The Nervous Photographer

Are you nervous? Are you shy? Well we've got just the thing for you - social event photography! Now you can blend into the foreground in a blaze of light shouting your lungs out at strangers and fighting with burley security staff. If you are loud enough you can get tossed out into the street and if you are lucky it will be a wet street. How good is that!

This blog is brought to you by a strong cup of coffee and a note on my personal Facebook page from a friend. They are a shy and retiring sort. I have a great deal of sympathy with that as I used to be myself - until I discovered a press camera and the No.25 flashbulb.

Press Graphics were wonderful machines - complex enough to command respect and sturdy enough to be used in a club. As a club. Paired with a big flash running on D batteries and a pocket full of N0.25's you could picture ANYthing. If you had an outlet for your images it was a passport into some pretty fun places.

Nowadays some people think that they will get better event shots with a high-ISO camera and a wide-aperture lens. If they are frightened they can choose a longer focal length lens ( paying way more for it if it has a large maximum aperture ) and snipe from the corner of the room. It works for some, but it sometimes misses out on the best of the worst of human behaviour - and requires longer stalking and waiting time for the action to begin. You have to listen to the dismal music for longer...

I've always thought a better approach is to use a tough camera, a big flash, and a brash manner. Whether you are dressed as a czarist sailor from the Black Sea Fleet or a teddy boy, and I have been so attired in my time, you can engage the attention of the subject quickly and horrify them into the sort of expression that sells. One good blast and away!

My own personal favourite is the Fujifilm X-100 on manual with an 800 ISO setting connected to a Metz 45 CL-1. f:8 and 1/160 second shutter speed. If you leave the lens set to 8 feet you can just point, shoot, and run. A pocket full of caltrops is a fine idea too, but you never read that here...