Event photography: The art of being invisible.....or not.
I am far too polite to rant but I do have a pet peeve every
now and again. My peeve is fostered in
the art and science of invisibility or in many cases the lack of it. I have attended a couple of functions lately
where the event photographer was the center of attention. I am not sure if anyone else has come across
this breed of photographer, I have been told that they are not rare, personally
I think they should be extinct, but I am hard core and don't expect everyone to
share this view. Although they fall
under the same category there are distinct subspecies, I have called them "the
flasher" and "center stager" (my spell checker tells me this is not a real word it is therefore a Whiskenism).
I met the Flasher at a charity event, he looked professional,
blended in with the crowd and didn't have "Professional Photographer"
festooned in large letters on any part
of his clothing. Anyone who looks presentable and fits in with the theme of the
event gets an approval tick from me (please note that an approval tick from me counts
nothing in the greater scheme of things, in other words it has equal weight
with my pet peeves). He was on time
another thing that smacks of professionalism. He had a shiny new SLR complete with an
awesome shoe flash. The awesome flash
had a fantastic recycling rate which he used to good effect taking hundreds of
photographs from the same spot somewhere behind my right shoulder. During
the event three speakers stood motionless for varying amounts of time at a
podium, in addition a couple of awards were presented to deserving recipients, all
got ample recognition from our intrepid flasher. Our flasher obviously adopted the strategy "better
to be safe than sorry", although the scene was pretty static one can never
have too many photographs of the same thing, it is after all one of the things
we love about digital photography.
My peeve is related to the small lightning flashes, the
distinctive click of the camera and the whine of the charge every few seconds, personally
I find it annoying, disruptive and totally unnecessary, the fact that no-one
had an epileptic episode was not through lack of trying. The room was well lit and I had a feeling
that if you put a fast lens on the super duper camera a flash would not be necessary
at all, I have shot functions in terrible lighting where a good fast lens can makes
the difference, obviously being in control of the situation and generating your
own light is sometimes necessary.
Filled with evil thoughts I balanced them with possible
excuses for our flasher (I am critical but fair), NGO's are not known for big budgets an extenuating
circumstance when booking photographic talent (free usually sounds like the right price). In addition photographers starting out cannot always
afford suitable lenses, (although an investment in a 50 prime one of the
fastest cheapest lenses on the market and not too bad a focal length on a camera
with a 1.6 crop factor should be in most photographers budgets). I kept
this in mind as I talked to the photographer after the event, he was pleasant, well
spoken and entirely likeable another plus when roaming events with a camera. I was
obviously impressed with the battery capacity of his flash which had done a
manful job of keeping up with his itchy trigger finger, I commented on its
great recycling rate, he told me it was fantastic especially when he did
weddings. The flasher is not someone I
would employ to do my wedding but I have seen the results of his labors.
My "Center Stage" photographer was brash and
confident, everything a photographer should be at a corporate event, she was
also a flasher although her flash was not as good as "The Flasher" and
she was slightly less prodigious as a result.
She was also appropriately dressed, score 1 point, she moved around the
venue and got different angles and people score another point, she also stood
for an inordinately long time in front of the speaker, blocking our view on
multiple occasions while she reeled of shot after shot, I don't give points for
this. Again our speaker was not moving,
he was not doing an act and he spoke for thirty minutes, more than enough time
to take a well considered shot, duck down or disappear from center stage,
review the shot and repeat if necessary.
I admired the Centre Stager she had panache she had flair she looked the
part (you know the one where the stereotypical
fashion photographer adopts fantastic poses to get the right angle and
you immediately resolve to see if your
body can bend like that, later, at night, in a dark room.....alone...in front of
the mirror).
Both the Flasher and the Center Stager have contrived maybe
unwittingly to make the event about them, I am all for getting the shot but
take it and move on, some actions happen once, you need to be sure of your
equipment and talent to get the shot, use your flash if necessary and move
on. There are poignant moments when
people deliver speeches make sure you know what and when they are and that you are
in a place to get them, then move on, it allows people to concentrate on the
reason they came to the event which 9
times out of ten was not to watch you in action (Please note that in this case the
"Center Stager" was at least if not more interesting than the speaker
and may have had a more favorable ratio; this rule does not apply in any parliamentary debate
where the photographer is definitely the most interesting person on show).
Most event coordinators prefer a conservative approach, they
want evidence that the event took place they want those special moments captured
in an artistically pleasing way that suits the style of the event but they want
you to do it as unobtrusively as possible.
This does not apply if you are really famous and the coordinator paid an
obscene amount of money for your talent, then you are quite possibly part of
the show and may need to perform. (Jarrell Whisken is the Managing Director of
Thomas International Maritimes, he is an avid landscape photographer with a
love for open spaces, he dislikes people in his photographs and goes to great
lengths to ensure they are not there, he also attends a lot of functions.....he also thinks he is reasonably funny - multitudes have pointed out that this is not the case yet still he persists).
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