Hi Everyone

As a professional corporate, event and business photographer, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Scotland, I am often asked what the most important aspects of photographing a conference are and whilst there is no substitute for practice, there are a number of things you can focus on - if you pardon the pun. So as I have just launched my new page, which which has been showcasing my conference photographs, I will be doing a number of extra blogs which contain 5 tips for corporate, conference and event photography.  Today we will start with preparation, so here are my first of my top 5 tips for conference photography below:

1. Get plenty of practice, before you go on a paid commission, volunteer to cover any kind of event, to get you used to the pressures ie the demands, timelines etc,  Its better to make mistakes before people are paying good money for you to provide a bespoke conference photographer service.

2. Have lots of dialogue to get to know the organisers before the event, so you know exactly what to expect long before you arrive.  Then go over a list of the things they require ie keynote speakers, arrival of main speaker etc and other timelines, also things like, who doesn't want there photo taken etc.

3. Check out the lighting thoroughly when you ge there and speak with the lighting engineers if you get a chance. They will want it to be as dark as possible, you want as much light as they will allow you to photograph the speakers and delegates, ask if you can let some natural light in, some will let you, others won't unfortunately.

4. Prepare all your gear in advance, check the batteries, allow of at least 2 of everything, camera, flash etc and test all your gear thoroughly.

5. Prepare your journey, so you arrive in plenty of time.  You want to be arriving at least an hour before the event, make sure you allow for any disasters ie late train, car breakdown etc.  Have a taxi number handy just in case.  You can not be late for a photography commission.

Hope that helps, next we will be looking at the essential aspects of the photoshoot.

So, until next time.

Kind Regards

Colin

www.colinwrightphotogrpahy.co.uk