When an email landed in my inbox during January asking if I’d like to be involved with The Photography Show, I had to do a double take. Yes, the national ‘The Photography Show’ and newly added this year ‘The Video Show’ also at the NEC in Birmingham. Of course I said YES!! In previous years I have not managed to attend, it’s always ended up that I have a shoot, event or social plans booked the weekend it took place, so when I saw the dates for this year’s I added them to my calendar immediately I wasn’t going to let another year go past and miss out.
Everyone I know that’s been in the past has always said how inspiring and interesting it’s been to attend. I remember Jay MachLaughlin posting stories from the event a year or two ago working with Olympus and doing panel talks and live demonstrations. I’ve always been a hands on learner and with a creative field like photography I’ve always learnt far more communicating with people and putting actions into practice rather than reading methods. So I’m really intrigued to see all that’s on offer at The Photography & Video show this year in March.
After looking over the schedule there really is something for everyone at the show. Whether you’re a camera novice looking to improve your understanding of photography and video or a professional photographer or videographer, there are talks, seminars and demonstrations to suit each skill-set. Plus the larger scale talks hosted on the Super Stage have some exciting names presenting, including; Martin Parr, an all time British photographic Legend in my eyes, and one of the people who first sparked my interest in photography when I was 12. Pete Souza, who was President Obama’s official photographer whilst in office, can you imagine the stories he could tell; and fashion photographer Lindsay Adler discussing having a creative edge.
The Photography Show and The Video Show are running at The NEC, Birmingham from 16th-19th March so mark the dates in your diary. I’m planning to visit on Monday 18th as there are some masterclasses running which immediately took my interest. There’s one called ‘Protecting your intellectual property’ which would be super useful for me as I have often come across my work used on other peoples’ Instagrams to promote brands that aren’t in the original post. As I’m not quite sure how I can go about protecting my imagery, it will be useful to find out what I could do so that this doesn’t happen again in the future. Another is called ‘Essential Marketing for Photographers’, I bet I’ll find this masterclass really interesting! Before I left school to pursue photography I spoke with lots of photographers that gave me some priceless advice; one was from photographer John Wright who told me: ‘If you go to university, study marketing instead of photography as a successful photographer always needs to know how to market themselves’. This masterclass is as important as ever with social media being such a key way of marketing now. I can hopefully pick up some new skills and ideas to test out after the show.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of my favourite photography brands at the show including Canon which is the maker of the cameras and lenses that I use on a daily basis, along with Fuji. I just love their Instax cameras along with the instant printers they’ve released which take instax film. They’re great for creating personal moments if you’ve forgotten your instax camera, or have a shot on another camera which you want as an instax snapshot. You can make copies of the same photos too! It will be great to speak to a member of the Association of Photographers team too, as I need to see whether it would be beneficial for me to sign up to the AOP. I definitely want to check out Colourama’s stand too as I’ve started experimenting with indoor static lighting and they offer such a wide range of backdrops. It would be great to see what new colours they’ll be releasing this year. And finally DJI as I’ve been practising more and more with video and creating videos alongside We Are Twinset since Summer last year. I think it might be finally time to invest in some additional video equipment and I have heard so many good things about DJI products – I can’t wait to give them a go for myself at the show. It’s safe to say my visit is going to be jam packed but I can’t wait. I think I might leave feeling very inspired and raring to go shoot!
As I have partnered up with The Photography Show and The Video Show for this year’s event they have kindly given me a discount code to offer to you lovely lot which gives you 20% off advance single-day tickets! That is rather exciting as I would love to meet some of you there! The discount code along with the terms and conditions is below.
20% off Discount code: AMBTPS19 | Discount gives 20% off standard, advance single-day tickets. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, including concession, multi-day and group discounts. It applies to new bookings only and expires on 13 March 2019.
This post is in paid partnership with The Photography Show and The Video Show but as always the opinions are entirely my own. I have not been asked to feature any brands in the post therefore any mentioned above are because they are brands I’ve used for years and love the products.
Also here are a few snaps shots from last years event! Roll on March 16th!
