ON TOPIC: Job prep took a break for the "big" eclipse. The planning now revolves around "which camera and lenses to take" intersecting with "what's my flash strategy?" and bolstered by "what clothes should I pack?"

 

It's just about impossible to go wrong with a white, cotton, long sleeve button down Oxford shirt.

There was an eclipse yesterday. We were in the path of "totality." We are currently working on a pop song called, "Totality." I hope to have it performed by Lady Ga-Ga and produced by Pharrell Williams. But that's a whole different thing (yes, joke). We watched the "totality" from the swimming pool, alternating with a pleasant and unhurried workout swim. We did pause from time to time to look at the partial eclipse and then we paused for a few minutes when the moon totally blocked the sun and everything got dark....for about four minutes. The folks in Montreal probably had the best shot at seeing a nice eclipse. 

But then I got back to pre-shoot logistics. 

My client added a day to the  event schedule for next week. It's a conference for a major banking group. The board of directors is converging at the event and there was a request for a board of directors group shot. We'll shoot that in the morning on the day when all the attendees arrive. The schedule originally called for just a reception that day, from five to seven pm, and my plan was to drive in from Austin in the mid-afternoon, get situated in my hotel and then meet up with the production team and marketing team in the late afternoon. Photography to follow.

With the new request added to the schedule I requested a hotel room for the night before so I could scout for locations well in advance and also to get a decent night's sleep and not have to worry about early morning traffic both in Austin and San Antonio. It's a good idea not to have to rush into the B.O.D. shots at the start of the whole event. Nothing like a sweaty and anxious photographer running late to ruin the vibe...

Now my schedule is M-T-W and a half day on Thursday. I'll head back to Austin after the event wraps around one p.m. on Thursday. Unless...  If the client needs a lot of files right away, instead of being able to wait a few days, I'll ask to add a Thursday night hotel stay and go straight from the show back to the hotel to dive into file editing, post production and fast delivery. More fun to do that at my hotel with availability of room service. And no distractions.

The event is an upscale mix of meetings, speeches and receptions but also includes some light-hearted social events and entertainment. As well as one afternoon of activities outside the scope of the core conference. Like skeet shooting. So wardrobe needs to be varied. Coat and tie for the B.O.D. group portrait session. Just to get things off to a good start. Those participants will all be in suits and the women in formal business wear. I figure I should look like I belong. Dressing well always worked for Richard Avedon...

 Then business casual for the opening reception in the evening. 

I'm packing a navy blue suit, a blue sport coat, a black sport coat and lots of nice dress shirts to match. Pants? Of course!

I think we have this all covered and since I've worked with this client over the past few years I have very good idea of the vibe and also of what the prevailing dress codes will be. 

Photographing event stuff requires a pleasant smile, a camera you don't mind having in your hands for a long day, a medium/standard zoom lens and a good flash. My primary camera will be a Leica SL2 fitted with a 24-90mm zoom lens. I've sourced two very good condition Leica SF-58 flashes and I've been testing them with the camera and lens most of the week. Fresh Eneloop batteries arrived last week and are on their third round of discharge/recharge to properly form them. There are also a couple of Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-2 flashes in the back-up bag; just in case. Same form factor. Similar menus. Same batteries. As well as two off camera connecting cords.

I like being able to bounce flash off ceilings. Even really high ceilings. If it's a big reach I'll go as high as ISO 1600 coupled with f4.0 to make it work. Depending on the color of the existing, ambient light, I'll lightly filter the flash to get at least halfway from daylight to the color source of the ambient.  And I'll make the flash color the dominant color balance. The background aim point is usually 2/3rds of a stop darker than my main subject's proper exposure. 

As back up for the zoom lens I'm packing a trio of Sigma L mount lenses. The 35mm f2.0, the 50mm f2.0 and the 90mm f2.8. I'm also taking one of the original SL cameras as a back-up for the SL2. The third camera I'm taking along will be the Leica Q2. I hope to use it for several exterior events where the leaf shutter and high shutter speed flash sync are just the right thing. Bonus! All three cameras take the same batteries!!

I'm packing a separate light kit for the B.O.D. group shots. Two light stands, two Godox V1 flashes, a Godox/Leica flash trigger, two white umbrellas and a small but quite handy tripod. I'll use that gear on Tuesday morning, repack it and then leave it in the secure backstage gear area for the rest of the show.

I thought about taking a longer lens for shots of speakers at the podium but at the last show for the same client I was able to get close enough to the stage to get the shots I wanted. My usual plan for podium shots (always with NO flash!!) is to use the the zoom at 90mm and set the camera to shoot in APS-C mode. I end up with a 135mm focal length and the resulting file (Jpeg) is still a healthy 22+ megapixels. 

All of the active event photographs, small groups shots and live entertainment will be well taken care of with the zoom and a good flash mostly bouncing off the ceilings. I'll bring along the Q2 for those times as well and try it out with some "odd characters" from my collection of zanier flashes; more for entertainment value than need. 

The nice thing about working in a good hotel, and only 70 miles from home by car, is that I can bring along a lot of stuff, make good use of bellmen and essentially make my hotel room an office away from home for three or four days. With someone else to straighten up after me. 

Back-up cameras, back-up flashes, back-up clothing choices and a pocket full of batteries. A shiny new laptop.  Just right for a nice event project.