Shooting my first conference today and tomorrow – one on Service Design – a discipline I am studying in my masters. It’s a bit like shooting a fashion show but with crappier lighting and no beautiful women. The challenge I’m finding in it is capturing the micro-expressions. You’ll have a speaker talk for 30 or 45 minutes and most of the time it seems exactly the same. However, there are powerful micro-expression that, if captured, can really show an emotion of the event. They are incredibly fleeting and shooting them reminds me of shooting sports or a bird in flight. You have to track the movement and be ready for the peak action.

I was also reminded of professionalism in photography today. A high-ranking government official attended the conference to give a couple opening words and brought his own photographer. Technically, the guy seemed to know what he was doing but was incredibly unprofessional, in my opinion. He wore a bright orange shirt, was chewing gum the whole time, and would go on stage behind the speaker (in said bright orange shirt) shooting off his flash. And he didn’t try to make himself less obvious between shots, he just stood back there like a giant carrot chewing his gum while his client was making a speech. Very distract, disrespectful and just unprofessional in my opinion. Pro photography isn’t just about the photographs, hell, it maybe not even be half about the photographs.

Taken on my first week on Madeira island on the south coast.  The weather was warm but the winds were strong. In the background is a cafe (the white ‘chimney’ is an elevator) with a stone-sculpted beach at the bottom.