Photographica in London 22 May

Interesting article... however, I'm sure the author thinks his photo at the top of the article conveys "frenzied energy and excitment" or something else that's quite unlikely in view of the age of the participants and nature of such events :lol:, but I find all those blurred heads quite irritating...maybe if he'd used a more modern camera and upped the iso...woops, maybe that's not the point...:D
 
What was it like?

Well there were a lot of people.

I was amazed at how old they were. Many of them had cameras that were older than my dad's dad. One of them even looked like Daguerre with the French beard and haircut, but there was a strange number who were rather large wearing coke bottle glasses who kept on wombling up and bumping into people - or bumping people out of the way.

It was very frustrating. I got pushed out of the way everywhere I went. People seemed to know what they were doing. Some of the traders got very annoyed and one was saying over the loudspeaker that a Leica camera of his was stolen at the sales. I felt sorry for those poor traders - they probably had to buy a stall, and then cart all their wares there, only to find people stealing or haggling to get it for peanuts. It must've been quite stressful being a trader. Some were friendly - some were happy to have a chat just about photography. But unfortunately, most were gear heads, and I can't say I'm into that sort of thing. I'm not sure it's the kind of fair which is that interesting for photographers who like images and prints. It's more a fair for gearheads :D

As for sales - hmm. A lot of strange antique stuff. Not much in the way of film - just out of date stuff or cheap medium grain European stuff. Hearing some chit chat - one guy said: "It's not as good as last year's". The other guy said: "Definitely not as good. Oh well. See you again next year".

Sales toward the end were good - 100% off prices for somethings! Some great bargains on 35mm cameras from the big makers. I really like the look of the older ones. I saw a Contax II which I really liked the look of, but the viewfinder was as foggy as I could see.

For £5 entrance fee, it was okay, just to wander around. I just wish people weren't as rude or as many lol.
 
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There were a lot of people there and it was very crowded. A few years ago they changed venue from the larger hall as they were not getting the crowds nor I believe the stallholders. Since then it seems to have become popular again, perhaps they should consider a bigger venue.

The age range was quite mixed, there were quite a few older people but there were also quite a few who appeared to be students. An event like this will probably always appeal to the more mature but I did not notice a lot of people with thick glasses "wombling" about.

I am sure that at any event there is likely to be some level of theft, but I do not believe there was a lot and a single incident should not be used to judge the event.

The stallholders do pay for the stalls. To many it is a full time business (they often own a shop and attend fairs) and are well used to customers haggling.

There was not a lot of film for sale but then film can be bought fairly cheaply from many sources online. There was a wide variety of photographic equipment old and new, from antique to digital. Mostly it tended to be equipment from the late 70s through to the 90s. Used varied from mint through to very rough. The good thing was that you could handle and inspect the equipment.


Stuart
 
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