Last year I visited Focus for just one day as it was the first time I had been, there was just far too much to see in a day though so this year I stayed over and went for two days. I had booked seminars with Drew Gardiner and Steve Gosling which I found very insightful. Steve Gosling in particular was an inspiration, his seminar was entitled 'Photographing From The Heart' and his philosophy is akin to mine in that it is important to try to make the viewer feel what the photographer felt when an image was made, to try to convey the emotions and the sentiment through the photographs. Not always an easy thing to do I have found. His website can be found here www.stevegoslingphotgraphy.co.uk
I also watched numerous demonstrations on the various stands and was impressed by the www.phototraining4u.co.uk stand. I have since toyed with the idea of becoming a member of this online photo training school as the thought of having my images critiqued and qualified quite appeals to me but I keep thinking 'is there better things to spend my money on?'
I was also hoping to see Michael Freeman at the show as I had booked for his seminar last year but unfortunately he was delayed in some far off land and had to cancel at the last minute, this year there was no sign of him either, looks like I'll have to make do with the umpteen of his books I've bought and hope he's there next year.
After listening to all the talks and watching the demonstrations though, the general message I am getting is the same, photography is a very personal thing, there are no hard and fast rules, if you like an image it's good, if you don't, then someone else probably will so there is no good or bad, only personal taste!
I enjoyed Focus very much and I am already looking forward to next year :)