Now, we’ve all seen trade shows being sponsored by big-name brands. It’s not often, however, that we see one of those brands organising their own trade show. But that’s exactly what B&H is doing this year.
The Bild Expo 2023 is being held in New York this year for the first time. It’s a two-day event which offers something for all kinds of creator with hands-on learning, a massive gear expo, photo walks around NYC and even portfolio reviews.
“Bild” is the Yiddish word for “image”
The Bild Expo is a celebration of B&H’s 50th birthday. It makes sense that the company wants to celebrate with the industry that’s brought it so much success. The company doesn’t appear to have said if this is a one-off celebration or the start of a new annual event – although their phrasing in the announcement suggests it could be the latter.
This year, though, it’s happening on September 6-7th at the Javits Centre, NYC. It’s a timeframe that, pre-pandemic, would’ve been taken up by Photokina in Cologne, Germany and PhotoPlus Expo, also at the Javis Centre in New York.
With Photokina definitely dead and PhotoPlus Expo struggling – there’s still no news since they cancelled the 2022 event – it’s a prime piece of calendar real estate for a big annual photography show.
Top speakers and panelists
B&H is aiming the show at all types of creators. Whether you’re shooting for your TikTok feed or for Vogue magazine, there’s probably something there for you. And to help bring some expert voices to each of those styles, they’ve got a range of top-quality speakers in a wide range of fields.
Hands-on experiences will range from a 16mm film workshop, to photo, video, film, and audio demonstrations and activations, to photo walks around New York City and one-on-one coaching through portfolio and pitch reviews.
On the photography side, we’ve got names such as Art Wolfe, who has a five-decade career as a professional photographer, Scott Kelby, a name familiar to most Photoshop-using photographers, Jerry Ghionis, Jesús Ramirez, and dozens of others.
On the social media and video side of things, we’ve got Casey Neistat, Roberto Blake, Justin Odisho and plenty more, covering just about every type of image and video creation – and the gear used to create them – you can imagine.
There are a number of talks and events scheduled throughout Bild Expo. You can find out more about those here.
A big show with (lots of) big names (and gear)
B&H says that the show will cover more than 100,000 square feet. That makes it about twice the size of Hall 5 at the Birmingham NEC – the home of The Photography Show in the UK. The exhibitor list on the Bild Expo website also shows that all the big names will be there.
Bild’s gear expo features 130+ of the world’s leading creative brands, as well as emerging newer brands.
Nikon, Canon, Sony and Videndum sit amongst the show’s biggest exhibitors. Then we start to see more familiar names like Panasonic, Fujifilm, Godox, Sigma and Pelican, followed by a long list of the show’s “Silver” and “Bronze” exhibitors, including companies like Blackmagic Design, DJI, Hasselblad, Hollyland, Leica, Nanlite, OM System, Profoto, Rode, Sennheiser, SmallRig, Tamron, Zhiyun and countless other companies.
The list covers an awful lot of exhibitors, so the venue hall should be pretty packed. Needless to say, this also results in a very wide range of gear being at your disposal during the show to have a quick play with and get answers to questions right from the manufacturers.
Competitions for attendees
The show will have competitions in which visitors to the show can participate.
Now, these aren’t your Facebook popularity contest type of competitions where whoever gets the most likes on their photo wins. These are serious competitions for serious photographers covering vital skills you should know as a photographer, and the prize is a $50 B&H gift voucher.
- 10am-Noon: Gear packing competition – Who can pack a camera bag the fastest?
- Noon-2pm: Reflector folding race – I really hope they have those 6ft+ ones
- 2-4pm: Tripod quick draw dash – who can set it up quickest?
Ok, so they’re not super serious competitions. They’re a bit of fun but are challenges that every photographer will want to win. Ultimately, each competition can only have one winner, though.
Good luck, everybody!
How to go to the show
The B&H Bild Expo is happening on September 6th and 7th at the Javits Centre in New York City. Tickets to get into the show are free, but you do need to register first. You can’t just show up and expect to be let in.
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