Event photography is an area of delights and unpredictabilities. Beyond working with unknown lighting and positioning challenges (sometimes heightened by having to pick one’s way around a film crew), working on events offers a fascinating glimpse into a whole spectrum of worlds.
I recently photographed an event run by Mike Dooley, a renowned inspirational speaker and author from the US, who was in London for a series of workshops. The event I photographed was called Playing The Matrix and investigated the power of thought and visualisation in manifesting the future of one’s dreams. Thrilling stuff! Mike brought a lot of energy to his presentation, which is always great for photographing.
Mike was featured in a hugely successful film and book called The Secret, and among his own publications is his daily inspirational email message service called Notes From The Universe, which I’ve enjoyed receiving for some time. As such, the vibe of the event was very positively charged, which certainly adds to the enjoyment of photographing an event.
I’m always extremely careful about tiptoeing around the audience whilst shooting an event, as it’s vital to be as invisible as possible. But when the audience is enmeshed in the exciting process of learning to create their dreams, I think they would hardly have minded if I’d have crowd-surfed down the length of the hall to get the shot. I won’t be testing out that theory any time soon, of course, but the thought of it had me smiling as I packed up my equipment at the end of the day…
