You Coach You,
Book Celebration In London
Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis are the founders of Amazing If, an award-winning company with a mission to make careers better for everyone. They are the co-hosts of the UK’s no.1 careers podcast, Squiggly Careers, which has had more than 2m downloads and their TEDx talk The best career path isn’t always a straight line has been watched by over 1.5m people.
I was connected to Sarah through LinkedIn, where both Sarah and Helen were named LinkedIn change makers for 2021, and was given the green light for the event after shooting their previous event at the end of January.
Sarah and Helen were hosting the third instalment of their You Coach You book launch in London on the 22nd of March 2022, and I was asked to cover and provide stills. With our professional relationship already established I was ready to pack my bags and head out to London for the evening. The event wasn't as much a launch and live podcast like their previous event in London as it was a smaller more intimate affair with their top supporters, ambassadors and mentors. The goal of this evening was to celebrate all of the books contributors, sponsors, ambassadors and long time supporters. The event was hosted at the wonderful Reading Room in the Wellcome collection, London.
I was connected to Sarah through LinkedIn, where both Sarah and Helen were named LinkedIn change makers for 2021, and was given the green light for the event after shooting their previous event at the end of January.
Sarah and Helen were hosting the third instalment of their You Coach You book launch in London on the 22nd of March 2022, and I was asked to cover and provide stills. With our professional relationship already established I was ready to pack my bags and head out to London for the evening. The event wasn't as much a launch and live podcast like their previous event in London as it was a smaller more intimate affair with their top supporters, ambassadors and mentors. The goal of this evening was to celebrate all of the books contributors, sponsors, ambassadors and long time supporters. The event was hosted at the wonderful Reading Room in the Wellcome collection, London.
LINKS:
To learn more about Helen and Sarah, or Amazing If, check out the following links to:
Their Ted Talk, or their Youtube Channel, or the Company Website and for our Previous Project together
To learn more about Helen and Sarah, or Amazing If, check out the following links to:
Their Ted Talk, or their Youtube Channel, or the Company Website and for our Previous Project together
At the start of the evening guests were invited for drinks and canapé's in the cosy room and ambience of relaxed jazz and soft warm lighting of the Reading Room's intimate and sophisticated setting made for a great mingling and networking environment. It didn't take long for guests to begin the chorus of chatter and laughter as many saw familiar faces and were eager to lightly catch up or discuss in great detail what they were currently working on in their careers. The. mix of unserious laughter or joking dispositions with pensive thought provoking candid expressions made for beautiful subject matter.
Instead of an illuminated and purpose-built stage with a separate lighting and technical crew the Reading Room was set up with a small free standing platform, about a meter higher than the the guests seated in front of it, at the top of the room in front of a beautiful staircase. The soft lighting above the guests meant that the crowd was beautifully lit throughout the procession, this was incredible for me to be able to move around the room and capture expressions of the guests, unbeknownst to them, focusing on the messages and conversation unfolding in front of them. Mentioned in a previous project Sarah and Helen's style of interviewing speakers is casual and organic which leaves room for so many wonderful nuggets of wisdom that really capture the audience in the room.
It did however present its own challenges: along with the lighting on stage not matching the rest of the room it also meant I couldn't move around the room without being seen as easily as it was in a large auditorium with darkened corridors. This meant that moving around the room had to be done discreetly and as efficiently as possible. Avoiding 'chimping' ,or reviewing your photo, while in the line of sight of the guests attending is a good tip; but so is not placing your ALL of your gear directly behind the speakers platform. A mistake I realised very quickly as the procession begun and I had all guests eyes on me every-time I wanted to change my lens.
Of course the speakers themselves were incredible in their own right and delivered encouraging messages.
The speakers included Scott Morrison, Founder, Author & Global Speaker, Andrea Pattico, Chief People Officer at MVF Global Cath Bishop, Olympian, diplomat, leadership speaker, coach, consultant, Author. Scott and Andrea were interviewed by Helen and Cath by Sarah with a small intermission in between and each speaker brought incredibly encouraging and thought provoking pieces. Scott and Andrea challenged in conventional norms in a company culture while Cath spoke highly of grit and determination,
The speakers included Scott Morrison, Founder, Author & Global Speaker, Andrea Pattico, Chief People Officer at MVF Global Cath Bishop, Olympian, diplomat, leadership speaker, coach, consultant, Author. Scott and Andrea were interviewed by Helen and Cath by Sarah with a small intermission in between and each speaker brought incredibly encouraging and thought provoking pieces. Scott and Andrea challenged in conventional norms in a company culture while Cath spoke highly of grit and determination,
Of course none of this would of been possible without the incredible Amazing If Team and Helpers who aided guests throughout the evening to plotting social media posts and communicating with contractors like myself the night was an incredible success thanks to a well rounded team approach with a company culture to match You Coach You's incredible values.
As mentioned before the project came with it own unique set of challenges and with it comes wonderful unique solutions and of course highlights.
Project Challenges:
Project Challenges:
- The stage didn't have a lighting and technical crew behind it, and it was also placed at the top of the room where the Reading Room's lighting had come to an end. This made the platform about a 2/3 light stop darker than the guests seating area.
- Their wasn't a darker or less illuminated, gangways that I could move the Reading Room in (Like there as in Manchester's Quay Theatre) without disturbing the guests which made taking candid shots and not disturbing the procession more challenging.
- Their wasn't a darker or less illuminated, gangways that I could move the Reading Room in (Like there as in Manchester's Quay Theatre) without disturbing the guests which made taking candid shots and not disturbing the procession more challenging.
- Tungsten wire bulbs were matched with LED downlight's which created a mix of warm and cool white balance tricky for post production editing.
- The overall look, feel and approach to this event was different to the Manchester book launch and live podcast so although I had a compelling brand identity to follow I felt the need to have the look and feel of the final images correspond to the event. This is challenging because you'll have two set's of images from two different events shot by the same photographer look and feel different.
- The overall look, feel and approach to this event was different to the Manchester book launch and live podcast so although I had a compelling brand identity to follow I felt the need to have the look and feel of the final images correspond to the event. This is challenging because you'll have two set's of images from two different events shot by the same photographer look and feel different.
Solutions:
- This time I was responsible for setting up additional high powered compact colour LED lights provided by the Reading Room, and between myself and the Videographer we decided on the best colour cast and position for the lights and speakers to work with our camera's settings and the stage's subject matter. The final light arrangement we chose was to place two lights bouncing of the white staircase ceiling and two lights placed behind the speakers to create and edge ,or 'rim light', to easily distinguish them from the darker background. As they were LED's, which provide a cooler harder light, we chose the warmest colour cast and attempted to bounce and diffuse our light as much as possible.
- Planning and thinking what shot to take before stepping into someone's eye line was integral to capturing candid shots, not chimping the back screen between shots, making sure my exposure settings were correct before stepping out and moving all my gear away from the back of the stage. Camera on burst and directly after shooting your preplanned shot there isn't time nor need to stay and wait for a different expression or look for a different composition in the moment it's better to step away and review what you've captured from afar and see what you can take away from it. Sticking to the walls at the edge of the room or walking behind crowds are the most natural way to move around the room especially if you're equipped with a fast zoom (like an f2.8 24-70/70-200)
- Lots of local adjustments in my editor, mostly using radial filters and brushwork to match.
- The event was different and the purpose of the event was different so I felt the post productions look and feel was justified. It was incredibly important to communicate this to your clients and team and fortunately as we've worked together in the past I felt comfortable and confident that the client would be able to tell me if they would want the edit and final product to look different or match.
Highlights:
- The warm incandescent light over the middle of the Reading Room meant that I could really focus and watch guest conversations and reactions for beautiful and unique moments interacting with each other or the procession. picking my shot and finding good avenues leaning against pillars at the edge of the room and watching as guests simply had an incredible moment where either a lightbulb went off of laughter welled up inside of them is something I won't be forgetting anytime soon and is a great takeaway.
- The second time working with Amazing If was incredible and felt like the relationship had become a lot more solidified. I also felt a deeper connection to the team and after the event had the opportunity to join them all in a Post event meat up where I had got to see and chat with team members and their partners in a relaxed environment. This was incredible because I got the chance to understand their company culture better as well as how much work had gone into this entire project and it gave me a sense of how important the completion and celebration event was to the team.
