Roger’s 75th Birthday

Event Photography has become very interesting to me. In my former life, this type of event was my stage for my work as a Magician.

Allow me to be honest - as a magician working in this environment, I HATED IT.

As a Photographer, creating memorable images, this is a totally different ball game. I find this experience so different and dare I say, far more enjoyable.

Being a Photographer at an event is not about me, it’s about creating tangible memories for my client.

This event was Roger’s 75th Birthday Party. All of his friends came from the world of sport, entertainment and his speaking circuit.

I was an invited guest, my camera came with me. Between courses, I got up and created images. I created a few during the drinks reception first. I discovered that my 24-70mm and 70-200mm is all I need for shooting an event along with my Speed Light. My Speed light balanced with the light in the room gave me the exposures I needed to create lovely images.

This has been a great learning curve for me; documenting an event means being observant, and ready, it’s Street Photography but indoors. I can see how shooting Portraits, Street Photography, Landscape, Sports, Macro has all supported me in this experience. I found being active and yet not intruding key to not getting in people’s way.

Being a Magician and Photographer at an event is the same thing - telling a story and creating memories. Although I did not enjoy performing table to table while people were eating, I can say I developed a style and approach that worked and my magic was well received. Photographing an event is similar; my images must show the event in a good light. Images of people eating is ugly. So images all fall into the category of Portraits, Candid Moments, expressions, posed shots and ambience.

So, in writing this Blog post, I can now see how my experience as a Magician working events and photographing different types of subjects has been of great value in this context.

Thank you for reading.

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