Corporate Event Photography: How Taking Pictures of Your Event Will Serve You in the Long Run

corporate event photography

Hosting the perfect corporate event relies heavily on careful planning and preparation. Add this to your prep list: Hire a professional photographer.

Why?

Not only will professional images of your event give you a visual record of the event as it happened, event photos are a highly useful promotional tool for future events.

Why You Need a Corporate Event Photographer

The main benefit of professional event photography is all about the event itself. Whatever the purpose of your corporate event is, a professional photographer can help enhance and build on that purpose. For a product launch, it’s a great way to get professional-quality product shots. For a gala, banquet, or ceremony, professional corporate event photography enhances the excitement of the event and provides a record of important moments, such as speeches and award presentations.

Event photos also have a variety of promotional uses after the event is over.

3 Reasons to Hire a Professional Photographer

It can be tempting to try and save on photography, especially when there are many other items competing for budget consideration. If it turns out that a colleague’s brother is an amateur photographer, why not save a few hundred dollars and hire him instead of a professional?

Here’s why that’s a bad idea:

You get what you pay for. If you want a professional-looking job, hire a professional. There might be the rare amateur who’s naturally talented, but for the most part, an amateur photographer will deliver amateur event photos. If that’s what you want (and sometimes it is!), that’s fine. But if you want professional-looking photos, hire a pro.

Professionals know the job. Good professional photography requires a considerable amount of skill and experience. Great photography requires an instinctive knowledge that’s only attained with time on the job. Professionals don’t just know how to work a camera, how to get the right lighting, and how to edit photos. They also know how to get the right photos in the first place. Most importantly, they know how to blend in with the crowd and get the best shots without disrupting your event.

It’s not worth the gamble to hire an amateur. Hiring an amateur or beginner photographer sounds good on paper. They’re less expensive, and that’s great for your budget. The problem is, there’s no way to verify whether they’re any good at their job. If they don’t have professional experience, you can’t rely on their professionalism or portfolio. No matter how tight your event budget is, it’s not worth the gamble of hiring inexperienced vendors.

What Should Your Corporate Event Photographer Take Photos of?

For most corporate events, you’ll want your photographer to take several different kinds of photos throughout the event. These include:

  • Highlights: Photos of important moments, such as the keynote speech, award presentations, or the “ribbon-cutting” moment of an opening ceremony. These are usually candid photos of the highlights as they happen.
  • Special guest photos: Posed photos of keynote speakers, VIPs, and other special guests. Often these photos are posed against a sponsor wall or other themed background.
  • Attendee photos: Once the posed guest shots are taken care of, the photographer will circulate through the event space, taking photos of candid moments, as well as posed shots of attendee groups. Here, their job is to capture interesting moments that catch their eye or moments you’ve specifically asked for and to get shots of a variety of people and locations.
  • Even setup/organization: Photos of the venue as the event is being set up and/or photos of event organizers and volunteers in action. These kinds of images aren’t strictly necessary, but they can be a great addition to your social media coverage of the event. People love a behind-the-scenes moment!

Putting Professional Corporate Event Photos to Good Use

For all corporate events, professional photography gives you a way to save and share the highlights. It’s the most effective way to preserve the company’s record of important moments in its own history. But, of course, there’s more to professional photography than the historical record. There are several additional ways your company can benefit from having a visual record of the corporate events it holds.

Some ways to use professional corporate event photos include:

  • Post the best images on social media, and tag the people in the photos. Make sure to share images that include speakers and other prominent guests.
  • Publish a selection of images on your company or event website.
  • Send out a post-event email blast that includes two or three pictures, with a link to your website for people who want to see more event photos.
  • Provide your speakers and special guests with copies of shots of their speeches or posed shots that they can use for their own social media/publicity purposes.
  • Feature selected images in promotional material for future events.

Corporate Event Photography Pricing: What to Expect

The price you pay for corporate photography will vary based mainly on factors relating to the photographer. You’ll typically pay a higher hourly or daily rate for an experienced professional, while the rate for a student or amateur photographer will be much lower. The pro photography website Fash lists 2022 average hourly rates as follows:

  • Amateur/Student: $25 to $100 per hour
  • Semi-professional: $75 to $150 per hour
  • Professional: $100 to $300 per hour
  • Expert: $200 to $500+ per hour

In addition, you can expect to pay more for a photographer in New York City or Los Angeles than you would for a photographer who’s based in a suburban city or town.

Most photographers also offer multiple pricing packages. Some possibilities may include:

  • Hourly rates for shorter corporate events
  • Day rates for half-day, full-day, or multi-day events
  • Additional charges for photo retouching, printing, or digital downloads

Corporate Event Photography Captures Your Event Like Nothing Else Can

All corporate events serve a purpose in their own right. By hiring a professional corporate event photographer, you can add to that purpose in a number of different ways. Professional photography provides a record of the event and promotional material that’s useful in the moment and as an invaluable resource for marketing future events.

Jack Connolly

Executive Creative Director

As an experiential creative director, Jack prefers to draw outside the lines. He tells stories with original content and impactful design to ignite meaningful conversation.

 

Jack brings 20 years of event industry knowledge to ProGlobalEvents. He specializes in building live & virtual platforms for audiences to connect, engage and immerse themselves in the power of a shared experience. His skills range from ideation and concept development to defining an attendee journey through storytelling and design.

Jack understands the creative process is not linear, but a collaborative process between agency and client. He manages teams of designers and technology developers to pioneer impactful brand experiences. His diverse skillset and leadership ensure for award-winning results and memorable impressions.

 

In 2019, BizBash named Jack one of the top event designers in North America. SXSW awarded his work the “People’s Choice in Innovation” in 2021.

Jerome Nadel

Chief Marketing Officer

Jerome Nadel is Internationally experienced design-led marketing executive (CMO and GM) with a track record of improved market position, revenue growth, and M&A. He is an advance degreed psychologist and user experience product/service design expert, board member and advisor.

 

Prior to joining ProGlobalEvents |ProExhibits |XtendLive, he has had a variety of chief marketing officer and chief user experience officer roles at companies including Rambus, BrainChip, Human Factors International, SLP InfoWare, Gemplus, and Sagem. He started his career in the IBM Human Factors Labs.

 

He is also an avid cyclist with National and multiple California State Champion titles.

Ivan Fujihara

Chief Financial Officer

Ivan brings 25+ years in senior level management experience from a variety of technology industries.  His background includes accounting management, analytics and audit management for technology companies.  He has worked with companies such as THX, Ltd, Recruitology , Double Click, Creative Labs and more.  Ivan has also served on the board of Lincoln Families, a non-profit that supports East Bay children with the objective of disrupting the cycle of trauma and poverty.

Matt Rulis

Vice President of Sales

Matt is a marketing professional and has been managing marketing strategies, campaigns and environments for a diverse client base for over 15 years. From a service perspective, Matt and his team of Account Executives focus on fostering relationships to uphold a greater than 99% customer satisfaction rating year-over-year. Additionally, with extensive experience on the client-side of the industry, he understands that alignment between expectation and budget is paramount to a successful project. As a result, ProGlobalEvents' clients can expect a competitive advantage paired with top quality products and services. Matt is an avid fly-fisherman, enjoys most outdoor activities and is a true college football fanatic.

Tom Foley

VP of Operations

Heading the fabrication side of ProGlobalEvents is exhibit and event industry veteran, Tom Foley. For over 35 years he has been responsible for building amazing exhibits and environments for clients. Tom started out in the production area and has broad experience in project and operations management. He currently oversees production, warehouse, graphics and project management departments. Tom studied machine tool technology and welding before entering the industry. As a true "builder" he also enjoys restoring and modifying classic American cars.

Dick Wheeler

President

Dick serves as President of ProGlobalEvents and President of ProExhibits and is a board member of CEMA (Corporate Event Marketing Association). At ProExhibits he has been nationally recognized as an innovator and driving force in the fast-growing trade show exhibit and event industry. Under his leadership in 1997, the firm received INC magazine’s INC 500 award as one of America’s fastest-growing companies. His informative articles on developments and innovations in the trade show exhibit and event industry have appeared in national trade publications. Dick has a B.S. degree from Wittemore School of Business & Economics at the University of New Hampshire and has completed the Entrepreneurial Executive Leadership Program sponsored by MIT, YEO and INC. He is actively involved in Vistage, an interactive group of over 20,000 CEO’s and presidents worldwide and is a member of CEMA and EDPA.

Jody Tatro

Chief Executive Officer

In addition to being CEO of ProGlobalEvents, Jody is also the CEO of ProExhibits. With Jody at the helm, the company has been recognized repeatedly as one of the Top 50 Women Owned Businesses in Silicon Valley. She has set the outstanding client service standards for which the firm’s account management team is noted. Jody is a recipient of the YWCA’s Tribute to Women Award, the Junior League Community Volunteer Award and is listed in Who’s Who of Women in Business. Following her graduation from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Jody held various sales positions in several technology companies.