UK's Focus on Imaging show axed

[DPNow]

Here is a summary or excerpt from an article that has just been published on DPNow:

If you attended this year's Focus on Imaging Show at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre earlier this year, you might like to know that you were at the very last show, which started life 24 years ago as the Focus on Photography show. Show-founder, Mary Walker, today revealed that the show has been axed and she is not entertaining any possibility of selling the show to a different organiser.

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[Ian]

Re: UK's Focus on Imaging show axed

Very sad news - I always looked forward to Focus each year

Ian

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: UK's Focus on Imaging show axed

I think the current "Road Show" that Olympus are doing with the New PEN, is the way to go. It brings people back into the high street stores and with the right incentives could add to sales.

The big shows were becoming a tired format. However Olympus did well at the SWPP Convention, earlier this year, in presenting the products in an interesting and different way to the others.

The "Playground" in Berlin was inspired thinking and similar things, to showcase new and existing products, would do well in the UK.

The new Nikon Centre of Excellence looks very good and if you have the money then there is always things such as:

http://www.handsonahasselblad.com/

http://www.leica-storemayfair.co.uk/

[Jason Chau]

Re: UK's Focus on Imaging show axed

Hi Ian,

I read your article and watched your video...am saddened by the fact that Focus In Imaging is no more. Perhaps they should have renamed it Focus In Multimedia? To reflect that imaging as a whole is very much related now with video and computing. Or even Sign UK for that matter?

I've always considered Focus to be a very educational show more so than say, Photokina where it's mostly announcements based. A great thing about Focus is that it puts you in touch with everyone who works in the industry in the UK. Losing that (social) aspect would be a huge loss to everyone involved with photography there, in addition to the economic vacuum that this would create for Birmingham...

Another thing I'm surprised is the sudden drop of having it at all....it seems such a waste of an event considering the following its built up over the years. If market exposure is a factor in its demise, why don't they try 'exporting' the idea of Focus In Imaging in places say like China, France or Singapore? There are a lot of photographers both professional and amateur in the Far East and there's a massive group of people here who are not with enough 'photographic knowhow' or knowledge of what is available. Something like this would hugely interest them and draw lots of visitors...


Jason