In my latest endeavour (dammit it’s difficult to spell that word!) to spice up my life a little, I’ve signed up to be the photographer (occasionally) with a meetup group that organises slightly more intellectual events. For those unaware as to what a meetup is, it’s both a socialising website that encourages random people to meet (usually not for dating purposes) and the events themselves are called meetups. It’s a bit of a sandbox opportunity for ‘forever alone’ type people, yet there’s a real opportunity to make friends or at least develop some sort of superficial connections with other human beings.
Yesterday’s event was a murder mystery night, somewhere in Vauxhall, in 1920s style. While I didn’t actually manage (or make the effort) to get hold of an old old camera, but I did get a fedora hat, after running around town half afternoon to get one. Praise the M&S sale. Also made an effort to tie a tie properly (like this), but thinking I started too late, I left home with a normally tied tie. Needless to say I got there almost half an hour early. In the meanwhile I was chatting with two friends from Budapest, one actually contemplating suicide (about 28 yo, still living with mom, never had a bf, depressed, etc), the other in a relationship that she hates and complaining how she wants to get laid (but not doing much for it.). Seriously, I’m surrounded by Marvin clones. Tube was reasonably empty on the way in, given that we were starting around 6ish, so at that time the crowds weren’t out yet for the fireworks at midnight.
The event went well, as for myself at least, since I was doing the photos I wasn’t involved in the actual mystery game, so I’m still unsure who was the murderer, but managed to talk to a number of faces, some of which I’ve met before, most of which new. Not too many contacts though, I have a tendency to leave crowded places without saying bye to people. Something to improve on this year perhaps. As bad as that is, the crowd freaks me out, plus I also have a tendency not to enjoy disco-style parties. Yet food was good (as little I got of it), company was good, and the dancer show was interesting. The guy choreographing the girls was probably early twenties, kindof like a Justin Bieber lookalike. Also similar behaviour here and there, but nice person seemingly. As silly as it sounds, the five-six hours passed by quite quickly, and the next thing I noticed was me clinking glasses with unknown people for midnight. I completely missed out on the band and the DJ because I left around 1 am. I did about two minutes of “dancing” (as crap as I am at moving randomly), but I ducked out as soon as I could, and headed home. The annoying thing about NYE is that it goes into the night, thus my bedtime is missed. We should have NYEs celebrated at noon. (sarcasm).
Thoughts on the task (debrief to myself): The event had multiple features, apart from the murder mystery game, we had flapper girls (dancers), dinner, band, and then basically DJ/party, and most of this had to be documented. The pub, which was rented out was probably licensed to host exactly as many people as we had in there, meaning by the time midnight was closing in, it was really really crowded. To be honest I’ve found the event to be quite an experience in terms of photographing because though I’ve been shooting around randomly for many years, I’ve never really been paid for it and since these are quite small scale events (both in importance and money received), mistakes and ‘learning curves’ are a lot more common but also allowed. Also, there wasn’t a specific brief.
The gear I took was a Canon EOS 40D, a Canon EF-S 10-22/3.5-4.5 USM, a Sigma 30/1.4 HSM and a Canon EF-S 60/2.8 USM. All shots in RAW.
- Technically the camera’s body is outdated for this sort of photography with max ISO supported being 3200, where it’s rather noisy and it still doesn’t allow for fast enough exposures. Photoshop does a great job at removing the noise, but it’s still suboptimal I think.
- The atmosphere, or more precisely the whole feeling of the murder mystery event needs to be dark and well…mysterious, with people moving around, dancers performing fast moves, therefore using flash is discouraged. Due to the lack of space, using tripods is also discouraged.
- Lights were terrible, because blue and red lights were mixed in a dark environment, slightly confusing the camera’s sensor as to how white balance should have been. (I know, should have used a grey card, but the problem is that half of the photo is very cold, the other half is very warm, so it’s a challenge to strike a balance there). USM lenses or not, they can’t focus in such bloody darkness.
Little actual learning that can be described in writing, more the experience. Until I get hold of a 7D, which is unlikely in the near future, unless I manage to make more money on events, I’m stuck with what I have. Love the lenses though and it’s been a very good experience, and fun night out.
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