Shoptalk Event Photography

One of my favorite clients hired me for this fun event shoot in Chicago covering Shoptalk earlier this year. It was one of the most creatively designed events, with an entrance to the event being through a hole in a giant open book, the opening of which was only revealed the second day of the event. Inside was a spooky, misty room that lead to the main show floor. Each breakout session space had a colorful backdrop on stage and some fun lighting to play with.

A unique aspect of this shoot was that I had a window where myself and the video team worked with models to get some very specific photographs of installations the client had done and wanted photographs/video of. Most events are almost purely me just documenting things from a shot list the client gives me, so this was a change of pace from the usual. The models were fun and easy to work with. It was pretty straightforward for the direction I needed to give them to get the visuals needed.

The colors and lighting were my two favorite parts of this shoot. So often these events are held in what are essentially large, windowless warehouses with ugly overhead lighting. In this case, there was a lot of colorful lighting design and a floor to ceiling wall of windows allowing natural light on one end of the building. This all gave me a change to manipulate the color and lighting through my camera to make more interesting photos than your usual run-of-the-mill event photography.

Here's some of my favorites from that shoot:

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