Prior to the pandemic, Distant Era frequently photographed events. As organizations and performance groups return to regular in-person events, this kind of work has become more frequent. It’s time to take a moment to consider what we’ve learned and think about what matters in event photography.
Performance Photography
Performance photography is one of the main pillars of Distant Era. Having come from a performance background, capturing performance is a core value. I usually aim to photograph performance based on the way I’d want to feel it as an audience member. Also the way I’d want to remember it as an actor. And the way I’d want to envision it as a writer. As well as the way I’d want to be proud of it as the lighting, set, or costume designer. Each of these aspects reflect choices the director made.
On the main Distant Era site, I wax a bit prosy on the virtues and importance of capturing performance, but I really do believe in it and its importance, especially in live performance. While a performance can be recorded on video, it seldom translates to video, whereas a photograph is a simpler medium that engages the imagination, summons the senses, brings back the associated memories of that moment in time without the distraction movement, sound, or time except as they exist in one’s imagination or memory.
Without a photograph of the show we were in, how do we accurately communicate that it existed or what it was like or that we spent months of our lives committed to this project? Photographs of shows are reference points for their performers and production team, “postcards from the past” as I call them on the Distant Era site. I’m sentimental, but I think they matter.
Here are a few from last year, along with a couple from before the pandemic.
Live Events
Distant Era also photographs live events, from galas to parties to mixers to lectures to fundraisers to special events for an organization. This is pure photography work, emphasizing much of what is important in performance in regard to capturing the essence of the event, though in live events I’m searching a venue for the moments rather than waiting for them to appear onstage. The main goal is to capture the essence of the event and the emotions of the attendees. A good event photographer finds those moments of connection, emotion, or wonder—the big ones and the small ones—documents and curates them to encapsulate the event.
This kind of photography can be refreshing after several studio sessions in which most of the time is spent striving toward an ideal look with perfectly controlled light. In live events, you seldom have much control over the light and must improvise with what you’re given (or bring with you). Editing live events can still take time, but you’re not looking to put a studio polish on every image. Here’s another sprinkling of live events, mostly from before the pandemic.
With several events coming up in the next two months, it’s time once again to hunt for those perfect moments, capture their essence, and make some wonderful memories.
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