As a corporate event photographer, I get to work in some amazing venues like you see above and below. Yes, I am Raleigh NC based, but I do corporate events and commercial photography all over the US.

In March, just after my return from New Orleans, I wrote a blog post that included a street image that I shot while I was in New Orleans. Although I don’t have a lot of time for extra photography work while covering a corporate event, I do keep my eyes open for opportunities.

The image to the left of the banjo player was taken at The House of Blues in New Orleans which was one of the offsite venues for the corporate event. It’s not a classic corporate event shot like a panel discussion which I have done plenty of, but it does help tell the story of the multi-day conference that I covered while in New Orleans because there was more to the event than keynotes, breakouts and panel discussions.

I do photograph my fair share of corporate events in the Raleigh market like one that I just photographed this past Monday for a Fortune 500 Company in downtown Raleigh before flying out early the next morning to cover a multi-day conference in Shreveport, Louisiana which is where I’m at today. It is a tremendous amount of work covering a corporate event the night before an early am flight out of state, but I love the challenge of working in different venues.

In addition to both New Orleans and Shreveport which were within 30 days of each other, I also already have Dallas, Texas and Indianapolis, Indiana scheduled in 2016 as well. The travel is not easy, but it does allow me to get paid and visit other areas of the US at the same time.

If you are looking for a corporate event photographer for Raleigh or anywhere else in the US, feel free to call me direct at 919.723.8453 or use the online contact form.

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The shot on the left was taken in New Orleans at a multi-day corporate conference and was part of an awards presentation during the lunch hour. Yes, it was shot during the lunch hour which means that I had little down time.

Award presentations are just one of the key elements involved with corporate events and conferences. I typically only have a matter of seconds to get the shot and move on to the next presentation. This is one of two shots that I took in a matter of seconds. I like to take two shots if possible in case one of the subjects blinks.

Award presentations may seem like an easy task; however, the presentations are often non-stop with names being called back to back. It can be a lot of pressure on a new photographer or even a veteran photographer that is not use to doing fast paced photography. I have photographed so many award presentations that I am very comfortable shooting them.

If you are a photographer and have never shot an awards presentation or you are an employee within your company that has been asked to photograph an awards presentation because you have a “nice camera,” I would suggest that you do a mock presentation to get some practice before attempting to photograph the actual presentation. Again, it may seem like such a simple task, but it’s not as easy as you may think. The photographer helps control the flow based on the pace that he or she can maintain to get the shot.

5 Tips To Photographing An Awards Presentation:

1) Experience trumps all – If you are not experienced, practice, practice, practice.
2) Double check all batteries to make sure you can get through the presentation.
3) Have backup gear handy. That’s right! You should not rely on one camera.
4) Speak up! Give direction to the subjects: look here, smile, click, thanks!
5) Keep it moving! In most cases, the photographer will likely help control the flow.

The post Award Presentations At Corporate Events And Conferences From Raleigh To Nationwide first appeared on .

The picture on the left is the Dallas skyline (purchased from Fotolia.com). I closed a corporate event photography and video gig this week for a conference coming up that will be held in Dallas, Texas.

I’ll be handling the corporate event photography side of the project while at the conference and both John and Keenan will be focused on capturing video footage throughout the conference. Our goal is to provide lots of great still images as well as a highlight / promotional video that will be about 3 minutes in length when completed.

Although I shoot all over the US and have done both photography and video in Texas before, this will be the first time that our team has visited Dallas. It’s nice on our first visit to Dallas to be doing both photography and video for a conference which is a core part of our business. We are ready, willing and able to travel anywhere in the US and beyond. It’s something that we do on a regular basis.

Two key benefits for companies, organizations and associations having the same photography and video team at their annual meetings around the country and/or around the world or even multiple events or conferences in the same year is that they get consistent results and for those attending to see familiar faces behind the camera. Although I get the value of working with a local company because we are local to Raleigh, having a team that travels saves time in finding different photography and video teams in the host location and risking results that may not be what the client is looking for.

Typically, the only additional expenses are hotel, flight and transportation to and from the airport. When organiztions make decisions 6 months out like this one did for the Dallas conference, the airline tickets round trip for a three man team are only $698. That’s the total for ALL 3. Therefore, planning ahead for photography and video can save the organization money.

The post Dallas, Texas Corporate Event Photography And Video: We Travel! first appeared on .

I took the shot on the left a week ago today while covering a 5 day corporate event in New Orleans. This is the trumpeter that you see further down this post on stage at the House of Blues in New Orleans.

After the show, the trumpet player was standing on the sidewalk smoking a cigarette. I asked him if he would lean against the wall with the light shinning from behind me onto his face. The image on the left is the final result.

I am fortunate to be able to cover corporate events from coast-to-coast and I get to shoot in a lot of cool venues. It’s a lot of work traveling with gear, but when I get shots like the two on this post, it makes it all worthwhile.

Neither shot has been manipulated much in post. I simply did minor tweaks at best.

Although technology has come a long way and phones yield some nice images. Both of these images were shot with a Canon 5D Mark III with a 24mm f/1.4 lens.

One of the nice things about being a corporate event photographer is that I get to go beyond the studio. Stage shots and street shots are just a couple of the many different types of images that I have an opportunity to capture while covering corporate events around the US.

I love being a full time professional photographer and hope you enjoy viewing these images.

The post Corporate Event Photography In New Orleans Yields A Nice Street Shot first appeared on .

In the image above, the three people were lined up for a classic posed shot. The guy in the middle said can you make me taller and handsome? My reply off the cuff was that “I can make you taller.” Notice, I didn’t say “Handsome.” That comment lead to laughter which you see in the image above including the guy in the middle bending over. The smiles continued into the posed shot. Any good photographer will find opportunities to get the shots that clients will love.

Sell your services based on stories like this that I’ll likely share with potential clients. Sell your services based on quality, creativity, results and numerous other factors.  However, DO NOT sell your services based on being the low priced leader. Determine what you need to charge to be profitable, set your pricing and NEVER apologize for your pricing. However, you should make good business decisions and not lose a project over minimal differences. For example, if you charge $500 for X and the client says “The powers that be gave me a $475 budget.” It may be a good idea to have some flexibility if that’s all it takes to close the deal.

I am rarely the lowest priced event photographer being considered, so it’s not a decision that is usually based on the client choosing the cheapest photographer. I work VERY HARD doing corporate events and give the clients my all.

The post Getting A Response And Capturing The Image Beyond The Pose first appeared on .

If you are looking for a corporate event photographer, you should consider whether the photographer has a lot of corporate event photography experience because as you know corporate events are different than wedding photography. It’s true that you can likely find a good photographer in the city that your conference is hosted in; however, if you are not in the same city every year, you may want to consider hiring a corporate event photographer that travels. By having a traveling corporate event photographer that you like, you can keep up the same consistent of images each year provided you like the photographers work.

I have photographed several corporate events in the Charlotte area including Downtown Charlotte and The Charlotte Motor Speedway Champions Club. If you are holding your corporate event at Charlotte Motor Speedway, I have photographed the pace cars that they run for corporate events both during the day and at night (like the image below).

If you are looking for a corporate event photographer for your Charlotte are event, please give me a call at 919.723.8453 or use the online web form for a guaranteed 60 minute response time.

The post Covering Charlotte NC: Corporate Event Photographer David Williams first appeared on .

Every corporate event that I have ever photographed always has someone speaking at some point and in many cases there is a keynote speaker or even several keynote speakers for larger venues.

Photographing speakers is not the easiest part of photographing a corporate event but hopefully the tips below will give you some ideas to help photograph someone speaking.

Some of the tips below are for the benefit of the audience, but are still helpful tips to use when photographing a speaker. The tips are in no particular order.

1) A lot of auto focus cameras will be when the lens gets in focus. Cut the beep off if you have that option. It’s annoying to those around you.

2) If you are shooting with a MIRRORED camera, the mirror makes noise when it moves. My camera has a silent mode that works wonders. If you have the option to put yours in silent, do it. The mirror flapping up and down is annoying to those around you. If you are shooting mirrorless, problem solved.

3) Know your ISO range and when the noise begins to be unacceptable. In many cases, you will have to shoot with available light. It’s not uncommon to have to set the ISO to 800 or 1,600 and in some cases even higher. However, if your images look awful at 1600 ISO, you need to shoot as high as you can to get an acceptable image. Don’t just automatically set the ISO to 1600 and start shooting. It also depends on how large the final image will be used, a 400 x 600 pixel image may look fine but a 600 x 900 may make the noise (grain) become more apparent.

4) In many cases, you will need to shoot wide open on your lens setting. This is when that expensive f/2.8 zoom that you have thought of buying will come in handy. If you already own a lens that has a low f/stop, great. If not, you can always rent one if needed. A kit lens with a f/3.5 or f/4 setting may work. There are even lots of pro lenses on the market today that are f/4 which keeps the cost down vs. an f/2.8 lens. Just keep in mind that f/2.8 means that you can shoot at a faster shutter speed at the same ISO as you would be set at on f/4. At the end of the day, you have to do the best you can with what you have.

5) You may need to shoot with a monopod which will help you hold the camera more steady than trying to shoot handheld. A tripod is too much trouble if you move around much.

6) You should be a photographic ninja which means move around while you are photographing the speaker without getting in the way. Thus, the reference being a ninja.

7) Using a flash can solve low light problems but can also create another problem: When you shoot lots of shots with a flash, the constant flashing has the potential of becoming annoying. In most of the cases that I shoot in, I rarely use a flash and mostly use the available light. As an internal staff photographer or a contract photographer, you should ask the person wanting you to cover the event how he or she feels about flash photography.

8) Take lots, and lots, and lots of shots of the speaker for numerous reasons. In order to get a few shots that the speaker doesn’t look odd, you will likely need to shoot numerous images. If the speaker moves around while speaking and the light changes slightly, you will be glad that you took lots of shots. If you are having to shoot a slightly slower shutter speed than you would like, you will also be glad you took numerous shots because you will likely have a certain amount that are soft focus. The bottom line is to shoot, shoot, shoot which is why everything up to this point is so critical in the process especially the auto focus beep, the mirror flapping and whether to use a flash or not. 

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You have to read the details below to appreciate this group shot.

Yes, you could probably pick the above group shot apart for various reasons, but when you know the details behind it, you should agree that it’s a nice group shot considering all of the circumstances.

This was a line them up quick and shoot group shot. It wasn’t loads of time to see the height of the people involved because names were constantly being called. I had no choice but to get this shot as quickly as possible. You’ll find more details below:

1) I was informed before the fast paced, non-stop, awards ceremony that I would have a group of about 50 people to photograph. The conference call discussing the event stated that the largest group would be about 15 people. That’s what I recall anyway because I asked when they said “We’ll need group shots of award recipients.” Don’t get me wrong. This was a great corporate event and we all got along well. I’m simply saying that I was a little surprised to know that I had a group of about 50. That’s when my experience (not stress) kicked in.

2) After I was informed that I would have a group of about 50 people, I had to figure out how I could get each persons face in the shot when they would all be standing on the same level. I asked the facility if they had a step stool. Thankfully, they did. So that’s what I stood on to see all the faces. I had already seen a ladder there, so that was plan B.

3) The width of the group shot is the maximum width that I had to work with. The wall was to my right and tables for dinner was to the immediate left.

4) On the right side of the image, it may appear I could have put people there. However, there was a 6 foot table with items all under it that couldn’t be moved.

5) The shot was taken in the corner of the room just off to the side of where people were coming up and receiving their awards.

6) I had my usual event gear (which is a lot) with me which means that I did not have a studio strobe, but I did have my (2) Canon 600 hotshoe mount speedlites (flash). I set the speedlite that was mounted to my camera hotshoe to FULL MANUAL power to get enough light to have the front row and the back row in focus.

7) I stood on the step stool to make sure that I could see everyone and took 4 shots in less 30 seconds that went something like this. I counted out loud 1,2,3 (snap), 1,2,3 (snap), 1,2,3 (snap) and 1,2,3 (snap). I said let me check. I quickly thumbed through the 4 images and said “Thank You – We are done!” 

8) Guess what, after that, the two key people on the far right stood back up front which was right behind where I stood to shoot this and more names were called for more awards.

The post Corporate Event Photography Tip: How To Take A Group Shot Of 40+ People In 30 Seconds Or Less – Line Them Up & Shoot – The Details Make A Difference – Read More Below… first appeared on .

The image above was shot in Quebec City Canada by David Williams while covering a corporate event.

My blog posts have been a little thin recently, but I have been on the go a lot as well with some very long days.

From Saturday, September 13th to Wednesday, September 17th, I had the opportunity to cover a multi-day corporate event. In this post, I’ll cover some of my experiences including traveling with camera gear.

Traveling with Camera Gear

I have flown with gear numerous times but never on Express flights. I guess that I have been lucky. The client booked the flights which I am appreciative of; however, I am not accustomed to having no overhead room for the maximum size carry on which usually holds my core gear: camera bodies, lenses and speed-lights.

I flew out of RDU in Raleigh, NC to Newark, NJ on an Express flight which I was able to put my carry on camera bag with the core part of my gear in the overhead, but I was not so lucky on the connecting flight. As I was coming down the ramp getting ready to board to the flight from Newark, NJ to Quebec City, I found out that there was NO ROOM for overhead bags. My core gear had to be checked and put under the plane. Long story short, I pulled some core pieces out and put in my back pack that went on the inside with me. The return flight was similar, but I prepared better in that packed more in my heavy equipment case from SKB cases that went under the plane.

Take Away: I’ll be buying a HARD SHELL carry on that when it has to be checked will not bother me like a soft shell padded case going underneath. The next corporate event for this client is in California.

Visiting and Covering An Event In Quebec City Canada

I didn’t realize just how French Quecbec City really is. French is everywhere: signs and language.

It’s a beautiful city near the St. Lawrence River with some amazing architecture like you see at the top and bottom of this post.

As for covering a corporate event in Quebec City, it was awesome because the event was not just at the convention center with numerous key not speakers including Canadian Government Officials, Lou Dobbs, a retired 3 star US General and others and other activities, but it also included time at the art museum ( Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec ), a St. Lawrence River Boat Tour and a theater ( Le Capitole de Québec ) just to name a few things.

Sounds like a photographers dream shoot doesn’t it? Don’t be fooled: I worked my butt off covering this virtually non-stop event. However, I also managed to experience some of Quebec City in the process.

Take Away: When you are paid to cover an event, do your best and get some great shots; however, take a little time to smell the roses. Oh, and I plan to go back with Brenda for some personal time in this awesome city.

The image above was shot in Quebec City Canada by David Williams while covering a corporate event.

The post Corporate Event Photography in Quecbec City Canada – WOW! What an Awesome Time! first appeared on .

I recently covered a corporate event in Charlotte, North Carolina and wanted to share a few images in this post as well as provide a few additional details that may help you in your search for a corporate focused professional photographer covering the Charlotte area.

Although I am based in Raleigh, NC, I do shoot around the country and internationally. My Charlotte number is 704.918.1522 if you’d like to discuss your upcoming event. My rates are the same within a 3 hour radius of Raleigh for corporate events and on location corporate headshots for 10 or more people. In addition, I do have a friend who is a Charlotte based Professional Photographer should he be a better fit for you. Either way, I can help you get your corporate event covered and provide you with the information you need as it relates to photography coverage.

Corporate event photography is a core part of my business. I don’t do consumer events like weddings. If you are looking for a professional photographer that truly specializes in corporate photography including headshots, commercial, events and more, please include me in your RFP process. You can call my Charlotte number in the previous paragraph or click to visit my online form.

Below you will see several images from the Corporate Event that I covered inside the Marriott City Center Charlotte. If you would like to see more of my portfolio, you may visit my corporate events page.

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