A great two days photographing the Connect Gov conference in Edinburgh. As a professional photographer working mainly as a conference photographer around Scotland, I am often asked what the single most important aspect of conference photography is and apart from the obvious things, like, get there on time, be prepared with your gear, be friendly etc people are often surprised at my answer. They usually expect me to mention the light and the ability to use flash, or the correct lenses to use, or even the importance of finding the best position to stand. These things are all important. However, when I am photographing a conference in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK, I believe the key skill is to capture the emotion of the participants, in order to tell a story of the event. This may sound easy or obvious, but I often see conference photos that lack life and emotion and you can never underestimate the importance of the need to create some sort of feeling from the image. Don’t get me wrong I could write a book on the do’s and don’ts of conference and event photography but for me this is the most important thing.
