Were you expecting OSU legend Lawrence Funderburke? You wouldn't have been wrong — he was at this one, too. The first time I photographed Funderburke, he caught me recognizing him, gave me a nod and a smile, and reached out to pound my fist. As amazing as it was to see and photograph him again, there was a different celebrity on stage. Today, I was surprised to photograph Joe Montana.
At 67, he turned out to be exactly the kind of guy you'd hope for: a soft spot for helping people, a real love of watching others overcome adversity, and a tremendous sense of humor.
Becoming the go-to for event photography
Over the past two years, I've been the event photographer for more than twenty events for one client. When I first started working with them, they'd tell me what to expect, give me direction on what they hoped to capture, ask me to show up a little early, and even walk me through how to get the shots.
That time has passed. Now I get a text asking if I'm available, and that's it. They have complete confidence in the work, and I'm the guy they call when they need event photography. It's terrific. No one's looking over my shoulder at the back of the camera or telling me what they think they need. Of all the photography services I offer, event photography is my favorite.
Why variety keeps my photography sharp
The range of work I take on keeps me honest about good professional habits. Headshot photography keeps me current on the newest editing advances — I used to be afraid of reshaping, and now I'm able to help with it. Portrait photography (modeling, acting, seniors, couples, boudoir, and families) keeps me hunting for more flattering, more fun angles. Real estate photography reminds me to watch my settings shot to shot, so every frame is as crystal-clear as it can be.
All of it keeps me on my toes and makes the work interesting. I love headshots, but if that were all I did, it would go stale and my work would suffer. Event photography keeps every day different — the event, the demands, and the expectations change with every session. One day I'm shooting roller coasters, the next I'm photographing celebrities, the next it's a corporate breakout session at a convention.
That last one might sound out of place next to the first two, but here's the thing: every event teaches me something outside my own field. For example — did you know tumbleweeds are incredibly dangerous? They're razor sharp, and they tend to collect in the same spots, so they pile up dense and heavy. Just something I picked up on a shoot. I've also learned about drug epidemics, dog obedience, how to relieve back pain, and the latest viscosity solutions in heavy machinery. I barely ever know what to expect.
A surprise at the Greater Columbus Convention Center
For this one, the client asked me to be at the Greater Columbus Convention Center for an hour and a half. There was no primer beyond which ballroom to find. While I was parking, I noticed I was paying a special-event rate, so I asked the attendant what the event was. "Believe it or not," he said, "Joe Montana is here for some charity." That was the entirety of my prep before photographing the LifeTown Legends Luncheon — a fundraiser for LifeTown, a Columbus nonprofit that helps children with special needs build real-world life skills — with special guest Joe Montana.
Shooting a low-light event without flash
The photography could have been tough to manage if this had been my first time in a room like that. It was an incredibly low-light venue, with a few potential hotspots on stage. There was another photographer working it with a flash. That flash might have given him some relief on the stage, but it would have caused me two problems.
Whenever I shoot something on this scale, I assume it's being televised — or at the very least recorded for a later broadcast — and a flash going off can be disruptive to that recording. At a wedding you can sometimes get away with it, because the video often gets cut together over music without the live audio from the day. But I wouldn't want to work alongside a photographer lighting up my footage every thirty seconds. Something to keep in mind when you're networking and building relationships with other vendors.
The other issue: a speedlight only reaches about 65 feet. (Keep that in mind the next time you fire your phone's flash at a concert — it's doing nothing.) If that photographer was leaning on his flash for light, he wasn't getting any of the large, establishing shots that I know this particular client really likes.
So I skip flash entirely. I'll set my ISO around 4000 and adjust my aperture and shutter speed from there. For those stage hotspots, I'll pull the ISO down and ride it back and forth between 4000 and whatever the spotlight calls for. That gives me a far more consistent look across the whole set than lighting only some of the photos with a flash.
I sent the files to my client the next afternoon. She wrote back, "Your photos are amazing!!! I'm so happy you were there!" I was too.
If you've got an event coming up in Columbus — a fundraiser, a convention, a celebrity luncheon, or something I couldn't possibly predict — I'd love to be your event photographer.