Event photography, like events themselves, comes in all shapes and sizes. One day I’m photographing a keynote speaker addressing an audience of hundreds, the next I’m covering a business breakfast with a couple of dozen people present. Locations vary widely too. The majority of business events take place in hotels and conference rooms. Bars and cafes are increasingly popular too; but occasionally somewhere a bit … special … comes along.
Wearing my other hat as a wedding photographer, I’ve worked at Capesthorne Hall in Cheshire on many occasions over the years. It’s a drop-dead gorgeous venue, situated just to the south of Alderley Edge and home to the Bromley -Davenport family. In fact, I was asked by the current owner to photograph his own wedding a couple of years ago. So, I know the place well. It was, therefore, a real delight to be there a few weeks ago to cover a small, private dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of a local Macclesfield business.
I was taught an important maxim when I was starting out shooting events. It’s very simple – “make it look busy, make everyone look happy”. With a small, intimate dinner like this (with just over 40 guests in attendance), I wasn’t aiming to make it look busy. And the mix of such an important anniversary and a stunning venue would help enormously with making everyone look happy. Which is exactly what they did! The important thing I need to bring to an event like this is sensibility. Not everybody is keen to be photographed (strange as that sounds in these days of Instagram and Facebook Stories), so it’s important to keep a watchful eye on events, observe carefully and notice anybody who’s hesitant when I raise a camera to my eye. It’s important to balance getting the job done with respecting somebody’s personal wishes. That’s especially true at an intimate event such as this, where being the photographer in the room is so obvious.
These images were shot for internal comms use, to serve as a memento of the occasion. They’ll be circulated to guests and throughout the company and may appear on social media or on the company blog.
If you’ve an event coming up it’s worth thinking about the reasons for having it professionally photographed. It might be an important event that you want to commemorate; it might be the PR value afterwards; it might be that the event will create great marketing material. Whatever the reason(s), I’d be more than happy to chat event photography with you.
