Last night I was invited to be the event photographer for a Quebec-India Business Council seminar and networking event held at the Sheraton Hotel in Montreal. The keynote speaker, Nitin Kawale, President of Cisco Canada, gave a thought-provoking presentation on the future of business in Canada, drawing particular attention to the imperative to raise our productivity levels if we wish to see our standard of living maintained and ideally grow (and not fall as we are trending towards). In his presentation he highlighted three major trends which Canadian business needs to fully embrace in order to do so: mobility, collaboration and cloud. These three main drivers of change, in both our personal and business lives, are the keys to raising our productivity levels, and therefore our quality of life. As a long time independent photographer I was slightly bemused at the thought that just by staying alert to the constantly changing tools in my trade and always striving to deliver excellent service to my event photography clients I’ve incorporated all three trends in my business and have been working as a “future worker” for sometime now.
Collaboration
As an event photographer, all of my work is based on collaboration either between myself and subjects, without whom I would produce very dull images indeed comprising suit backs, bald spots and the occasional turned cheek. As well, while I bring a depth of expertise and experience as an event photographer, every client event is a collaboration in that I learn from my clients their needs, the purposes of the images I will be creating and the overall goals of the event being held. 
Cloud
I’ve been using the cloud for years now already and it is where all my photos are backed up, and the means by which I transfer and deliver my images to clients once the event is over. While some clients still request delivery of a DVD onsite or after the event, I gently try to encourage all my clients to accept delivery via download as it is really much simpler and more convenient for them. For example, at many of the events I photograph, in attendance will be media as well as various guests who request access to their photos. If the event in question is one which the organizers would like to promote as widely as possible, it is in their best interest to have the photos made available to as many possible event promoters as they can reach. Earned media, as every public relations and event planner knows, is golden in that it brings attention to your event (and its purpose/cause) at no additional cost to the organizer. By allowing images to be delivered via download, anyone to whom providing access to the images makes sense, can be added simply by forwarding the emailed gallery link. With one simple email, media, guests of honour and the full organizing committee can access the event images as soon as they are online. Event photos, like fresh bread, go stale quickly so part of my practice and service is to deliver images as quickly as possible, often within hours of the event. This is only possible through online delivery and is one of the main reasons I favour using my website to deliver images over burning DVDs on the spot or transferring images to flash cards which ultimately leads to duplication of efforts and a loss of productivity down the line.
Mobility
And of course, mobility is embedded in the concept of the cloud as once my images are posted online, they can be downloaded by anyone to whom I’ve sent the link and password, and stored to any device. While I am still waiting for the next generation of cameras to allow me to instantly shoot and post images online (as can be done easily with all smart phones today), having images on a website that is designed to automatically reconfigure its display to conform to the mobile device accessing it is far superior to any other method of showcasing images. In my wedding photography business, I am often invited to meet clients and show them my book. This used to be done with real photo albums but is now much more efficiently and effectively done with just an iPad and a wi-fi connection.
Ultimately, as many of the lively commentators participating in the after dinner Q&A session with Mr. Kawale pointed out, there are many ways in which Canadian businesses are already embracing collaborative workforces, instant access from anywhere to download specific applications and documents needed to move a project forward, and using all manner of mobile devices. In the event photography business, as elsewhere, these trends have had a hugely positive impact and the future looks even brighter.
Check out the event photos here
