The Zen of Event Photography

The ZEN of photography

The secret to being a respected event photographer has a lot to do with an ability that few of us think about when we book our first job; The ability to become one with the environment….. This is the "Zen of photography".

It's that feeling that you are so in sync with the world around you that you could sense a misquito about to burp in the other room. It sounds funny, but it’s true. A good photographer captures what’s happening around him. An awesome photographer becomes one with what’s around him, enters the middle realm of reality and grabs the shot from the inside out, essentially grabbing the soul of the moment and holding it for ransom.
Remember the last “great” photograph you took. The one that when you first saw it, it spoke to you. It told you that you alone owned that moment in time. Then, you thought it was kind of cool, so you showed it to a friend and for a moment there was silence, you sat wondering if it was really good or not. Then they said it, “That’s really good…..wow, you know that could be in a magazine. You should enter that in a contest or something….” For a moment, all was right in the world. The economy could crash again and worlds could collide, but for that moment nothing else existed, or mattered. For that moment, you realized you created something special all your own that no one else captured. In some ways, photography is a selfish, lonely existence. The irony is that we make a living providing memories for others people.
The art of photography comes in creating beautiful imagery, but does this come from shooting for the client or shooting for yourself? A respected photographer balances shooting for himself first, and then for the client. I know, this goes against all logic and everything you’ve ever heard about event photography. Of course you must shoot for the client, but don’t forget the reason they hired you: They like your work, they like you, and most of all they trust you. Yes, a successful photographer must be mentally unbalanced to the point that you become 2 people at the same time. One part of you is shooting what FEELS right to you, it’s that sweet spot, that moment when you hit the tennis racket and the ball just pops off through the air and crosses the net perfectly. The other side of you wants to cross-dress, I mean must cross over the aisle to the perpetual aisle and shoot from the head, not the hip. Being able to capture both what you desire and what the client expects, makes a good photographer. Doing both of these things at once, could very well lead to greatness.