articles/Editorial/editorialjan06-page1
by Mike McNamee Published 01/01/2006
And so we reach the end of another year! Give or take a few days, SWPP & BPPA years are book-ended by the Convention. This has grown bigger than ever (as has Professional Imagemaker) and has occupied a big chunk of Head Office time and effort, which started as the 2005 Convention closed. With huge numbers of visitors, exhibitors, guests and lecturers it has the making, this year, of another memorable bash!
Always a time for navel-gazing - what was 2005 like? On the negative side, a number of larger, revered names hit the dust, many saw swathing cut-backs, management buy-outs or both - a number have even picked themselves up and got going again, leaner and fitter than before. The Buncefield explosion levelled the Fuji plant and temporarily put both Epson and Kodak out of commission. Disaster Recovery insurance always seems like a massively expensive overhead until things like this happen, but Epson had invested wisely and were back, up and running, in a new temporary home, within a couple of days; there are lessons for us all, at a lower level, from this! The most amazing thing was that nobody was seriously injured (although there were a few close calls, apparently). Those who have seen the mess report whole windows smeared over the opposite walls from whence they were originally located, not good for the health of any employee who might have been at their desk.
On the business side the arrival of the pink pound offers some interesting times ahead. As if wedding photography were not complex enough in terms of understanding the protocols of different cultures, now you have to understand how to pose a same-sex couple. Still, the flowers should be nice!
Happy New Year to you all, see you in Coventry.
There are 24 days to get ready for The Society of Photographers Convention and Trade Show at The Novotel London West, Hammersmith ...
which starts on Wednesday 15th January 2025