The Photography Show & The Video Show, the largest photography show in the UK, has been postponed amid an increase in coronavirus cases in Europe.
The announcement came on Monday evening (9 March) after a fourth UK person died from the disease.
This year, the event was to include an Analogue Spotlight featuring a raft of smaller analogue photography brands, including Kosmo Foto, pixl-latr, Chroma Cameras, Solarcan and Camera Rescue. The event was supposed to have taken place at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham from Saturday until Tuesday (14 to 17 March).
“To date, The Photography Show & The Video Show has been following Government guidelines regarding the continuation of our event surrounding the outbreak of Coronavirus,” a statement from the organisers said. “However, as the news has been progressing we have listened to the concerns, from all parties, around the health and welfare of their staff.”
“The wellbeing of our visitors, exhibitors and staff is of the utmost importance, we have therefore taken the extremely difficult decision to postpone The Photography Show & The Video Show until later in the year, when we will be able to deliver the show you deserve. We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation.”
Another email sent to exhibitors suggested the event would be held in September, although this is unconfirmed at present.
The announcement came amid a ramping up of containment measures in Europe, with all of Italy being put under containment measures following the deaths of more than 450 people from the virus.
So far there have been more than 100,000 cases of the disease – which broke out in China in January – and more than 3,500 deaths.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
