Food for thought - an evening with Alan Yau!

Last week, I took on my first non-food related photography job… covering a networking event evening! Thank god for my Nikon Speedlight SB-600 flash unit (which I didn’t drop this time!)! I was approached by a member of the Chinese Community Centre’s event organisers a month ago about covering their “Food for Thought – an evening with Alan Yau” networking event at Stanza bar and restaurant. Apprehensive as I was as I’d never done anything as big as this before, I agreed, figuring it would be an excellent chance to not only network, but get some practice in event photography. The evening was a sell out, and I got some great shots of not only the guests but the star guest speak Alan Yau. You may not have heard of restaurateur Alan Yau, but you will have heard of his great successes, which include Wagamama, Hakkasan, Yautcha, Cha Cha Moon and Sake no Hana. In the Chinese community, he’s a big name, so obviously photographing him as a guest speaker was a big deal!

Anyway, I put my nerves aside, and walked the room, shooting the guests, the crowds, volunteers and raffle ticket sellers (including my boyfriend whom I roped into helping out for moral support). Everyone was really friendly, although some were very camera shy and declined to have their photos taken! I went through business cards like there’s no tomorrow so thank goodness I’ve ordered more! I’d say, the biggest lesson I learnt from the day is that next time I cover an event, I’ll need to take 8 or 12 AA batteries. Although the 4 batteries in my flash unit were fully charged, they were taking almost 60 seconds to recharge the flash ready for use by the end of the night, after taking such a bashing early on!

So here’s a few of the first post processed shots! I still have loads more to do but was going bug eyed over the weekend staring at contrast curves and saturation levels, so am editing them in batches to prevent even thicker bottle end glasses!