Home. Now working on post production of event images.

This is an image I shot two years ago. The person on the left, in front, is 

Texas governor, Gregg Abbott. He is seated next to one of the top 

executives from Samsung. Texas and Samsung penned a deal to 

drop in a facility of a couple million square feet just north of Austin.

I include this image because it's one of many event photo shoots I've

done utilizing the Leica SL2 camera and the 24-90mm lens.

I wanted to show that the combo is highly capable as event gear.

The image above is NOT from this week's event!!!

I left Austin after lunch on Monday. I checked into the Marriott Hotel at River Center in San Antonio in the middle of the afternoon. The porter helped me get four cases of photo gear and one case of clothes up to my room. Half an hour later I was location scouting for outdoor settings that we could use to make several board of directors photographs for my banking client the next morning. 

I brought extra photo gear with me for two reasons. One reason is that it's ill advised to embark on a three day photography project, for a client, without a bit of back-up gear. Just in case. I packed a back-up body (SL) for the SL2 and then included a smaller, lighter secondary camera, the Q2, in case I wanted to go lower profile for any of the sub-events I would be documenting. All three cameras use the same SD cards and the same batteries. I brought along six of the previous generation Leica batteries and two of the newer, longer lasting, and cheaper batteries. The second reason to bring two cameras is to make the days more interesting. Choice is fun.

In addition to the cameras and lenses I also brought along five flashes. Two were Godox V1 flashes. I used those just for one part of the job; the exterior shots of the board of directors; a series of group shots of the eight members. The session was scheduled for 10:30 a.m Tuesday morning. The weather report the night before was reassuring. Reality was different. It misted and drizzled all morning long. We went with a second, pre-scouted and close by location which provided cover over the top of the group while delivering a nice view, behind them, of gardens, trees and the River Walk. The two Godox flashes were used with 45 inch umbrellas on very portable light stands. The subjects and the commissioning client were pleased with the results.

Those two flashes and the light stands went back into a stand bag, got dropped back by my hotel and were never used again during this trip. But in that one session they were exactly what I needed to be able to have maximum location flexibility coupled with reliable performance. And their batteries last almost forever. 

The rest of the day was filled with executive breakout sessions and the taking of many atmospheric shots to fill in the edges in our visual story. In the late afternoon 250+ bankers and major shareholders attending the event headed up to the rooftop plaza of the Hyatt Regency, overlooking the River Walk, the Alamo and downtown. The weather had changed for the better and there was a light breeze which made the humidity tolerable. I used the SL2+24/90mm to capture small groupings and I added the Leica SF58 flash, used in TTL/HSS, to add fill light and catchlights for the people in the photographs. 

The attendees split up after the reception and were treated to various great restaurants all over the city. The head meeting planner is a San Antonio native whose family had been in the restaurant business for generations, in the city, so she was very familiar with all the best and most iconic dining venues. I spent the evening eating a room service salad and editing the images from the reception. I edited down to 60 files and resized them to 16:9 for the production company which was tasked with cobbling them into a slide show to play on the two 20 foot screens in the main ballroom the next morning, when the attendees arrived for the general session. The new, M3 MacBook Pro made short work of both the editing and the post processing required. 

Breakfast started at seven on Wednesday morning and the "main tent" session began right at eight o'clock on the dot. I photographed each of the presenters, hosts and guest speakers from a table near the stage. To get tight shots of each person (waist up) I set the camera to shoot at the APS-C file crop and, when set to 90mm, the lens emulated a traditional 135mm. Or at least the same angle of view. As always, I arrived early and made a custom white balance for the stage lighting which I used on both Wednesday and Thursday's general sessions. The color out of camera was pretty much perfect. And the staging company, Palladium, designed the lighting for the stage in such a way as to make it easy on me and the camera. 

The afternoon offered the attendees a choice of activities. A Bourbon tasting (the most popular), a visit to the historic missions of San Antonio, skeet shooting, and one more that was a basic bus tour of  downtown historic locations such as the Alamo, the Mercado etc. We sent two other photographers out with two of the groups and I went along on the visit to the distilleries. We divided up photographic resources based on the popularity of the events. The Bourbon Tasting and Distillery tour was the hot ticket. I had dibs on that.  I ditched the SL2 and just took along the Q2 and an automatic flash.

Back to my hotel for a shower, some downtime and a change of clothes. Then back to the Hyatt Regency for another reception, a lovely dinner, and a great show by Austin legend, Ray Benson, and his band, Asleep at the Wheel. We were able to get on the band's schedule but the very next day they'd be in Phoenix as the opening band for Willie Nelson, on a U.S. tour. The band wrapped up around 10:15 and the client and I sat down to go through the day's images to make a new selection of images for the next morning's walk in. I finally got back to my room around 12:30 a.m., packed all my cases. Charged batteries for everything. 

This morning was, as usual, breakfast at 7:00 a.m. with the event starting at 8:00 a.m. The first part of today's meeting was an hour long "state of the economy, the bank, and the mission targets." Lots of charts, graphs and math.  The second half was a presentation by Sixty Minutes TV correspondent, Scott Pelly. The presentation was great. And duly documented via the SL2 and the 24/90mm. Five minutes after Pelly wrapped up his presentation I was back over at my hotel, just across the street, getting one of the hotel porters to deliver my luggage down to the valet stand, and five minutes after that I was in transit back to Austin. I arrived in time to unload the car and then get lunch. 

I'd forgotten how much fun it is to socialize, to wear a coat and tie, to hang out with experts in a field, and to play endlessly with a fun camera. I think the feeling is contagious because my client has already booked me for their show next year; back in Santa Fe, NM. I'm looking forward to it.

On my return I find that a different client has requested that I do a project for them next week. Environmental portraits. Another favorite activity. Another favorite client. And so it goes. 

No mannequins were harmed in the execution of this week's job. The Leicas proved once again that they are not just toys for dentists and doctors. The biggest disappointment of these last four days is....you guessed it... no swimming. So sad. I know you were anxious to read about aquatic sports again. 

Also, no skyscrapers. Just the way it was.