;P
I’m lazy, don’t wanna make a Top10.
I hate photographing social events, mainly because I’m anti-social. Also because social events are usually all about who you photograph, and them posing, and faking their smiles. There’s nothing I hate more about photos than fake-smiling. But alas, we must photograph those sometimes… not so much about social events parties, but the events themselves.
I have a few rules that I follow. They might be strange rules, and nobody probably does it because they’re not anti-social like me, but I always keep them in mind.
– I never call out celebrities so I can take pictures of them. I don’t want them to see me — I do carry weird hair, and that calls attention… but that just goes with the hair — I don’t want them to look into my camera. I like that when they don’t look at my camera, it feels voyeuristic. LOL
– I never use flash. Flash is hard on the skin – mind you, sometimes events are so badly lit, it’s impossible to take photos without it. However, in those cases, sometimes I borrow/steal other people’s flashes. I believe the use of flash is only appropriate on studio settings, because when flash is used in a natural or “non-set-up” setting, it just makes it look out of place.
Plus, women who aren’t necessarily made-up like models for a shoot look rough with a flash hitting on their faces. Clear skin women looks very pale like zombies… and overall, people have shiny skin. Plus PLUS, flash in these cases make wrinkles pop up as if they were the grand canyon.
I have a lot of issues with flash.
– A natural pose is better than Pose-Hard. I rather catch a person standing naturally in conversation with someone else, than having to photograph them standing in pose and smiling at cameras.
– Be a tourist. I love photographing the stages and how the light hits different parts of the scenery. It makes the event about the place, as well as the people behind it. You know, the people who work on the stage and the lights.
So having said that, these are my Top5 Tips for Red Carpets Events from my photographing point of views – as well as a viewer at home ;P
1. Organizers, announce who is coming.
We don’t know everyone, so we need the heads up when your guests begin arriving. Especially when your Guest of the Night arrives, we need more than “This is such-and-such” while they’re walking the carpet.
When Delfina Paredes arrived at the opening at the Lima Film Festival, I heard people asking “Who’s that?” even though, well… people were supposed to know. They should have let us know 5 minutes before she made her entrance.
2. It’s PASO, PASO, POSE [step, step, pose] not PASO, PASO, PASO [step, step, step] I’m gone.
When people begin arriving, they all see us with our cameras, yet they just pass by. [case and point, the photo up there]. When Ms. Paredes arrived, she waltz into the venue and had to be brought out to talk to the few cameras that were near the entrance.
She was the Special Guest that night, she should have talked to all the media outlets on her way to the venue.
3. Keep your photographers happy.
We take photos, if you treat us like the help… keeping us “in line” – well, you’re bound to make some of them angry. When photographers aren’t happy, they leave. When they leave, they don’t take photos of your event.
Also, with celebrities that aren’t nice… well, photographers don’t bother in choosing the best shots. In fact, they won’t have any issue in releasing a photo of you not looking your best.
4. A very funny lady on the red carpet.
Hello? More of the likes of Joan Rivers commenting on Red Carpet events
5. Fashion Police!!!
Because celebrities should stress out about this type of events. All photographers are criticizing them when they get home anyway, so why not do it publicly? LOL Plus, with Fashion Police there would only be an improvement of well-dressed people, right? Okay… that or a lot of low self-esteem.
