Events are what brought me into professional photography. My first commissioned jobs came back in 2015, and I have not stopped since, right up to today, here in Australia. I still love documenting every event I am hired for.
I have been the only person responsible for covering an event with more than five thousand people, three stages and several acts, and it worked. I have also been the photographer and videographer for intimate weddings here in Gold Coast, with barely more guests than the couple, where the job is to stay as discreet as possible. And I have pulled all-nighters covering parties in Surfers Paradise until the sun came up.
It was over all those years that I trained my eye. An event has to be read at every scale, from the macro to the micro: from the crowd filling the whole space to that lone smile of someone hearing their favourite song coming through the speakers. From the detail of the rings being exchanged to the whole décor of the room.
Photographing an event is moving through the crowd without getting in the way, unseen but seeing everything. It is also knowing how to ask politely and arrange twenty people who want one photo together in the middle of it all.
Photographing an event is mastering the camera, often with just one hand, and working through every setting to balance the different lights of different spaces.
Photographing an event is becoming part of the event, blending in with the production team, helping every planned step happen the way it should.
Photographing an event is knowing that the next day those photos will be published by the production, collecting likes and shares.
Photographing an event is finding the best corners and angles and, in a few seconds, taking everything that spot allows. Many times I climbed onto the stage, squeezed between the speakers, minded the cables, careful not to disturb the artists, chasing the frames that actually tell a story.
Photographing an event is being stopped a thousand times in the middle of the crowd with requests for photos, and doing each one with a smile, taking as many as it takes until everyone walks away with their eyes open, smiling and happy. So when someone asks “Can I see?”, the answer is always yes, and if you don’t like it, we do another, no problem. It is also getting used to hearing “Wow! I loved it”.
I could talk about the technical side: the white balance presets I keep ready on the camera, how to position the flash so it bounces, when and why to shoot vertical or horizontal, all the things that make a difference in this work. But plenty of people do that. What I care about is the human part. Being there, fully present, sharing the happy moments, the smiles, the tears of joy, and knowing that through my frames those moments can be relived and remembered.
Because for me, that is what photographing an event is: letting people relive, remember and talk about these moments with real, visual memory.
So if you are planning an event of any kind and you need a photographer, get in touch. I would love to hear about your plans, and to be part of them, doing one of the things I love most in my work.