The Trade Fair Cometh

Well, sort of a trade fair. As good as it's going to get in the current locked-down state of the world. You trade a gold coin to charity and the photographic people trade in their Sunday ( plus all the rest of the week to get things restocked and accounted for ...) and we all benefit. Didn't happen last year. Lots of things didn't happen. But we're currently sheltering from the storm here in Perth so we get a chance to make ourselves modestly happy. If I were you. I'd take the opportunity. What do you get at a PhotoLive event ? Well, you get as much stock as the shop staff can pack into a big van - plus whatever the wholesalers can bring to the show. They might have had a modest restock of goods since the big shut-downs last year and there may indeed be things there that you have not seen before. It is worthwhile cruising each stand, and doing it with an open mind. This can be dangerous - at that last PhotoLive that was held in the Novotel ( note: this one's at Edith Cowan campus. ) I was attracted by a computer keyboard that was meant to make editing in Lightroom and Photoshop very much easier. I circled the stand and poked the buttons but in the end decided to send someone else to buy the first example - reasoning that I could watch them to see if it was a good idea. I did, it was, and I eventually purchased the device myself. That was two years ago and the Loupedeck+ is permanently hooked up to the system and has earned its keep many times over. Had I not seen it at PhotoLive I'd still be struggling with big jobs and batch processing. Okay, it cost, but it paid. You can do the same - Go on Sunday and see all the stands and start coveting. See the photo exhibitions. Go to the lectures and hear industry people who really do succeed tell you how to really succeed yourselves. They are not miserly with their advice, and you can benefit from every single one. It's not considered good form to learn all their secrets, impersonate them, and steal their clients, but anything short of that is fair game. It'll be the Edith Cowan University campus in Mt. Lawley - apparently Building 3. 9:00 to 5:00 - entry with a gold coin donation and then tickets for the talks or workshops on top of that. They have opened bookings for tickets already - you can find the details on the CE website. I shall be circulating myself - looking and listening. I need good ideas for this column and you'd be surprised who has them at a trade fair. You can pick up gems from the punters as well as the staff. The former at least know what they want, and if they are at all unsure, the latter can tell them.