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Events

The moments you'll want back later. I shoot events to feel like the room felt — the speeches, the in-between glances, the energy you can't stage. Galas, celebrations, community gatherings. Documentary in spirit, never intrusive.

Large group of teens cheering with raised arms inside a laser tag arenaLong banquet tables with pink linens and clear chairs set on grass beneath treesAudience enjoying Young Stars Showcase 2023 concert

It is the in-between — someone laughing at something off-frame, a hand on a shoulder during a speech. Those are the frames that still work in ten years.

Close-up of young singer performing at YSS 2023Long-haired singer at a microphone playing a sunburst electric guitar under blue stage lightSinger in cropped top and cargo pants performing with a microphone on a smoky stage

Shooting an event well is mostly reading a room before it does anything. Where the speeches will land, who is going to cry, which corner the real conversation is happening in.

Performer silhouetted on a hazy stage in amber light above a seated audienceExtended family of about twenty posing outside a tile-roofed house with a balloon archTable settings with pink glassware, beaded chargers and a pink and white floral centerpieceLong banquet table with pink floral centerpieces, wooden chairs and purple uplightingMan in beanie and puffer jacket raising a phone before trees strung with lightsTwo boys in navy suits and two girls in pink tutus sitting on playground equipmentGirl in a flower crown and lace dress climbing on a black playground barSmiling girl in flower crown and pink tulle skirt sitting on a rope net swingGuests at an eventWoman in floral dress kneeling with arms outstretched beneath a lavender canopy held by guestsFamily of six posing on a road beneath an arching canopy of oak treesGirl in a silver puff-sleeve dress and white sneakers posing with hands on hipsBoys in white shirts crowding excitedly around a round photo booth camera at a partyFour men in white shirts arm in arm at night, one in pink cowboy hatBlack and white photo of a boy in tallit and kippah standing with head bowedBearded man in denim shirt singing into a microphone while playing acoustic guitar outdoorsPeople sitting cross-legged in a circle on grass under trees with eyes closed

I would rather push the camera and keep the room. The pictures people keep are almost never the posed ones.

Two smiling bearded men holding salad plates under a party tent with balloons and string lightsChildren cheering with arms outstretched inside a party bus with purple neon lightingFive people posing together beside an inflatable bounce castle at a daytime outdoor eventMan in tallit and kippah carrying a swaddled baby on a pillow through a roomBlush and white floral centerpiece on a banquet table under purple uplighting and a flower archLive band performance photography, James Malcolm Band on stageBlack and white photo of a man in a cowboy hat singing and playing acoustic guitarBassist in glasses and black shirt playing a pale bass guitar under pink stage lightsTall man in a black cowboy hat posing with a woman and man before a name bannerWoman in denim and bearded man in black posing at a table with sunflowers under string lights

If you are reacting to moments you are already late, because the frame worth having sits about one second before the thing everybody notices.Available light, wherever it can be made to work. Rooms have a temperature and a mood and blasting them flat with a flash removes exactly what made the night feel like the night.

Seven people posing on a red carpet before a sponsor-logo backdrop under a tentWoman in a striped shirt raising a glowing phone amid a darkened audienceMan in a cowboy hat with acoustic guitar seen from behind under stage lightsBlonde woman with tattooed arm singing into a handheld microphone in black and whiteSix-piece band on stage with guitars, keyboard, drums and fiddle before a projection screenPacked theatre audience facing a lit stage with a band and large projection screen

Tell me what the pictures are for

An event shoot goes wrong quietly. Everything gets covered and nothing gets used.

The difference is knowing, before the doors open, what these pictures have to do afterward. Fill a sponsorship deck. Prove attendance to a board. Put a face on a donation ask. Send me the run of show and which of those it is. That answer changes where I stand. It decides whether I am working the podium or the lobby, whether the banner belongs in the frame or out of it, and which few people have to appear no matter what. The room will tell me everything except that.

The room is not the problem

Event lighting is not a mistake to be corrected. Dim ballroom, purple uplights, a stage washed orange. None of that has to be erased. A flash pointed straight at the room will erase it, and then the night looks like every other night in every other ballroom.

The color in a room is often the only thing saying which event this was. Those colors were chosen on purpose. Keep the faces readable and let the rest of the room stay the color it was built to be. What actually causes trouble is not dim light. It is a schedule with no slack in it.

Explore my other photography categories or get in touch if you’re planning a project.

Planning something like this?

Tell me what you have in mind and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person to shoot it.