Into the New Year

Welcome to a belated New Year update, it's been a busy start to the year within my day job as well as my Photography side.  The most prominent event this month was the trip up to London to visit the SWPP convention, in particular the trade show event.  This event is held every year by the SWPP and has a huge training program where new and aspiring photographers, as well as seasoned professionals can meet up and attend various lectures and discussions, as well as just socialising with like minded individuals.  It is the first major event of the year, allowing manufacturers to show there latests gadgets, software, toys and display items as well as informing the future markets of what is available to offer to their customers.  Held over several days, it's a great way to just start the year with new or refreshed ideas of what you can offer your clients.  It's also a great social event for those staying in the area for the duration.  The next big event is The Photography Show held up at the NEC the first weekend in March.  I will be working on The Photographer Academy stand if you are up that way.

Indoor Karting

Last Friday saw the showdown at a team event where the theme was indoor Kart Racing.  There were 30+ drivers up for the challenge divided into 8 teams.  The title was up for grabs, team tactics were the order of the day, some of them out for the fun of the event, many out for glory and very competitive with it.   With the warm ups out of the way, it was 2 and a half hours of continuous racing with the eventual winners being team 7.   Below are a couple of slideshows depicting the race as it unfolded, the first being a shorter version for those that want a sneak peak, the second provides more coverage of the event from start to finish building on the first slideshow.

Focus On Imaging 2012

I went up to the NEC a couple of days early to assist the PT4U team to erect their new stand for this years event.  There was quite a lot to do, to get to the final layout/build, not to mention all the preparatory work they had gone before it got to the construction stage, by getting the images designed and printed as well as defining the final layout of the stand.  The stand area they had this year is much larger than previous years, which is just as well judging by the numbers that attended during the 2 days I was there.  To their credit, they had a Sign Linguist for the first day of the show, which proved to be a tremendous success.  Below is a sequence of pictures taken as the stand was built over the 2 days leading up to the show.

 Unpacking the van

 Open the boxes and sort the bits out

 The construction begins

 The main stand area complete

 Outriggers attached

 Lighting goes on during Day 2 as well as sound/video

 Ready for the show

Let the show commence!

Focus On Imaging 2011

Last weekend I attended this event up at the NEC near Birmingham. It is a great event to catch up with all things Photographic and video to some extent, to see what new equipment, software and presentation media is available within the UK market. Loxley Colour have a beautiful new wall display product, the Alumini Print, which is very attractive. I had a look on the Phase One stand at their camera/back range and that's all I will do is look, clearly not in my price bracket at this moment in time, but the IQ180 digital back at 80 Megapixels is outstanding. There is clearly something for most people at the show with free demonstrations on a number of stands including Phototraining4U, The Flash Centre, The Societies, On One software, Lightblue to name but a few. It is also another opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones, a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days and I managed to keep my credit card in the pocket, well almost!

Bristol Balloon Fiesta

I went with the family to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta last Thursday. It was the first time we had attended this event and whilst during the day it was relatively slow going, particularly as the winds had picked up which prevented the balloons launching, the evening was spectacular! During the afternoon, the shaped balloons were inflated and tethered, there were several shapes and sizes, not forgetting the pink gnome but, the motor bike dominated the skies with a height, when inflated, of 37 metres and a width of approx 45 metres, it was huge. The evening culminated with the night glow where 20-30 balloons were synchronised in inflation and then burning/glowing, all done to music! Here are a few shots taken on the day, it was a colourful day, Black and white would no do it justice! We will be going again next year!