A Guide to Shooting Corporate Events
Corporate events are elegant and beautiful, its where you see companies spend big money to continue to grow, teach, and or wow their clientele. So you’ve been hired to shoot their event. Now what? In this article we will guide you through what you can expect from an event and discuss 3 tips for shooting corporate events, whether you utilize photo or video for these events, these tips can apply across the board.
First though, lets discuss the overall feel and environment of corporate events. These events are often held in large event centers inside of fancy hotels or event spaces. That means that things usually look a bit drab when it comes to the cameras eye, aka florescent yellow lighting or honestly almost no lighting at all! This does not mean that their aren’t beautiful locations, it just means don’t expect to get jaw dropping photos out of these events, instead its good to simply focus on the people.
Prior to the shoot, its good to have a brainstorming discussion with your client, why do they want this event captured? What are they going to use the content for later? Is it primarily for Instagram? Web? Marketing Purposes? While this won’t have too big of an affect on your coverage of the event, it can help you understand where their heads are at and what they expect from you, it provides direction and more purpose than just wondering the event aimlessly. I have found that offering specific ideas and suggestions, from past experience, to the client has built the confidence of my potential clients, moving them to be more likely to hire me. When you offer an outline to them, knowing that they often don’t know what they want till they see it, it shows that you know what you are doing, you’re not just a dude with a camera wandering the grounds, you become a media strategist.
Some events have asked me to include headshots, group shots, and testimonials. We will discuss a few of those here as we go along, as they take a little more prep and forethought to execute effectively.
Here are a few simple tips that I have found helpful over the years:
Wait for the Smile
It can be easy to click away on these events, and in certain instances that can be good. Candid photos or videos are what clients usually want. Still, that does not mean that your clients don’t want professional looking photos. So to balance the two, exercise patience. Wait for the moment people express themselves. This could be in a laugh, an intense display of emotion, or passion as they speak from stage. In most cases, the coveted photos are the smiles. You will find though that not every speaker, or attendee is that smiley, so be patient, look for those who are expressive and point your lens in their direction for the best end results.
Overshoot
Overshooting does not mean shooting wildly, but rather putting emphasis in your capture process when you see a good expression or moment taking place, use that shutter and capture it all. In the end though, don’t provide all of it straight to the client, sort through the files and provide them with the best few shots of each moment. During these events you will take thousands of photos or videos, thats okay, the key is to then do the sifting for your client prior to delivery. Give them the best of it all and your overall appeal and quality as a photographer and or videographer will go up.
Unique Angles
In a room that does not change for days, it can be hard to stay motivated and find new perspectives. I have found that the longer a corporate event lasts, 2-3 days, I end up pushing myself to be more creative. And this can be good! Take those shots through the crowd, behind people, standing up high, from behind the stage, through a door crack, or from under the table. Look for areas that allow for natural framing or objects that are unique to the event. Be sure to capture it all too, the lead in, the outside, the location - give the audience a better feel than just a dark room.
Some clients have asked, can you do both photo and video? The answer to that should be no. While sure, you may have the skill and expertise to execute both, you put yourself in a bind in the end as you are inevitable going to miss a moment they wanted captured with video on photo and vice versa. If this is the case, you can always offer to hire on another shooter for photo/video etc. Make yourself valuable, you probably know lots of people that do what you do, see if one of them would be interested in helping you on the job.
Its also good to communicate effectively with not only the client, but also the event planner. The event planner will be your go to connection for all things related to the event. They often have a much bigger and better perspective of what is going on, who will be where when, what important moments will be happening and so on. So make sure you connect with them. They are a great resource when you are working larger corporate events.
Corporate events may seem daunting, but they are manageable and can be a huge success by simply applying a few of the items mentioned here today.
