FOCUS ON IMAGING 2013 NEC BIRMINGHAM 3 - 6 MARCH 2013

Focus On Imaging is now over for another year… : – (     It’s been a really great Show and everyone in the team would like to thank all our visitors for coming and all our exhibitors for bringing their fantastic products and services – we couldn’t do it without you. We all look forward to seeing you again next year. Take some amazing pictures in the meantime!

You may or may not have noticed something rather strange floating over the seating in the Nikon lecture theatre space on their stand at D40.

Visitors to last year’s Focus on Imaging will be pleased to see that this year there are at least 50 D800s on the stand this time around, only problem is that they are rather hard to get your hands on, as they are hanging from a large semicircular scaffolding rig 4 metres above overtones heads. This seems like a rather excessive set-up, but if you have see The Matrix you might be able to guess at what is going on.

At 2pm all will be revealed, and demonstrated live in front of everyone’s amazed eyes will be “TIMESLICE – a moment in time” a presentation of the incredible 3-D “Matrix” effect. Make your way to D40 for 2PM and prepare to be amazed.

It is not often that we have the inventors and designers of the products on hand for the demonstration of their products. Jonathan Ive has yet to grace Focus and Victor Hasselblad and Carl Zeiss are sadly no longer available to come and talk to us about their fabulous creations. But fear not! On stand B12, today and tomorrow at 12:30, you can see a demonstration by photographer and inventor James Madelin of his ingenious product, the ORBIS Ring Flash. The Orbis is a device that looks like a ring flash, but in fact  just slots on top of your speedlite, instantly converting it into a very serviceable ring flash without the need to spend hundreds and thousands of pounds. Inventor James will be giving a quick and easy introduction to lighting using just speedlites and his beautiful assistant Sophia Blakey.

James will be on hand all day on the stand to talk to anyone about the Orbis and his other photographic innovations from his company Enlight Photo, as well as the scheduled demo at 12:30. Sophia should be there as well. Get down to B12, and be inspired. @enlightphotopro

Whilst we were at the Hasselblad stand [N9], we caught one of their photographer talks. On Sunday animal photographer extraordinaire Tim Flach was the headliner, and today the star turn was Mr Perou, a photographer often more famous than his subjects, thanks to TV appearances on shows such as “Make me a Supermodel” in the US of A. Perou, as ever immaculately dressed, today in a pin-stripe and batcrazy sunglasses, span a large and appreciative crowd through a good amount of recent work as well as some old classics. His stories ranged from being asked what his motivation was by Terence Stamp (who asked that Perou turn off the music), how Lily Allen was his assistant before she was a famous pop star, hanging out with strippers on each arm with Snoop Dog.

His ideas for shoots are often as interesting as the people he shoots, and can be based on mischief, dreams, chancing, or just repeating himself until someone notices. To the possible dismay of Hasselblad he told us that the camera didn’t matter, and that the technical side didn’t matter. What can’t have hurt Perou’s career are his laid back friendly approach, and how quick he is to smile. From Bill CLinton to U2 thru clowns and santas and Justin Bieber, Perou has shot them all and will, he claims, shoot anyone. Great photos and a great talk and nice to have a little stardust at the show. Make sure to go see the Focus on Imaging gallery [D9] where you can see some of his work on show, large.

At he Q&A afterwards, we asked him how many pairs of sunglasses he owns. He admitted that he used to own a lot more, but that it was currently floating somewhere around the fifty mark.

Schedule of further talks at Hasselblad can be found here

Over on the JP Distribution stand at B12, you will find American photographer James Schmelzer demonstrating and teaching lighting advice during the show. James, a portrait and wedding photographer from Detroit, has been coming over to Focus on Imaging for a few years now and his demos are always highly animated and interactive. He asks a lot of questions and gets the crowd involved, selflessly sharing his expertise and destroying a few long-held myths about lighting (EG a diffuser spreads the light but does NOT soften the light – news to many photographers. James is over demonstrating lighting from Westcott, talking about the benefits of using continuous lighting which is taking over from studio strobe… There is a different model on the stand each day; today is Anne-Marie in Bollywood mode, Tuesday there will be a professional dancer throwing some ballet moves. James’ demos are educational and fun, and when all is explained and beautifully lit, visitors are allowed to burn some memory card space on the models.

Demos are 45 minutes long.

Get along to stand B12 at 10:30, 13:30 & 15:30

Wacom – 11:15 – Ian Sayers – seven essentials to mastering Photoshop

Nikon – 11:45 – John Wright – videography expert

OnOne – all day – Perfect Photo Suite 7

Calumet – 11:15 – Richard Curtis – Edit Like A Pro

Bowens – 11:30 – One Light Wonders – Nick Webster

Canon - 11:00 – Marc Aspland – The art of sports photography

Hasselblad - 11.30 – David Stanbury – an award-winning wedding and portrait photographer

Karl Taylor - 10:45 – Seduction of Light – fashion and beauty lighting

Graphistudio – 11:00 – the new Digital Matted Albums

Linhoff - Daily guest experts are Joe Cornish and Tim Parkin

Over at stand Q20, Photo Training 4 U have a large yet consistently packed seated theatre area for their Live Photoshow series. We watched business founder Mark Cleghorn running through a shoot with model Ryo Love. Mark’s demos will give you an idea of the kind of advice and training offered on the firm’s website and they are offering a Focus discount on their top business package of website training down to £99 from the usual £129. The training videos cover everything from choosing your first camera, to how to manage and expand a growing photography business. The theatre was packed and they were running through new subscribers at an impressive rate.





On the stand you will find Mark and his five “Masters” giving 20 minute live shows all day, every day at the following times. Visit the stand for details on what is on when!

10:30, 11:10, 11:50, 12:30, 13:10, 13:50, 14:30, 15:10, 15:50, 16:30, 17:10

They have two models – Ryo who you can see here, and Daniel, who is a dancer as well as model and so provides a nice alternative.

Also on the stage they have Claire, who translates everything being said into sign language, which is a nice touch. All the company’s videos come with optional subtitles to help the hard of hearing.

The biggest stand at Focus this year, at L26, is Canon, who were up until 2am this morning building their monumental installation. Seemingly taking inspiration from the Olympic Opening Ceremony, the stand features “real” clouds, seagulls, a tree, a chicken, and lots of red Canon goodness. Half of the stand is taken up with the demo area where visitors can handle and learn about the full range of Canon cameras, the other half is a spiral tower, the top of which is a great place to take in an elevated view of Focus on Imaging 2013, courtesy of the Lens Gallery – complete with a nice range of Canon long lenses and binoculars to scope out the crowd. If you have lost your friends in the crowd, this would be a good vantage point from where to search for them. Beneath the Lens Gallery is the lecture theatre, where there is a full programme of talks running all through the show.

Today you can still catch “Canon Explorer” Danny Green showing photos taken over a year of use with the EOS-1D X, but come early as it is standing room only at the Canon stand.





Talks are 50 minutes long and start at 11:00, 12:10, 13:10, 15:00, 16:00 and 17:10 every day of the show. Head over to the Canon stand at L26 for the detailed listing.

Canon also have Technical workshops on the side of their stand, with experts Brian Worley and Dave Newton – the 45minute talks are scheduled as follows:





10:15 Wireless with the EOS 6D
12:00 EOS Wi-Fi Workflow
14:00 EOS 5D Mkiii & Wireless Speedlites
16:00 EOS Wi-Fi Workflow

Walking past the Harman stand [C2] we saw a sign: “PRIZE DRAW WIN AN OLYMPUS TRIP”. I was transported back to 1982 as this was my first ever camera. So naturally an email address was handed over and the name is in for the draw.

Commercial and fashion photographer Keith Moss has the space on the southern end of the Harman stand and with ILFORD is demonstrating the JOY OF FILM. Using 35mm ILFORD Delta 100, he will be taking pictures of model Louise Pridding on the stand, and then processing the film and delivering prints within the space of 5 minutes. They have a darkroom hidden away inside the stand, and we have to admit to being fairly impressed with the set-up. Keith says they may also be doing a few of these fast-turn around portraits of visitors to the show, so if you are lucky maybe you can catch him at the right time. Keith is aiming to show how you can actually differentiate yourself in today’s packed market by using film. Digital has left film to become a niche market, and like all niche markets, what is left is at the high value end.

Go talk to Keith, and all the Harman and ILFORD team on stand C2. While you are there don’t forget to sign up to win an Olympus Trip, resplendent with red leather trim and 5 rolls of film. A true FOCUS opportunity.

Over on stand N7, Karl Taylor is spending the show sharing his working secrets with his “Ultimate Secrets – EXPOSED” series of talks.

Judging from his first outing with “The Seduction of Light” at 10:45, this is going to be a popular draw. The aisles around Karl’s stand were packed with visitors watching him explain and demonstrate key lighting techniques for beauty and fashion shoots. With two models on stage and almost as many different lighting set-ups as you will find on the Bowens stand, Karl is also giving a couple of lucky photographers the chance to get up on stage and take some pictures of his models.

There are three talks in the series, running daily as follows:

10:45   Seduction of Light – fashion and beauty lighting

2pm     The Speed of Light – capturing ultra-fast moments and fleeting details

4pm*    The Secrets of Light – product photography masterclass – lighting, camera angles, techniques

*on Wednesday, Secrets of Light will be at 3:30pm