Shoddy goings on at the Photographer’s Gallery, London?

The Photographers’ Gallery in London has long been one of our favourite haunts in central London but closed  last weekend for a lengthy, year-long refurbishment which will see major changes to the building.

Before moving to their current location near Oxford Circus, the Gallery was at Great Newport Street, Leicester Square, and along with the interesting exhibitions, books and magazines on offer, a major attraction was the great cafe inside.

We’ve been going for something like 15 years and – to be honest – at times, the cafe has been the best thing in the place.

Serving up delicious home made cakes (made by the manager’s wife), freshly made sandwiches, snacks and coffee, there’s been a familiar face at the counter for the entire time we’ve been visiting, a lovely fella called Billy.

Kicking out the staff

Sadly it seems that Billy doesn’t figure in the exciting new plans for the Gallery, and after years of service it appears that he’s not been invited back to run the new cafe.

Instead, we’ve been told that it will go to a franchise, and we think that’s rather a shame.

We’ve always liked the friendly, independent atmosphere of the cafe, and feel that without Billy and his cheery staff – and excellent food – we’re not going to find the new premises so attractive.

We wrote to the Photographers’ Gallery a few weeks ago to ask what’s happening about the cafe, but they haven’t bothered to reply, so we can’t confirm the story.

If you’re not happy about seeing the old cafe go, why not drop them a line and implore them to make Billy and his staff part of the new Gallery’s plans?

After all, he’s helped them make the cafe a success for all these years.

Email them here:  info@photonet.org.uk

More: Photographers’ Gallery to close down for a year, answers criticisms [BJP]

Photographers Gallery

Nikon digital camera at PMA 2009 Show : If there is one brand that has been performing superbly for the last year and a half, and even more important, has succeeded in standing out, it's Nikon. With an unparalleled battle concerning market share and a succession of new product launches, one success beaten by the other, Nikon has reached an extremely comfortable position. The introductions of the Nikon D3 and D300 digital SLR cameras were the start, and if you have followed last year’s developments, you will know how many Nikon imaging products succeeded after these two. Canon had to accept a big blow, which also had its effect in the professional world.

Nikon D3x digital SLR camera
Media offices and a large amount of professionals have switched over to Nikon cameras. That, and the giant sales figures of various Nikon imaging products, has largely influenced the market share of both brands. Naturally, a lot of interest went to Nikon's top product of the Nikon DSLR series; the Nikon D3x. It's an unparalleled high quality digital SLR for the professional, which has become a standard to serve as reference for the current generation of professional DSLR cameras. I will admit that the differences at the top gradually become smaller, but the recommended selling prices show larger differences. If you can afford the Nikon D3x, you will obtain a high quality tool that will pay for itself, depending on assignments and field of specialism.

Nikon Digital SLR cameras

Although the attention is drawn to the professional D3x, also the remaining Nikon DSLRs such as the D3, D700 and D90 can't complain about the amount of attention they are receiving. Nikon did not surprise at the PMA 2009 by introductions, but from experience we know Nikon is always quite stubborn in handling product launches. There's no logic to follow for the Western world in any case. One of the latest toys is the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens, a beautiful lens to use with the Nikon D700 DSLR for example. 

Nikon Coolpix digital cameras
The Nikon Coolpix compact camera line-up is not yet that successful for Nikon, however, or at least; that has been the situation in the past few years. It gives you the feeling that the Coolpix and the Nikon DSLR are worlds apart. The contrast could hardly be larger. Where innovations and high quality techniques have been successfully integrated, Nikon doesn't seem to be able to stand out with the Nikon Coolpix series. The market share is meager and I can understand that. As a consumer, you'd generally purchase a Nikon compact camera with certain expectations of it. You purchase a Nikon for its quality, the expectations are high. However, if we take a look at the Nikon Coolpix assortment, we don't see that many cameras that stand out from the crowd.

New Nikon cameras
Take for example a camera like the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX3. It may not be a digital camera that processes high sales figures, but it is definitely a camera that knows how to stand out. A camera that is described many times with words like high quality, lens etc. I'd like to see this camera return in the P-series. And what's more, I do miss a compact megazoom camera with 10x optical zoom in the Nikon Coolpix camera line. A camera such as, again: the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ7. These are examples of rivals that do know how to differentiate, in which the Coolpix stays behind.

New Nikon digital cameras
• Nikon D3X with 35mm review
• Nikon D3X with 50mm review
• Nikon D700 review
• Nikon Coolpix P6000 photo gallery
• Nikon Coolpix P90
• Nikon Coolpix S630
• Nikon Coolpix S620
• Nikon Coolpix S230
• Nikon Coolpix S220
• Nikon Coolpix L100
• Nikon Coolpix L20
• Nikon Coolpix L19

PMA 2009 Booths - Digital Camera Manufacturers
• Canon digital cameras
• Casio digital cameras
• Fujifilm digital cameras
• Kodak digital cameras
• Nikon digital cameras
• Olympus digital cameras
• Panasonic digital cameras
• Pentax cameras
• Samsung digital cameras
• Sony digital cameras

Nikon D700 Digital SLR camera with new Carl-Zeiss lens

Nikon Coolpix P90 digital megazoom camera

Photographers’ Gallery to Close for Major Redevelopment

Artist’s impression of the top floor gallery at the redeveloped Photographers’ Gallery, due to open in 2011

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Snappers happy at new photo gallery

THIS is the first look inside the new home of the Photographers' Gallery.

The four-storey centre off Oxford Street is a taster of the full-blown £15.5 million space due to open on the site in 2011.

The £250,000 temporary transformation opens tomorrow and includes dedicated space for galleries, studying and print-buying as well as a café.

It will be open for 18 months before it is demolished to be rebuilt in an eight-storey incarnation but it is already in strong contrast with the old gallery founded in 1971 in Great Newport Street.

There, cramped facilities meant visitors to the shows had to mingle with café users. The first exhibitions include photographs from the archives showing night scenes of Soho from the Thirties to Fifties and lost pubs and clubs including the Cat's Whiskers, where they began the trend for hand dancing as it was too small for proper jiving.

Upstairs, are large portraits of transvestites and other marginalised residents of San Francisco by American artist Katy Grannan.

Clare Grafik, the curator, said the new home was "brilliant" and added: "How exciting it is to have a space whose only purpose is as a gallery."

The gallery at 16-18 Ramillies Street is open to the public from Tuesday to Sunday with late viewing until 8pm on Thursday and Friday.