I was asked to photograph a prom….WAIT WHAT?
Yes, that is the wildest byline I think I could ever write in regards to my photography journey. I’m still kind of baffled that it all happened.
So a little backstory. About 10 days ago my sister reaches out to me. She tell me my niece’s prom lost its photographer and more importantly (and why I was getting the offer), they also had no budget for one, and would I possibly take some photos of the kids.
Now, I’m by no means much of a risk taker, but I do try to live by Sir Richard Branson’s quote, “If someone offers you an amazing opportunity but you’re not sure you can do it, say yes - then learn how to do it later!”. So of course I said yes, I mean what could POSSIBLY go wrong! (famous last words)
Truth be told, I sort of had all the gear necessary to get this done. I had a couple decent cameras, backdrops and a backdrop hanger, some constant lights as well as a speedlight with trigger and softbox. I mean, I TOTALLY can do this…..right? Well, just because I had spent the money on these things doesn’t mean I had spent enough time using it. I didn’t have many opportunities other than trying to get the kids to stand in front of a silly backdrop, or that one colleague who let me take his headshot for LinkedIn. So in total maybe I’ve used this gear for 10 hours, and its been months since I’ve touched it.
With this in mind, I took a few hours last Saturday to practice while everyone was out of the house. I found really quick I didn’t have a solid understanding of the trigger with the speedlight. After a while I started to get it down, but it still felt a lot like a car…yes I can drive it, but if it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to, I’m in big, big trouble.
The day of the prom, I gave myself plenty of time to setup (like 4+ hours!) as I had not seen the venue and had no idea what I was in for. I arrived with a car full of gear that I probably didn’t need, but couldn’t be sure. Due to this, the first 30 minutes was just me lugging all this gear into the venue in 85 degree weather that felt like I was walking on the sun.
Once properly sweaty, I started to figure out the layout. I realized what I thought I was going to use for a backdrop was going to have to be secondary because it was 7x5, not 5x7 (who would have thought that was a big difference). That was my first hurdle, but I knew it was coming. Thankfully, I had another backdrop setup that worked “perfectly-ish” so I started tested out the lighting setup. After spending a solid 60 messing with the speedlight trigger and speedlight, I felt like I had things dialed in pretty good. Lets the kids arrive! AGAIN, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
15 minutes in, and the flash is spotty at best. Sometimes it fires, sometimes it doesn’t, and I have no idea why. I have not made any changes to my settings, ISO 200, Aperture 5.0, Shutter 160 (and the place is almost pitch black). I messed with this for 10-15 minutes while kids were piling in and looking at me curiously, wondering how they got stuck with this inept photographer.
Sooooo, I punted. I tossed the tripod and softbox aside, took the speedlight, threw it on the camera and started shooting. When I got my first break in the action I took some time looking at the settings in manual model and dialed back the light as it was harsh. I spent the next three hours taking snaps with that setup, simply hoping upon hope that the photos would be even slightly acceptable.
I went through them this morning and honestly, they are terrible. There are shadows, I’m way too short to not use either a stepstool or tripod (yes, even for the high schoolers), the flash is too hot on numerous faces (even while bouncing it off the ceiling), and honestly, I don’t do a good enough job seeing the scene, moving folks around, and seeing faces and lighting as it happens. Now I’m being critical of myself, and I’m hopeful the 4 hours I spend editing 100+ photos made them acceptable enough. And lets be honest, the price was right as it actually cost me 100 bucks in LED flashing glasses and other chachkis I bought for the kids to have some fun with, so I can’t imagine anyone would complain.
Even with all the stress that went into this, I am so grateful I got to do this. Firstly, and most obviously, it gave me a chance to help my niece on a decidedly important night as a teenager. Secondly, I learned a TON, especially in keeping composure and finding a solution (not something I’m exceptional at quite frankly). And thirdly, other than the technical challenges, I truly enjoyed myself. The kids were absolutely wonderful and having the time of their lives, and any time I have a chance to have my camera in my hands with something to snap, I’m typically pretty happy.
I will post some of the food/venue photos in the “Out and About” section