I have just returned from spending the weekend in Derby at the Quad, on behalf of the BIPP attending the second National Photography Symposium organised by Redeye, the photography network in the northwest. It was a fantastic weekend, attending many different seminars and presentations and meeting lots of interesting people. What a great event.

Christian Payne (@Documentally) kicked it off with an enlightening talk on social networking and how he makes it work for him - I'm convinced he must Tweet constantly as he never seems to stop! Another interesting but quite intense presentation was from fellow British Photographic Council members Neil Turner and Andrew Wiard, along with Paul Ellis, the Digital Plumber. These are the people behind the incredibly successful Stop43 campaign  through which the offending Orphan Works clause was dropped from the Digital Economy Bill.

David Hoffman gave a fascinating insight to the experiences which led to him starting up 'I'm A Photographer, Not A Terrorist' campaign, showing some astonishing images. Robert Pledge from Contact Images gave a very thought-provoking presentation, showing the work of a couple of photographers he is currently representing and helping to get published, whilst Homer Sykes, a real gentleman, gave his insights into the stock image side of the industry. A keynote address from Francis Hodgson proved quite controversial but was nonetheless a fascinating presentation in which he made some very valid points.

As an invited guest and speaker, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet each of these people and others, and to enjoy their company over breakfast, lunch and dinner which provided a great networking opportunity with opportunities to exchange ideas. We were all made welcome by Quad and invited to a fine art exhibition preview evening on Friday which made a nice start to the weekend. This morning, we finished off beautifully by meeting up with the Lunar 21 Society for an enlightening walk around some of Derby's hidden treasures.

What a great weekend - I am looking forward to next year's already. If you missed it and want to catch up on some of what was being discussed, follow it on Twitter using the hashtag #NPS2