Shooting an Event

Event photography is something I have not really done as part of my business; however, I recently did one as a personal favor for a close family friend and our church district. This was our annual ladies conference, which lasts two days and is attended by several hundred women from all over the state. It was an interesting experience and very challenging, but it was good to try something like this. I don't typically drag out the "big guns" on a casual basis, so the experience made me feel more comfortable with using my portrait camera/lens for candids. Certainly not something I can do very often (the sheer volume of photos alone=hours of editing!), but it was fun to just capture what was happening as it happened.

I ended up processing a total of 150 photos from the entire two-day event! It was a lot of work! Mostly I tried to be discreet so I could capture people doing what they were doing, without them worrying about the camera being there. I did have one person ask me if I ever get beat up. :) (they were joking, of course...I think...) After that I added "papparazzi" to my name tag to help lighten things up. I did my best to capture every aspect of the goings-on:

The setting up, scrambling around, panicky moments beforehand while everyone was finishing preparations and trying to make sure things were taken care of...


...the arrival of the conference attendees, and registration


...the small details


...the candid moments of fun and laughter


...the occasional subject(s) who immediately struck a pose as soon as they saw the camera


...and I made sure to take a few moments to photograph the handful of little ones who were there, since they are what I specialize in. :) This little girl didn't seem bothered by the brief interruption of her meal at the banquet.


On the second day I was also asked to do a group photo of all the pastor's wives in our state. I have never shot a group this big! There were I believe 36 of them (you can count them if you want to know for sure), and trying to get them all arranged somewhere in the hotel and well-lit was difficult. In the end we had to make do with the cramped space and the ten minutes we were allotted to get everyone together and snap off a few shots. Thanks to my sister Jill and friend Joni for their help with this!


*whew!* I get tired again just thinking about it! I am happy to have accomplished something of this nature and to have had the experience, but at the same time I will be relieved to resume shooting planned-out, single-location sessions with subjects of the pint-sized variety! :)