CPA Events
The CPA’s lunches are great to photograph, most of the people use this London event as a chance to network and so know each other, which means I get a lot of great shots of people laughing and enjoying talking to each other…always a good thing to photograph. The event is a chance for people in the construction and manufacturing sectors to discuss the state of the industry and it’s future in a casual setting. The guest speaker at this event was Dr Peter Bonfield OBE, Vice Chancellor at the University of Westminster, and former CEO at BRE Group, who talked about how he saw the next few months and years in the industry.
Documentary Photography
As always I photographed the event in my documentary style, capturing the feel of the day as well as covering the speakers and any set up photos the CPA and guests wanted. It’s a pleasure to photograph an event at The Brewery, there’s a lot of space, meaning I can move around without attracting too much attention and get the right angle on the shot I want. Most of the people in the room were professionals, so even if they did notice me, having a photographer covering the event was very much expected.
Event Lighting
The lighting in the rooms I will be shooting in is one of the first things I check as a London Event photographer. It can make the difference between a difficult and an easy event. With great lighting I can get all the shots I want without having to worry too much about the lighting, however, if the lighting isn’t great I will need to be careful how and when I photograph the guests to make sure the light is flattering, sometimes waiting until they have moved into an area of good light. On some occasions I will use just a little flash to lift the shots and take any dark shadows away from guest’s faces. I blend flash with the available lighting so it doesn’t change the atmosphere at the event, particularly as I am there to document it rather than create a mood that wasn’t there. In particularly dark venues I will use a lens with a shallow depth of field so I can make the most of the light that is available. A good telephoto lens will help with shots where I want to pick out a particular person or photograph a speech, and a wide angle is great for taking photographs where I am in a room with lots of people talking as I was initially with this shoot.
Cameras for London Events
I’ve just upgraded my cameras from the Fuji XT2 to the XT3. One of the advantages of the new camera is the low light capabilities. Sometimes in dark venues I will be working with the fastest lenses I have and still be struggling with the low light and be at the extremes of what my cameras are able to do. However, with each new camera upgrade this part of being a London event photographer gets easier. The XT3 is now very comfortable in low light I would have struggled in even as short a time ago as when I was using the Canon 5D mark 3. Used well this means I can get great images I couldn’t have shot a few years ago. Event venues have some of the most challenging lighting you will come across, which makes working as an event photographer extremely satisfying. Getting a great shot in difficult circumstances is a fantastic feeling, particularly if it’s captured in a documentary style without extra lighting changing the feel of the event.
If you like my work and want to see more then please check out my blog.
If you have any questions, or if you’d like to book me to photograph your event, then you can use my contact page.
You may also like to see another CPA event I photographed earlier in the year, The CPA Spring Lunch or this blog post about my work as a corporate photographer in London.
