is hardly produce a blip on their cost sheet. Fuji also were well represented with a large part of
their stand based around there Instax range so showing what their major cash cow was. It
was also nice to see both Ricoh and Olympus represented.
The fact Leica was not there was not a big surprise. They
are after all a luxury brand and really don't need to try that hard. However, it would have been nice to try a few models, just to pretend for a smidgen I would ever afford one. On the
other hand, Hasselblad was there, for those £6K spontaneous purchase
However for some reason Panasonic decided not to bother for some reason.
In terms of lens manufacture, Sigma had a big stand, and
Tamron was represented, but Tokina could not be bothered. However, both Laowa
and Samyang had stands, and Laowa concentrating on their macro lens. Unfortuanly its seems a lot of 3rd party are now not supporting Fuji, with a lot of their newer lens only for Full Frame.
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| Not a lens manufacturer I have heaed off. Full frame only unfortunately |
Other than cameras it is interesting to see the other trends.
Adobe had a big stand, so spending a small part of their
subscription largesse, but the company previously known as Affinity were not
there, I guess now they have moved to the freemium model, they could not afford
it.
There were however a number of companies selling AI workflow tools, presumably for the professional who cannot be bothered to judge their own photos.
Also there was a big analogue presence with a number of stalls sell
physical films which could be seen as a reaction to the AI world.
The other things which seemed, missing were the smaller
component manufacturers like SRB. . However, a
company called Platypod was there selling a flat portable tripod mount that definitely
looked interesting. Over the years I have moved away from tripods, but
sometimes you just was a steady platform, and this looked like the kind of
thing you could pop into your camera bag until you needed it. Nicely the stall
was manned (personed?) by the device inventor and his wife)
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| Platypod with the personal touch |
A couple of other stands that caught my eye were Adaptalux.
They make macro spotlight systems and I remember when they were nothing but a Kickstarter,
so it was nice to see that sometimes it works out. I have been tempted by the
product a number of times, but so far resisted. They are great products but
just a little pricey for the number of times I would use it.
Weirder were some of the other stalls. There were a number
of charity stalls. The disabled photographer stall is always welcome and well
represented, but there was Greenpeace and Macmillan’s, plus a plethora of company’s
overing tours, plus the Civil Aviation Authority for drones and the
Intellectual Property Office putting taxpayers’ pounds to work.
Digital photography magazine gave away free copies and had a
big stand, while to be honest Amateur Photography just phoned it in, which is a
pity, because if they had offered a subscription i would of been tempted.
However other magazines such as Outdoor photography could not be bothered.
I am always tempted by books. I acknowledge I have too many
already, but I am always looking to fill those niches of knowledge and get
inspiration. I was tempted by books both on flowers and dog photography
(Together? - Ed), but in the end I contented myself with one on product
photography, an area I find difficult and the book by ??? seemed very complete.
I also got a copy of "The meaning of making" by Sean Tucker for no
other reason I am always fascinated by other photographers’ motivations for
photography and how it aligns with my experience
The other thing you do get at the show is a lot of good
talks. Unfortunately, I could only spend half a day at the show but were
limited, but did catch a talk by Roxy Hemadani, Sophie Darlington, and Lara Jackson on women in photography. Despite not
being the target audience, I found it both illuminating and entertaining.
In previous years stands have encouraged footfall by have
dubious methods such as scantilly clad women. Fortunately they have moved away from this, so we had instead things like Karate demonstrations and various other moving subjects
There was also the Funzone (Fun??? Ed) where you could
stretch your photographic muscle with various scenes. To be honest I felt it
was a bit dull really.
Finally, there is the photo exhibitions, which to be
honest is what I attended for. This year they were more central which I felt
worked better, but it would of been nice if they were bigger and more central
However overall, the show was a lot smaller than in previous
years. This was good since you could get round more easily, but was probably
less value for money.
The final chapter is what really stings.
The NEC card parking
charge. £18 for 2 hours in an post-apocalyptic based car park. So we know the real winners here...
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| The NEC pushing the welcome boat out... |
The final question
So, the big question... did I buy anything?
The answer is unfortunately is yes. Apart from the afore
mentioned books, I let myself be tempeted by 4mm Laowa fisheye, for no real good reason
other than it seemed good value. However I am not sure if I will ever use it
I also bought Platypod, because to nbe honest I liked the people and I wanted someting I could just stick it in my camera bag, just in case.. time will tell when this will come in useful
