"PhotoPlus 2019" - The end of the game........

For the last few years, I have left the annual PhotoPlus Expo here in NYC feeling a combination of pissed off and.......more pissed off. For those who don't follow such events, the Expo is the biggest photography trade show in North America. At least, that is what their PR flacks call it. I can't argue with the size: it occupied thousands square feet of exhibit space on the floor of the huge Jacob Javits Center (the edifice itself a boondoggle of historic proportions, but that's another story). There are also dozens of related events for the desperate like 'photo walks' and endless lectures, some worthwhile others not, available at a fee.

Anyway, there was a time- and I am not talking all that far back – when this event was really important. It was the place to check out the latest gear, talk with company reps and even learn a bit. No complaints there. One time I talked with a tech guy at the booth of a major lens maker and learned that they were using plain old Windex as a lens cleaner! That saved me a few bucks over the years.

Bit by bit (no digital pun intended!), that has pretty much changed. When digital medial hit the consumer market it became a new game. Techies replaced artists. Dum-de-dum-dum. Photoshop filled gaps in creativity. Gear became obsolete in months and prices start climbing. OK, that happened. Since then we have a slew of makers flooding the market with lots of variations on the same theme: smaller and more expensive! And I am talking really expensive. Relatively simple 'point and shoot' cameras, filled with useless features, are pushing $1000 price tags. Simple accessories are being re-engineered to the point where one maker has proudly come up with a $600 “travel” tripod.

At shows past, I used to really enjoy wandering around the smaller booths along the perimeter show. I guess space was cheaper here, but more important, these were the places where the new guys on the block could show off their latest stuff. Admittedly, this wasn't always the greatest or most useful selections of items, but every once in a while there was something that really grabbed me and made the visit worthwhile. This year they were pretty much gone. Lots of really overpriced camera straps, camera cases and such.

Probably the saddest part for me is the death of darkroom skills. This is where I and a million photographers of my generation (and past folks too) learned our craft. It is, for all practical purpose, gone. This year out of about 1000 exhibitors, there were 2 who made darkroom supplies: Bessler Enlargers and Ilford Paper and Film. That's it.

A final reminder: Eastman Kodak - the company that for years had the biggest, most elaborate exhibit space at the show, the company that invented digital photography and then out of stupidity and greed - they didn't want to loose the film and photo processing business – sat on the patents for 25 years. When their heads emerged form their collective butts, it was all over. 

  And here is this year's offering from Kodak: a line of crappy, overpriced cameras: