Back to Barcelona for this year’s CISCO Live! event at the Fira Congress photographing thousands of delegates from all over Europe over five days of intense seminars, keynotes, break-outs, technical stands…and of course the event party featuring Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, no less!
Covering the event for Ebsworth Photographic with top photographers Sean Ebsworth Barnes and Ben Phillips our remit was to capture all the corporate and technical discussions in various theatres, meeting rooms and stages…
…but, in the way that only true reportage photography can, also to photograph the delegates having fun and enjoying the event.
My favourite areas to shoot were the panic rooms – where delegates in teams were time-locked into a white or red room. With the clock ticking, you could feel the desperation as they tried to unravel the technical mystery presented to them by actors.
And then there were just those little moments that you capture, often in passing or on your way to shoot a key conference, when everything is aligned – emotion, composition, lighting, branding – and you’ve somehow distilled the experience of the whole event.
And at the end of the week it’s the extravaganza that is the event party – this year circus-themed – complete with ring-master, high-wire performers, acrobats, live music, motorbikes…and of course Justin Hawkins.
But my lasting memory as I upload the final images direct to the client, is the balmy Barcelona winter sun lighting up two delegates immersed in their work.