Taking photos of Snoop Dogg

'Are you able to take photos and video of Snoop Dogg tomorrow?' As a public servant, this is a question I get asked a lot.

Snoop working on his words and verbs.

For context, some students at Warringa Park (a school for students with a disability) had recorded a song at their studio and invited Snoop Dogg to come to the studio and record a verse. In a move that I don't think anyone expected, Snoop agreed and asked that the event not have any media, so that it could just be for the students and teachers. So, as the in-house creative team for the Department of Education, my team was asked to document the event.
This was right up there with a request in 2011 to drive to Kerang to take photos of actual royalty, in the form of Prince William who was there to survey the flood damage.

Now admittedly, these requests are few and far between. But requests to 'quickly grab a few shots at the launch' or 'get a photo of *insert senior person in organisation* at *insert event where person will be standing at lectern in front of very bright Powerpoint presentation*' or the dreaded 'Just grab a few photos for socials' are everywhere now that we all have cameras that can also make phone calls in our pockets.
So I thought it might be worth passing on some tips and tricks for taking photos at events like this...and yes, what to do if you get called up to take a photo of a legit superstar.

Clean that lens

I genuinely want to run a workshop called 'How to take better photos with your phone' and just say 'Give the lens a quick wipe before you take a photo.' Then thank everyone for their time and wish them well.
It seems so simple, but if you're ever wondering why your photos look 'flat' or 'muddy', have a quick look at the glass on the lens and see if there are any finger prints/sunscreen/sweat on them. If you're anything like me, there will be...but they can be gone with a 2 second wipe.
On the bikepacking trip I did earlier this year I made a conscious effort to wipe the lens each time I went to take a photo, and the results were glorious.

Tell a story

I know that this is tricky, especially if there isn’t a story that’s immediately apparent. But so many photos I see from events seem to say ‘A thing happened. Here’s proof’. This is great if your sole objective is ‘have proof we did something’. But if you’re looking to engage with an audience who has an entire social media feed of super interesting content. You’re going to have to work a little harder.
If you’re taking photos at an annual event, you want something that makes people think 'I have to go next year'. If it’s a one-off event, you want people to think ‘Wow, I wish I had been there!’, if it’s just to document something that happened (a visit by someone important/ a workshop/ a conference), then you want people to think ‘I wonder what it was like to be there’.
It's also worth remembering that 99% of your audience are people who would be attending your event, not presenting at it, so make sure you get photos of people enjoying/engaging with the event (no one at the events I've taken photos at has signed a consent form saying 'it's OK for Chris to use this on his own personal blog', so I don't have any examples to show...but rest assured, I take them at every event).
In short, you want people to engage with the pictures and create a story in their minds.

Your Chief Financial Officer probably won't be as good at posing as Snoop, so enjoy it while you can.

Make sure you're ready to capture moments like this.

The lyrics to what Snoop was about to rap.

The music teacher and Snoop's entourage discuss production techniques, while he works on his flow.

People love stories, and our brains love finding connections, so try to take a few photos that tell a story and that allow people to make connections between.

In this picture you can see; Snoop Dogg is there, he’s at a school, and the kids are excited he’s there. Also, the number of people who made reference to what’s written on the board when they saw the photo was staggering. Why did they like it? Because they were able to make the connection between ‘teachers writing a message for students on a white board’ and that message including ‘fo shizzle’ which is something that Snoop would say. You let their mind make the connection, and they got a little dopamine hit for doing it. Everyone wins!!

Three’s a crowd

We’re all susceptible to a bit of FOMO. So when you’re taking a photo of something you want to make people say ‘Oh, I wish I was there!’, then frame the photo between people who are there. On a purely liminal level, it puts the viewer into a situation as if they were actually there (unless you’re right at the front in the VIP seats, you’re probably going to have people in front of you) and it makes for a more interesting shot. On a subliminal level it says ‘there were so many people at this thing, the photographer had to take the shot through a crowd of people. Why weren’t you there?!’
Best of all, if there aren't heaps of people at the event, you only need 2 people to make it look like there were!

Unfortunately I don’t have consent forms to cover me using the photos I take at work events, so can’t show you an actual example…but it works just as well at music gigs.

Get to the part about Snoop Dogg!!

Ok, I’ve buried the lede long enough. What do you do if the stars align, the Gods smile upon you, and you’re suddenly called upon to take photos of someone BIG?

Have a plan

I am genuinely amazed at the number of times people assume that because you have a camera in your hands you know what should be happening. And believe me, if you say something like ‘I don’t know…just…you know…act natural’, you are in for a selection of the most awkward photos you’ve ever taken.
So with Snoop, I had a series of questions I was ready to ask if the students got too nervous to talk, or if Snoop was looking like he needed some direction. I also had five shots in mind that I wanted to get, so I knew I could ask people to do those if there were any awkward lulls. For the record, both he and the students were so good, I needn't have worried.

Snoop with the list of artists the students had on their 'wishlist'.

Take a LOT of photos

We are not shooting on film, with just 12 exposures…and you have the rest of your life to delete the photos you don’t want. So take a lot of photos. I know professional photographers will sneer and call this a ‘spray and pray’ approach. But at the Prince William event I mentioned at the start of this blog, I missed a photo of one of our key staff shaking hands with the Prince. It still haunts me, and I would have happily deleted photos for hours rather than have to send him the email admitting I’d missed the shot.

At the Snoop shoot, I took over 500 photos in under an hour. I reckon there will be about 20 that I’m really happy with, and probably 3 that I’m stoked with. But every person there got a photo with Snoop where they both look good, and that’s worth its weight in gold.

Be confident…or at least fake it convincingly

If you look like you know what you’re doing and you’re happy to be there, you will get great responses from the people you’re taking photos of. If you look stressed or overwhelmed, people will ‘tighten up’ in front of the camera. Now this truly sucks, because internally you ARE going to be freaking out, and your mind will be running at 1,000 thoughts per second, and it would be GREAT if people knew that and all said ‘Oh you poor thing, this must be so stressful for you.’ But you know what doesn’t make a great photo…people looking at you with an ‘Oh you poor thing’ expression on their face. So take a deep breath, put on a big smile and get used to saying ‘That looks awesome! OK, just one more, looking here. Perfect!’

At the Snoop shoot I think I was a picture of positivity, but at the end I helpfully got a message from my watch saying ‘This has been a stressful period, make sure you balance this with some relaxation or meditation’.
Not now, watch…not now. 

But stress aside, this was a genuinely amazing experience. There was an amazing sense of joy and excitement in the room, and I like to think I captured some of that. So if you're not afraid to take a photo, then put your hand up to take some photos for your work events...and if the opportunity to work with Snoop Dogg presents itself, then I highly recommend you take it!