Rules of engagement...when a camera is in the room.

Whether you’re on stage delivering a keynote, running a client meeting in a boardroom, or an attendee in the audience during a conference or other event, sharing candid, high-quality photos of these moments in your life and business are important to share with your audience. 

They give them a closer look into your world, and if you’re the one facilitating, it shows them how you help solve their problems. 

And, they compliment the various pro and self-portraits that you share from your day-to-day life. 

But, not all candid, live event photos are created equal. 

One particular issue pops up more times than not during these moments:

The person in front of the camera begins to play it up. 

Whether they’re facilitating or engaging in conversation with fellow attendees, they adjust their body language, force smiles, and act overly demonstrative towards the camera in the hopes of making “those photos look better.”

While their intentions are good, the results are less than ideal.

The whole point of candid live event photos is they’re CANDID. 

You don’t want to either break the 4th wall unnecessarily OR act in the moment in order to play to the camera. 

The photos feel less genuine and the whole point of these images is to show your audience real aspects of your personality and the way you communicate, whether in front of the room or part of the crowd.

As a result, it’s important to adopt this approach when a photographer is making the rounds during these events:

You be you, ignore the camera, and everything will take care of itself. 

Will there be some photos that you find unflattering? Probably. 

But, how many times do you delete photos that a professional photographer took of you during your portrait session? How many self-portraits have you deleted after shooting 20 in a row, and hating 19 of them?

The point is that you’ll always see photos of yourself that you don’t like. 

But don’t impede the process of capturing something potentially magical because you caught a glance of the camera pointed in your direction.

That could rob you of sharing a visual asset that catches the attention of those you serve, and inspire their curiosity to learn more about how you can help solve their problem.