We recently were the photographers for an Ibec conference which was held in Galway City. Ibec are Ireland’s largest lobby and business representative group. Their purpose is to help build a better, sustainable future by influencing, supporting and delivering for business success. They have six regional offices in Ireland, a Brussels office, along with an extensive international network in the UK and US. As well as lobbying, Ibec provides a wide range of professional services and management training to members on all aspects of human resource management, occupational health and safety, employee relations and employment law.

As a conference photographer you must be prepared for the unexpected. You will always be required to get images of the speakers at the podium during the conference live images as they happen. Prior to the event starting group image of the speakers together are always required as they will be used in trade media, both hard copy and online versions. In some cases depending on who is in attendance a press release to national media outlets may also be required. Getting images of the speakers together can sometimes be a tricky affair as they can, in most cases arrive at different times and getting them corralled in a suitable area first good photography can involve some patience. You also need to aware that the people being photographed are busy professional and as the saying goes in this world time is money, whilst they understand the need for photography you must be quick and efficient, not for the faint hearted or inexperienced. A conference event photographer needs to be able work quickly and adapt to the environment that that they are given to produce the imagery required. Sometimes, most times in fact it won’t be ideal, but everyone is on a timeline the speakers, attendees, and so are you as the photographer. With this event I think I had seven minutes to produce the group shots of the speakers, I did however have enough time to get some candid photographs of the attendees prior to the event starting then it was live action shots of the conference itself. They was also a required to syndicate some images of the event to Ibec members so that they could be used on social media platforms in real time.

Experience really came into play here I have photographed quite a lot of conferences, a quick scout of the location prior to starting the event will go a long way to ensuring you have a successful shoot as was the case with this particular photoshoot for Ibec.