October 24, 2019
PhotoPlus Expo opened today at the Javits and somebody stole a ‘sleeve’ of bags. That’s what an Expo staffer told the Gazette when we asked for one of the bright yellow Nikon plastic shopping bags everyone else was toting. It was just as well because we took in the exhibit and left as light as when we arrived, not 10 lbs of brochures heavier like we usually do. But that somebody would swipe a ‘sleeve’ of free bags still blew our mind. “So then we started giving them out one by one but we ran out. We expect, we hope, to have more tomorrow morning,” the staffer added.
The Expo’s a kind of annual pilgrimage for people who work in or sell things to the photo industry. It’s also a mecca for your everyday GWC as well as occasional shooters, gear geeks, and former pros. And when we say G-WC we mean it. Since like forever, the Expo and the photography world generally has been a guy thing. Sure enough, today brought out 8 or 9 males for every female at the Convention Center. We don’t know why this is still a thing, now that the photo “industry” like so many others (e.g. writing, journalism, film making) has flattened and lost the gatekeepers that used to restrict entry. Nowadays almost everyone with a phone is a better photographer than most pros were a generation ago.
Anyway, we were lucky to encounter a member of an endangered species – somebody still making a living with a camera. Michael C from NJ takes his rig to work for a public agency and takes pictures for them. He’s been coming to the Expo annually for nearly 20 years and deemed this year’s edition ‘fabulous.’ He comes because it helps him keep his skills up, he told the Gazette. Asked what advice he’d offer a young up and comer with an interest in this field he offered these points:”it’s important to learn from other photographers out there. Get into a good camera club, meet photographers, keep pushing, and don’t give up. Work hard!”
If you’ve ever been to B&H on 9th Avenue, you’ve probably seen Louis Mendes and his 1940s Speed Graphic. Since 1959 he’s been doing street photography of a sort: impromptu portraits of folks willing to spend fifty bucks for a photo taken on a vintage rig by this veteran shooter. Louis told the Gazette that he’s always used a Polaroid back on his rig which is kind of amazing since that makes him probably one of the first and now last photographers to use that particular set up as their primary rig.