Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/4 ISO 800 1/200th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted with diffuser capA professional photographer needs to be both very flexible and always ready to take a job. Out of the blue this afternoon a contact at Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club called me asking if I could photograph an event going on . . . now. When I got the call at 2:31pm I was actually at the Rusty Pelican in Tampa scouting it out for a wedding I will be photographing there in a few weeks and I was supposed to take care of two other things even further away from St. Petersburg where the yacht & tennis club is. I did not want to turn down the job, so I said I could make it back across the bay and be on site by 4pm.
Bill Edwards giving a presentation at the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club
I had to first stop at home and pick up my photography gear and grab a quick sandwich as I would be shooting for 3 hours (4pm to 7pm). This is another important point, a photographer should always have his/her gear at least semi-ready for shooting. I plan on writing a full blog post on this soon. I have photographed two other events and a wedding at TIYTC so I am very familiar with shooting there and also the layout of the club. This of course gave me confidence about being able to just swoop in and start shooting.
Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/4 ISO 800 1/40th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted with diffuser cap
I was told to try and use flash as little as possible, which means high ISO shots. They also requested a group shot of everyone in the conference room right in the middle of the event so there was no time to place any strobes in the back of the room or anything. I just moved a few placards out of the way, went to the far back corner of the room up on a little stage, set my shutter speed as slow as I dared (1/40th) and was thankful that 17mm was just wide enough to get everyone in plus a bonus staff member on the far left.
This event had a whole other outdoor phase to it which will be in a future post.