The hardest assignments for me are the most personal ones to cover for our family. While I want to just sit back and enjoy, I also want to be sure these milestones in our family life has been documented.
When I arrive to cover an event I am often setting up strobes to be sure I get good light on the people's faces. For this event I setup two strobes off to the sides to be sure the speakers had good light on them.
This photo was taken without the flashes going off, so I have circled where they are in the room. The flash on the left is the Nikon SB-800 and the one on the right is my Nikon SB-900.
They are both on the Pocketwizard TT5. I am using Manfrotto 5001B Nano Black Light Stand - 6.2' (1.9m) I chose this light stand because of how small it folds up [19.3" (49cm)] for easy travel through airports. To connect the Pocketwizard TT5 to the lightstand I am using Interfit Metal Umbrella Bracket with Adjustable Flash Shoe.
To trigger the flashes I am using the Pocketwizard TT1 with the AC3 to control the flash output on the TTL setting. This way the camera sensor is helping determine the flash output of the flashes.
I guess you can see this is a little involved over just pulling out the camera and shooting some available light photos or even using an on-camera flash. I want the photos to look great, not just usable. I am documenting the most important events in our family history. My family will cherish these photos much more than if I had great photos of the President of the United States.
Here are some of the photos from our event celebrating my wife getting the 2014 Pioneering Ministry Award from Columbia Theological Seminary for her work doing chaplaincy work with journalists, Citadel parents and now military families.
What is the biggest mistake made by photographers? Photographers often put more effort into covering events for clients and not enough into their own families. What is the most important?
While your clients will pay the bills, the photos you do of your friends and family events are the ones you will be most remembered for doing.
You know what happens when you do this consistently? Your clients start getting your best coverage as well—they are now treated as family. Every business should be doing the very same thing for their families, treating them with your best efforts.
