Lifesearch charity night another success !
Last Thursday, 29th of September, it was Lifesearch’s ever popular Charity Night at the Vineyard in Highbury and Islington, London. This year, over £7000 was raised for Brathay.
I have photographed many of their events over the years and I always start the evening full of anticipation.
As always, I arrived well in time for the event. This puts me and the client at ease and gives me enough time to take in my surroundings. I acquaint myself with the running order of the evening, the location of various aspects of the event and the people I need to focus on. Finally I find a safe and accessible place to ‘hide’ my camera bag.
Once all this is analysed and assessed, I can relax a little before the guests arrive.
As it was a scarily warm evening and still light at the start, I constantly had to adapt my camera settings from outside/daylight to inside/artificial lighting.
I had to question whether to use flash, up or down the ISO settings, the aperture, the speed. How do the pictures look using this combination ? Is it what I am aiming for ?
A host of technical aspects go before taking any shots. Shooting digital of course has its advantage, as I can test my settings before actually forgetting about them to observe, aim and shoot !
At first people are apprehensive, they sometimes pose stiffly or plainly flee when they see me coming. However, after a few drinks, some successful bets on ‘The Races’ and a rowdy auctioning off of fictional horses, I am swallowed by the crowd and entirely forgotten about.
My style has always been unforced, capturing natural moments, documenting the night as if I were invisible. At those times I truly enjoy my job and after dealing with all the technicalities, catching THE moment gives me a real buzz and really makes me smile.
Being “The Photographer” creates a certain distance between the crowd and me, a distance that, through empirical observation, gets shorter as the night grows longer !
I know it’s my cue to go, when guests grab my camera and start taking MY picture :-0
Here are the best bits :http://bebelle.photoshelter.com/gallery/Charitynight2011-selection/G0000vsqLs8C4rH0/
