Photographing a convention and making good use of the pictures

Photographing

Digital technology has opened up new avenues for the photographic documentation of conventions and…

turned it into a part of the  corporate communication strategy, both internally and externally. In addition to the usual documentary photos of the speakers giving their presentations, you can now tell the event as a “story” and relive it emotionally. You can create different opportunities during the shooting and the subsequent use of its results, while thinking of the two types of interlocutors in the business: INTERNAL and EXTERNAL.
In other words, you can use the event’s photo session not only in the narrow sense of documenting that moment, but also, and above all, to communicate the company that put it all together, through the images of people and situations with their charge of humanity and emotional involvement.
Let’s go step by step, beginning with shooting methods, facilitated by new technologies.
Classic Photos: the speakers who talk, the rooms and the scenes set for the convention.
Report of the preparation of the convention and Behind the Scenes: on many occasions, the preparation is similar to that of a theatrical production, with many people involved. You can create a backstage work that’s very interesting.
Report of the convention on behalf of the participants: picture the event from the participants’ point of view, this is a true report. You need at least two photographers to provide multiple points of view, which also enriches the subsequent memory of the event.
Portraits on a small set or on location: now-a-days many outsourced companies view conventions as an opportunity to gather virtual work groups together in a physical location. You can have all employees/collaborators available and make up a small set of portraits, formal or informal, of individuals or small groups.
At the end of the day you will have a large amount of material, which can now be made available to the client in unconventional ways, thanks to the new digital technologies that allow us, for example, to provide participants with new products/services, quickly and at low cost, in order to make use of the photographs. Here are some possibilities:
Galleries and slideshows, online or offline via DVD: these can be arranged with temporal or thematic logic and can be enjoyed via computer or even mobile devices, such as the tablets and smartphones;
Pictures can be seen online, downloaded in high or low resolution and prints can be ordered and received by mail;
Photographic books with the story of the event: this is a subsequent phase with more sophisticated processing of the material, but in certain cases, (ie. events involving important personalities or where special activities are completed onsite), it opens the possibility of creating an editorial product (the book), a physical object to remember a successful convention;
Editings with music and sound effects: actual films of fixed images (which are often more attractive and engaging than those in movement) meant for different purposes: for the next convention, for the company TV, as a way to communicate with those who were absent, as a Christmas gift …
Understanding the possibilities that new technologies open up for conventions and events photography allows us to think creatively of a convention as a mean of internal and external communication that can live past its own duration. In these cases, the photographer becomes the provider of complex and customizable services.
Obviously, when faced with such an extensive and continually developing type of offer, it’s necessary to mention prices. One should be forewarned that in this area prices are highly varied and in general, even here, there is a correlation between quality and price. The higher the expectations and the more complex the requests are, the more important it is that the photographer is a true professional with experience, and not an amateur.
Those who are able to provide such quality, tailored services rarely accept less than 1200 Euro per day.
One last tip: when choosing a photographer, make sure the person you talk to and whose work you looked at is the same as who will be shooting your event.