ColorBandit - Paul D deBerjeois

Why Your Event Photographer Matters

Your VIPs and Guest Speakers are on impossibly tight schedules. Your Sponsors paid for visibility and traffic. Not only do your Attendees expect to be informed and entertained, they want to be able to tell people how smart it was to attend. And if your event is recurring, you need tools to show all of the above why they must return for the next.

Event photography is different than any other type of commercial photography. Why? Because events are a series of spontaneous moments that are each impossible or too costly to reproduce.

When it comes to capturing and documenting event moments, you don't get do-overs!

Miss them and the heart and soul of your event evaporates over time. Capture them, and you have to tools to remind all your stakeholders of the joy, excitement and great decision they made to attend. Your event becomes timeless.

For this reason, your choice of event photographer is one of the most important event planning decisions you will make. Its more than just finding a gear-geek with the latest f-stops and flash diffusers.

You must select a photographer who can prove they can capture your important moments without fail.

Without you having to be there to babysit. Its about them proving they can perform proactively and responsively as your supplier and business partner.

Event photos can be classified into three types:

1) VIP & Attendee Portraits - These images, mostly staged,
some candid, are portraits of your VIPs with other individuals
participating in the event taken as souvenirs for the benefit
of those individuals. Often times, only a select group of
individuals are offered this benefit. These photos are
commonly referred to as 'Grip and Grins' since many times
the VIP is shaking hands with an individual in the photo.
These photo sessions are challenging because:

- The VIP has limited time (or patience) for portraits.
- The VIP arrives late.
- The photographer MUST move the photo line quickly
to insure everyone gets a photo before the VIP has to
leave or runs out of energy.
- The VIP may have personal security concerns when
interacting with the general public which interfere with
snapping a picture or moving the line.
- Conversations between the VIP and his/her staff or others
immediately present are not always appropriate to share or
affirm publicly. Loose photographer lips sink event managers.
- The photographer must capture EVERY portrait perfectly,
no matter how rushed and chaotic the environment.
- Every portrait must be identified and logged so a print or
image file is available to the right person - often in near real-time.

The best photographer will have a proven system that yields a perfect portrait for every setting. The best photographer will insure each photo goes to the right person. The best photographer will quickly gain the confidence of the VIP's security personnel, agents and handlers, and maintain the confidentiality expected by the VIP.

2) Atmospheric/Sense of the Event - These images, many
candid, some staged, show the energy, color and relevance
of your event. They are taken in every venue with the goal
of showing 1-1 or 1-small group interaction between all the
stakeholders (VIPs, Speakers, Sponsors, Attendees). These
are often the most important photos for marketing your
recurring event. They show packed rooms, enthusiastic
vendors, book signings, engaged attendees and involved VIPs.
For liability reasons, its best to NOT show people drinking
anything or with drinks in hand. This is always the case
when photographing uniformed military, police or firefighters.

The best photographer will use composition, point of view and other artistic techniques to make each photo tell its own story.

3) Speaker/Presentation Action - These are flattering images of
speakers and performers while they deliver their presentations,
keynote addresses or concerts. In addition to the speakers and
performers, great photos will also capture the room, audience,
audience reactions, size and scale of the moment. This is a
challenege because often the speaker is bathed in bright spotlights
while the audience sits in shadow.

The best photographer will capture moments from a variety of
locations within the room WITHOUT FLASH. The best photographer
uses mad ninja skills to remain nearly invisible to the speaker and
audience. The images will still display great detail in both the
brightest and darkest regions.

From intimate to massive, Paul can document and market your
world-class event. Paul is trusted to capture moments including
VIP portraits of Grammy-winning musicians, presidential
candidates and internationally known media stars. His sense of
the event photos capture musicians, elected representatives
and performers enjoying spontaneous moments with attendees.
And he has a complete portfolio of speakers and performers
energizing huge crowds. Contact Paul now to find out all the
ways he can help with YOUR event.

Standing Room Only - These are the kinds of events Paul photographs

Place your cursor over or touch the image for info

Photo by Shannon Herbert