I managed to thread myself through the Monday morning traffic yesterday to get to the NEC in Birmingham for the annual Focus-On-Imaging show for all things photographic. The M6 was at standstill again with warning of long delays. Luckily for me, the queue to get on the M6 was so long that I managed to divert and go through Coventry, avoiding much of the pain.
Focus 2010 was for me a rather underwhelming affair. The stands of ‘trainer extrodinaire’ Damien Lovegrove, my printing and presentational product supplier Loxley Colour and framing specialists Ultimat stood out amongst the weathered crowd. 2009 saw off some well known names in the photographic industry, not least Spicer Hallfield who had a massive stand last year.
But there was plenty of spending being done yesterday, with a noticeable amount of people walking around with new A3 printers. I think the price point for these have reached a level where they are becoming much more appealing.
I myself splashed out on a light shaping honeycombe grid for my urban portrait work and I also have a new Bowens beauty dish to try out in the next few days for portrait work.
I will be incorporating some of Loxleys exciting new products for 2010 into my own product range for this year. Loxley have some fantastic offerings – their canvas prints really are top quality and will look fantastic on living room walls throughout the country.
Paul
As an ex Spicer Hallfield employee I had expected a greater number of new players would be trying their best to fill the gap left by the demise of SH.
The one supplier who has made real progress over the past 12 months is I agree Loxley Colour.
I also believe that Ultimat Frames and their JV partner Nubu England albums made an excellent show of high quality / innovative products.
After Spicer Hallfield went down I with my partner bought their e-comm site and have changed it from a one supplier site to a multiple supplier site offering a range of products for the pro photographer offering an on-line one stop shop. We have also resurrected the Spicer Hallfield Digital Art Books and just this week re-launched the Spicer Hallfield high quality Carnival Mounts.
http://www.photogether.co.uk will over the next weeks add many new products and suppliers including Ultimat and Nubu albums to the site.
If when you get the time to look at our site I would welcome any feedback.
regards
Brian Murray
Lets hope 2010 is the year when new suppliers come to the market with innovative and exciting products to help the Professional Photographers stimulate the market