conference photography

Working with news photographers at your event

If you’re planning a corporate event or any other type of event that you hope will attract the news media, then you may need some tips on how to work with the news or press photographers who will attend.

While the six media relations tips provided in that linked article may sound obvious, many companies, both big and small, can get it very wrong. It was no secret that Canada’s previous federal Conservative government was horrendously bad at running press conferences and photo ops.

“Photojournalists are not there to make your client look bad or good. We are there to represent the truth to the best of our ability and strive to maintain objectivity at all costs,” advised [Amber] Bracken [President of the News Photographers Association of Canada]. “At the same time, we also strive to capture the world beautifully, your client included.”

You need non-partisan press photographers to cover your event or photo opportunity so your company might earn the media blessing. Editorial photography published by news outlets is the most credible type of information. People trust what they see in a newspaper or magazine.

Similarly, most public relations photography and press release photography should also be editorial in nature and contain human interest. The best way to achieve this is to hire a photographer who has a journalism background and who has worked for a news publication.

 

Conference Notes

There are many online articles offering tips to photographers on how to photograph a business conference. The authors of these articles usually give such wonderful photo advice as: bring a spare battery, carry an extra memory card, take pictures of the people speaking, etc.

For something completely different, may I humbly offer a few suggestions to conference organizers who plan on hiring a photographer to cover their event. Not only am I a photographer who has covered many conferences and conventions, both local, national and international, but I’m also someone who has helped organize a few small conferences.

Conference photography is of secondary importance compared to the conference itself and your attendees. But a few changes can make the photography better and more effective.
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For old time’s sake

Last week, I photographed a small conference involving a number of mayors, several municipal, provincial and federal government bureaucrats, a few university professors and some company presidents.

As is my routine, I made sure every finished picture had an embedded photo caption which included the name and title of each person in the photo. Fortunately for me, everyone wore a conference name tag which made identification fairly easy.

But several name tags were partially obscured by clothing. No problem! As long as I had a partial name or job title, I could do a Web search to (eventually) find the full information.
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Time and Space

Professional photo shoots can be more complex than a customer might think. After several equipment cases have been brought into their office and many lights set up, a client will often remark, “Wow, all this just for one picture?!” or “I didn’t realize this would be like a Hollywood movie!”

Some photography can be done with minimal equipment in minimal space. But other assignments can require a fair amount of lighting which usually requires more space and more time.

When a client says, “It’s just a couple of pictures and it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes,” photographers always start to smile.
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Press conferences

Last week, I covered a large press conference staged by a federal political party inside a big factory. The party’s media flacks told photographers where to stand, what to shoot and what not to shoot. As one of them said, “It’s our press conference. We tell you what to do.”

When reporters asked questions that the party didn’t want to answer, the reply was, “We don’t want to talk about that today” or “We’ve answered that in the past.”

The political party could’ve just sent out a press release but it wanted the photo-op showing its leader standing next to its new slogan-covered sign and mingling with the blue-collar workers at the factory.
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