22 January 2009

SWPP Trade Show

Last Friday (16th Jan) I attended the SWPP Trade Show at their annual Convention in Hammersmith, West London. The show filled 2 halls of the venue and had a really good mix of quality photographic trade suppliers on hand demonstrating and showcasing their products.

It was a very useful day for me and I made good contacts with several suppliers and discovered organisations that will be of use to me and my photography. I was able to get hands on experience of some of the dye-sub printers I have been investigating and also met up with some quality printing and framing companies whose products were very interesting.

I was also lucky enough to get some time to do a mini-shoot with one of the models (Jade Cartwright) who was on the Photomart stand. The session was being run by pro-photographer Jon Gray and was being used to showcase Bowens lighting equipment. I got a good selection of shots, some of which should be appearing on my flickr pages soon.

Another successful evening

Well I had a fantastic evening last night at XRR's 3rd print competition of the year. My shot of the Ucluelet Fishing Boats was chosen as the photo of the night after scoring a 20 out of 20 earlier in the evening. The judge, Dr Robert Mathie FRPS, DPAGB liked the print commenting on the bold colours of the boats and the tonal quality of the shot overall.

The photo has done really well for me in the competitions this year and it certainly is one of my personal favourites at the moment. The HDR technique gives it an added boost on what was a dull and dark early evening in Ucluelet last year. I had always wanted to get some shots of the North American style fishing boats and this location provided the perfect setting for me. It was a shame that we only had a couple of hours at this location on Vancouver Island.

Another of my shots also scored the maximum 20 points last night - this time for the set subject of Person(s) at work or play. My entry was of one of the Covent Garden street entertainers who was performing for the crowds on a tall unicycle whilst juggling a set of clubs at the same time.

All in all it was a very enjoyable evening and the overall standard was again very high.