March 21, 2014
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How a photographer plans for an large event.
This weekend, I will be in charge of photographing all the guest arriving for the 2nd Lower Bucks Chamber Ball. The theme this year is “The Great Gatsby”. Guests arriving early will be escorted to an area where their photographs will be taken in their Gatsby (or not) attire.
To new photographers who are entering the world of event photography, many “newbies” find it all encompassing after attending their first event. I say this because it has taken me years to perfect and fine tune the amount of equipment and staff needed to photograph a large event such as a convention, a corporate event or anything other than a wedding. Each job has it own set of equipment lists that span into pages.
Usually, when new photographers are hired to photograph an event, they undoubtedly never bring all the essentials. So, when planning tomorrow’s equipment last, I thought it would make a great blog post to give you a typical scenario of the massive amount of equipment that goes along with what when set up correctly, looks easy as pie… (HA!)
First of all, lets start with the basics. Every professional photographer needs liability insurance. You never know when someone could get hurt in and around your equipment. It also guards against equipment theft…. Which often happens at events. Get prices from various companies. Many times, the venue will ask for a “certificate of insurance” from all the incoming vendors that day.
Moving on, we have the camera list. You should have your main camera with at least one if not two back ups. At least 3 lenses. A light meter. Several flashes. A mountain of compact flash cards.
Lighting for the event starts with a decision. Do I bring the studio strobes or can I use my portable Canon Speedlites ? This year, I have chosen to use the Canon Speedlites because they are so easy to bring in and out of the venue. Since I will be making a “make-shift” studio, I will bring a set of studio umbrellas and light stands.
The background that the invited guests will be up against will be two vertical banners with type. Normally, the client provides a “Step and Repeat” background which is about 8-9 foot wide and goes from ceiling to floor. In this case, I have to bring a background to put behind their two vertical background because you don’t want to see the junk between the two vertical banners. So, naturally, that is another bag with a background and of course a huge background stand.
In a separate case, there will be a lap top computer, 2 card readers and a portable hard drive. (In the car will be a back up lap top computer.)
Rounding out the list, there will be two Sony Snap Lab printers to print onsite. These expensive puppies will be cranking out photographs at about 5 per minute. Don’t forget that we have to bring the boxes of very expensive paper and ink to insert into the printers. White folios are also brought so that we can insert them making them look oh so pretty. (About 400)
Lastly, staff…..
One photographer (me)
One person on crowd control and lines
One person posing the couples
One person running the printers & computers
Two volunteers to insert the images in the folios and display on table.
My staff will be four (includes me) with the Chamber having two volunteers to help with the final product.
Just writing this list, I think I need to take a breather! Whew… sounds a little bit overwhelming if you have never done something like this. Trust me, I’ve done this so many of these events, that I have it down to a science. The key to everything is the following:
Know your gear.
Have backup- and then more backup
Arrive way early
Have help.
If something goes wrong, which it always does (something may break), remain calm and go to plan B.
