It was my very first Focus visit to the NEC in Birmingham, one visit per decade, that’s quite an impressive record, don’t you think? 
The feelings are rather mixed. Mostly I am disappointed, yet my trip was so worth it that I still couldn’t stop thinking about it!
I guess the disappointment came from two parts:
a. I failed to meet up with folks at Pro Imaging group in the short space of time;
b. The whole exhibition wasn’t targeted at pro’s, at least didn’t feel that way to me.
I made my trip worthwhile by stick around at the end of Phase One talk and squeezed a few minutes of conversation with an advertising photographer whose work I have always looked up to: Adrian Weinbrecht.
It is so rare to find a photographer who is at the top of his game yet willing to share the time and knowledge. Come to think of it, he is also the first Aussie that I had an almost full conversation with!
Will I ever visit Focus again? Absolutely not, not for the gear, nor the ropey model, especially not for all the sales monkey trying to emptying your pocket!
But I will go back again, if another aspiring photographer will be delivering a talk and a have a chat with me later 
Focus is big business for retail companies. The credit card machines were red hot.
I go every couple of years, went to Broadcast Expo this year- all pro and a very interesting event
That’s good to know, Neil. I’ll definitely look up Broadcast Expo in the future