Event Photography - Sickle Cell Foundation of Orange County

I had the pleasure of photographing this years annual black tie event for Orange County's Sickle Cell Foundation. Unlike weddings, portrait, or product commercial photography, there's never a dull moment when it comes to event photography, especially an event where you have lots happening. This years event was a celebrity black tie poker event to help bring awareness to Sickle Cell Disease. I have to say that of all the events I have photographed, the coordinators of the black tie event had their act together, which made my job a lot easier.

Working events as a photographer can be quite challenging. You're dealing with many factors which can impede your progress and success in good quality work. Things like poor event planning, lighting problems, and the attendees. This particular event was held at the Wyndham Hotel in Orange County, California, which meant we where working with a smaller venue. Nothing like working at a civic or convention center, which requires multiple photographers and assistants.

I think the biggest challenge we had at this event was lighting. We where dealing with a large banquet hall and high ceilings. The room was kept dark for mood lighting most of the night. I'm rather picky about my lighting, so a single on camera flash as my light source was out of the question. We could have set up lighting around the room, but the mood would have been lost both by me triggering the strobes and by the strobes lighting the room with bright light every time I took a picture.  Plus, we where moving a lot and setting up strobes throughout the room would have been an issue in some parts of the room as well as the areas outside of the reception hall.

The solution was to use one of my assistances. I had Jessi holding a boom arm with a Nikon SB800 at the end of it. We used this as the key light while I had another SB800 on my camera as the fill. To capture the ambient lighting and maintain the mood on film, I dragged my shutter to allow more of the natural background light in. The result of the event shoot was awesome. We where able to light our subjects, while preserving the mood of the event.

I would say that the overall event was a success, both from the planning of theevent by the coordinators to the results of the photos.

Event and Commercial Photography in Orange County

Some images from the 2010 Sickle Cell Foundation of Orange County Black Tie Event:

Actors, Garrett Morris (The Jamie Foxx Show, Martin, SNL), Art Evans, (Die Hard 2 and A Soldier's Story) Starlerra Simmons (Founder and President of the O.C. Sickle Cell Foundation), Ted Lange (The Love Boat) and Roger Mosely (T.C. on Magnum PI)

Celebrity Arjay Smith (Day After Tomorrow and First Sunday) and Guest on the carpet.

Event photography doesn't have to involve bright strobes and well lit rooms. Here, I wanted to capture the ambiance and mood of the reception room.

Event guests playing poker at the celebrity poker event hosted by the Orange COunty Sickle Cell Foundation. Using a Nikon SB800 flash on a boom arm and an on camera SB800 as fill, I dragged my shutter to keep the ambient light while illuminating the subjects in this pleasing event photo.

Here you have Phil Gates  of the Phil Gates Blues Band as entertainment for the event. Rather than blast flash and kill the ambiance of the room, I dragged my shutter and used an on camera flash as fill light. There was a lot of incandescent lighting around, so I did not change my white balance as I wanted to maintain the integrity of the lighting.