A week in photography
So The Photography Show will be moving to London next year. Bring it on, says AP Editor Nigel Atherton
News that The Photography Show (aka The Photography & Video Show) is moving from its long-time home at Birmingham NEC to London’s ExCeL exhibition centre next year has had mixed reactions, and I’m guessing that where you sit on the enthusiasm scale depends largely on where you live.
I think it’s a smart move, and I’ll explain why. Firstly, I’m going to put my cards on the table and admit that though TPS has its detractors, I’m not one of them. It is one of my highlights of the photography calendar and I believe it makes an enormous contribution to the health and well-being of the UK photo industry by bringing the creative community and the trade together. Yes, buying stuff is part of the show’s draw but it’s also about the friends and acquaintances that you bump into in the aisles, and the new connections and future friends you make.
Vibrant
TPS may be run by a rival publisher to AP but credit where it’s due. In the past few years the organisers have done a fantastic job in transforming it from the male-centric, hardware-focused show targeted at professionals that was Focus on Imaging into a vibrant, diverse consumer event that’s as much about inspiration as selling hardware. They’ve attracted a younger, more diverse crowd and significantly more women, which can only be a good thing. This year there seemed to be many people visiting for the first time, which is great.
But the data doesn’t lie, and the one demographic that has stubbornly refused to engage with the show in significant numbers are those living in London and the south-east. Birmingham is only about a 90-minute train ride away but the fact is that for many Londoners the map of Britain extends only to the borders of the M25, beyond which is just a blank space and the words ‘Here be dragons.’ Yes it’s ridiculous, but we are where we are.
