Corporate Panel Discussion and Networking Photography in London
It was a pleasure to photograph the Digital Europe Evening at London Business School, which was organised by FoundersLane - Nikola Likov and Rose Nguyen were my contacts for the event.
I photograph a lot of tech talk events and this was a nice approach to the panel discussion and networking format. It had an intimate, relaxed feel (with a fairly exclusive capacity of about 30), so everybody had the chance to talk with each other.
Following some refreshments and delegates having the chance to speak to each other, everybody sat down for the structured panel discussion featuring Anne Berner, Martina Larkin, Michael G Jacobides and Simon Torrance.
After the panel discussion, the group split into 5 separate groups to discuss various elements of the tech industry. They then went for drinks and finger food in a dedicated part of London Business School.
PHOTOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES
This was my first time at the London Business School. The Sir John Ritblat Conference Room is very new and beautifully designed especially for panel discussion and round table events. As for challenges, the combination of deep coloured wood and overhead lighting does result in certain phenomena that are more clear when seen in a photograph than by the naked eye. Light that directly falls on a person from a light source will have a certain neutral tone (when the camera is white balanced correctly), whereas light that bounces off a wooden wall will be significantly warmer. One effect that this produces is that people in the middle of the room will require a different white balance than those standing closer to a wall, to prevent the image from appearing murky. There is no scientific solution to this, it’s just a matter of ”eyeballing” each scenario and adapting to it. Being an event photographer who’s seen a lot of wood panelling, this is a fairly instinctive process for me, but it’s one of those things that the human eye is much less capable of noticing until it’s recorded in a photograph.
DID THEY LIKE THE PHOTOS?
Rose wrote a review for me on Google: “Josh photographed an event that my company organised at LBS. He was very responsive and professional. The result delivered was absolutely amazing as we shared the photos with our guests and they were all very impressed. Will definitely keep Josh as our first photographer contact for the next events.” Thanks Rose!