Photography show in London 2025

Still very on the fence about it's new home. As the crow flies there is literally only a couple of miles difference between Nec and Excel, but it will add at least 3 hours to the day in terms of transport whichever method I would use as its far side of London rather than a direct North/South motorway run.

On the flipside there are interesting looking speakers.
 
I would have preferred the NEC for convenience, flying in and out on the same day which is a struggle via London City. Still weighing it up due to that and the cost of flights from NI. It's not massively worthwhile but I've enjoyed the day out each time so I'm tempted.
 
Compared with a reasonable drive or train journey to the NEC, London is a pain. I think I’ll see if there is something else I can do to make it more value for money. Otherwise, no go.
 
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Not sour grapes but: I would expect the web site advertising a trade show to be illustrated with more interesting images in a more attractive layout.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Excel is just a difficult place to reach, relatively.
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Anywhere in London as of a few years ago. I can hardly imaging more anti-car and therefore anti-people place in the whole of European continent
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Anywhere in London as of a few years ago. I can hardly imaging more anti-car and therefore anti-people place in the whole of European continent
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What an extraordinary statement.

Please don't bother replying, this thread is about a Photo Show.
 
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We are not going. Have been every year it's been on since about 2010 - or maybe sooner. It was dead easy from where we are; the other side of London, not so much. All the money I spent this year would have gone on fuel and accommodation. It's supposed to be coming back but if it doesn't, the new Clifton Cameras store near me is great as is the LCE in Gosforth where my wife's family is so... tatty bye. One or two of the retailers I have spoken with have not been impressed either. Disappointing but there you go.
 
Anywhere in the UK that's big enough for this sort of event will be difficult for someone to attend.

Maybe the organisers should take it to different venues each year?

As a Londoner I know which venue I prefer, but I recognise that there are people outside London that share my hobby/interest.

Maybe, though, for guest speakers London has more attraction?
 
JohnX said:
Anywhere in the UK that's big enough for this sort of event will be difficult for someone to attend.

Maybe the organisers should take it to different venues each year?

As a Londoner I know which venue I prefer, but I recognise that there are people outside London that share my hobby/interest.

Maybe, though, for guest speakers London has more attraction?
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I think the organisers have said they intend to alternate Nec and Excel going forward.
 
Re travelling don’t forget the Elizabeth Line stops right outside EXCEL and has links at Farringdon to Thameslink (Bedford to Brighton) and many other routes as it crosses London.
 
From my perspective, it's a 3 hour drive max to the NEC. To get the excel requires a bus journey with one change, then 1 hour on the train to Victoria, then however long it takes. Then potentially the reverse journey carrying anything bought, plus any catalogues etc. And then, as we usually return the next day (OK, hotel for one night saved which is offset by train fares for two), the same again.

We've been to The Photography Show and the predecessor Focus on Imaging every year since I can recall, except for the ones under covid restrictions. But will not, I think, attend the excel one(s).
 
A bridge to far for me , to expensive by car , or trains for that matter plus time wise it would probably mean an overnight stay in London .. .
 
We wont be going, as others have said the NEC is easier to reach.
Seems counter productive to make the venue harder to get to from a visitors point of view.
 
I might go this year, as it's easier from Norwich. Haven't been in years.
 
Same, we can just about do the NEC as a long day trip but London doesn't work for that. Hopefully they'll alternate between the two venues - every other year is about right for me
 
I may book it closer to the time when I know more about who will be doing talks and what will be on display.

The NEC is only 30 minutes from me but I don't mind heading down to London for the day, since I always enjoy photographing the docklands and Canary Wharf areas anyway.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
I thought shows were already a thing of the past.
Not been to one for years.
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I agree. The organisers have, in effect, priced out the small exhibitors, and what's left is an ever-reducing number of large manufacturers who are paying the costs of the distributors/retailers who sell their products. The effect of this change is that there is far less competition and far fewer choices for consumers.

It's been going this way ever since Focus on Imaging stopped and The Photography Show replaced them, in a much more business-efficient way. And as for the "expert talks", many of these "experts" are far from expert, and are simply people who are prepared to pay a lot of money to self-publicise:(
 
For me, assuming I am not travelling anywhere, I will be visiting TPS at Excel....other side of London from me. Always though the prices of parking and food at the NEC was off-putting; the only negative is travelling back home on public transport with valuable stuff.
 
Garry Edwards said:
And as for the "expert talks", many of these "experts" are far from expert, and are simply people who are prepared to pay a lot of money to self-publicise:(
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Seriously?!!!! While I haven't bothered with paid talks the standard at brand stands was petty good. I would sort of expect Canon or Nikon ambassadors to have some clue about photography, and they sure do.
 
nx4737 said:
People use trains with £1k iPhones and laptops all day, every day...
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I'm actually more concerned about the getting to the train bit in big cities... You read every day in Daily Horror about muggings and stabbings. I have a bloody car, and expect to be able to use it!
 
Indeed, the blood spilled over your car reflects the violent nature of your city, and the inadvisability of venturing outside for any distance.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Seriously?!!!! While I haven't bothered with paid talks the standard at brand stands was petty good. I would sort of expect Canon or Nikon ambassadors to have some clue about photography, and they sure do.
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Last year I attended three of the free talks on the day I went. On one of them around half the audience walked, as it was very little to do with the published subject and lots of self publicity about his work.
The same gentleman was also all ego on one of the lighting brands stands as one of their ambassadors, and kept getting in the way of people trying to look at the equipment...
 
StephenM said:
Indeed, the blood spilled over your car reflects the violent nature of your city, and the inadvisability of venturing outside for any distance.
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the blood is from owls, pheasants and rabbits :eek:.Probably a cat or two also.
 
I’ve never been to one of these and was pondering going to the next one to see what they were all about. Didn’t realise it would be In London though.

I can’t check the price of trains in March so January is as near as I can check and it’s just shy of £200 return to Euston from Lancashire. And then I’ve got to get across London to wherever this Excel place is, so that’ll be another hour or so on top of the 3 hour train journey, plus whatever the cost of that is.

I’m sure there will be plenty of people there but I’m not bothered enough to commit that amount of time and money so I’ll wait until it goes back to the NEC.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
I’ve never been to one of these and was pondering going to the next one to see what they were all about. Didn’t realise it would be In London though.

I can’t check the price of trains in March so January is as near as I can check and it’s just shy of £200 return to Euston from Lancashire. And then I’ve got to get across London to wherever this Excel place is, so that’ll be another hour or so on top of the 3 hour train journey, plus whatever the cost of that is.

I’m sure there will be plenty of people there but I’m not bothered enough to commit that amount of time and money so I’ll wait until it goes back to the NEC.
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Far cheap to drive
 
dcash29 said:
Far cheap to drive
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460 miles round trip which is a tank and a bit of petrol if I take it easy, so £80-90. Plus £25 (!!!!!!) to park, so yes about half the price. But the prospect of a 5-6 hour drive each way, either side of a day walking round isn’t something I’d want to do. So if I stayed over I’d be close to the cost of a train ticket depending on what standard of hotel I’d be prepared to tolerate.

Birmingham is a far more attractive proposition, a sentence I never thought I’d say in any context…….
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Seriously?!!!! While I haven't bothered with paid talks the standard at brand stands was petty good. I would sort of expect Canon or Nikon ambassadors to have some clue about photography, and they sure do.
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The firm I used to work with supplied the lighting for the various talks on lighting, and we had to supply a staff member to assist the "expert" on nearly every talk, because they couldn't use them themselves:(
 
Mozthecat said:
Last year I attended three of the free talks on the day I went. On one of them around half the audience walked, as it was very little to do with the published subject and lots of self publicity about his work.
The same gentleman was also all ego on one of the lighting brands stands as one of their ambassadors, and kept getting in the way of people trying to look at the equipment...
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Last year I went to a talk and came away under-informed, thinking “I could have done that session”.

Do people really pay to do the talks?!
 
Pound Coin said:
Last year I went to a talk and came away under-informed, thinking “I could have done that session”.

Do people really pay to do the talks?!
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I was told that the people who do the talks that are free to view do have to pay, I don't know whether that also applies to the people who do the talks that the public have to pay to attend.

My overall impression was that most of them were very similar to the YouTube promotional/sponsored videos - good presentation, poor and often misleading content - buy my gadgets/training courses.
 
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