Day One Report From “Professional Imaging 2010” in The Netherlands
(Above: one side of Nikon’s booth on the show floor at PI 2010).
Hi Gang: Had an awesome day yesterday at Professional Imaging 2010 at the NBC in Utrecht, Netherlands. The Dutch are just about the most gracious and fun folks to present to ever!
(Above: A shot of me aiming at something that I’m certain, after looking at my memory card, has no visual interest whatsoever. Photo by Jeff Revell).
The Ones That Got Away
I got into town on Saturday, after spending a day and a half in Brugges, Belgium shooting some of the most uninspiring photos ever (I think the chilly weather froze my creativity. Yes, that’s how desperate I am to describe my lack of ability to take a single decent photo in a day and a half of shooting).
(Above: Frank Doorhof during one of his Elinchrom portrait lighting demos).
A Man On a Mission
Anyway, the night before the conference started, I wondered if Dutch photographer Frank Doorhof might be teaching at the Elinchrom booth, since I read he was there last year (I first learned of his work via his lightning instructional videos on the Elinchrom Web site), and on YouTube.com and I’ve been a fan of his for a while now. I posted a comment on his blog on Saturday that I was a fan, and hoped to meet him at the show. When I did finally meet him, he told me he thought somebody was pulling a prank, and that it wasn’t actually me who made the post (I cracked up!).
(Above: Frank rocked despite the cramped space in the booth).
As expected; Frank was awesome!!! He’s a great presenter, and his lighting demos are top notch, and what he creates live in front of a crowd with just two lights, in a very limited space, is just amazing! I watched four of his live demos yesterday, and even though he was speaking Dutch (which sadly I don’t speak), I still got a tremendous amount out of them (though he does speak perfect English, and I got to talk with him about all sorts of stuff during the day).
(Above: Frank shot live to a large screen flat panel display for the crowd to see as he worked).
Frank is Coming to a Blog Near You!
Of course, I asked him to be a Guest Blogger here on the blog as well, and he graciously accepted, so hopefully we’ll be seeing him here soon (he’s teaching three workshops in NYC—two are already sold out in advance—here’s the link). Anyway, meeting Frank was certainly one of the highlights of my trip. He was a very genuine guy, with a great personality, and you could tell he loves this stuff, and anytime someone is really passionate about their work, it shows. I also got two of his English-speaking lighting DVDs and I’ll be watching them on the flight home tomorrow. I’ll give you guys a review once I watch them.
Now, back to the show.
I did the opening keynote yesterday for Adobe (which I’m doing again today), and then I did a Photoshop & Lightroom Killer Tips session in the Adobe theater and it was standing room only. The Dutch are SO into this stuff, and I can’t tell you how many people I met that watch every episode of Photoshop User TV, or D-Town TV, or have my books, or are Kelby Training Online subscribers—it was just amazing (I’m still stunned be recognized this far from home).
I included some images here from the show floor, all taken with my iPhone (That’s all I had with me at the time), and although you can’t tell from the photos, this is a very happening show, with two separate halls, and cameras, printers, and softboxes on display everywhere (Dutch translations of my books were there, too, as Pearson Education Benelux had the first booth right inside the hall, so I did a book signing there yesterday after my sessions and met a lot of great people).
All My Books In One Big Book
One thing that they had which I had never seen before, but I absolutely loved—was an edition of all three of my “Digital Photography Books” (Volumes 1, 2, and 3) put into one single hardcover book (shown below). It’s big, and heavy, but it really works, and they were selling like hotcakes (they were sold out of a lot of my titles by yesterday afternoon. Also, David Ziser’s new book “Captured By The Light” was completely sold out by mid-afternoon.
Shows like this are so inspiring—just being surrounded by so many great images, and great photographers. If you’ve never been to a show like this, it’s a must-attend event.
OK, there was this one weird thing…
So, that’s it from here (well, right now, here is the lobby of my hotel, which is really nice by the way, but there is one really weird thing. The room is very modern, and I’m sharing the room with my brother Jeff, and my buddy Jeff Revell (from PhotoWalkPro) So far so good, but the shower has nearly a full length glass panel facing outward toward the bedroom, so when you’re taking a shower, everybody else in the room can see you clearly. It’s almost like they’re showering right in the bedroom itself. It’s not frosted glass mind you. It’s just glass. A lot of it. Right here. It’s really kind of…well…it’s kind of different. I’m working around it, by blinding “The Jeff’s” with a continuous high-speed flash aiming out into the bedroom. OK, I’m just kidding, but I did consider it).
If I can remember, I’m taking my DSLR tomorrow with a 50mm f/1.4 to get some decent shots of the show (rather than my iPhone photos), and maybe I can get someone to snap a few of me during my keynote.
Today’s my last day at the conference, and if you’re there make sure you say hi (I can’t tell you how many people I met yesterday who told me they read my blog every day. That really tickled me big time!).
Have a great Monday! (Heb een grote Maandag!)