Party Clicks

A depressing venue - a dingy nightclub so I was concerned about how to photograph the event, a 21st birthday for a Nigerian born Australian, CJ. I didn't want a 'society' pages look to the images where the women pout at the camera, toes stretched, plastic smiles. Nor did I want the usual dim background caused by the flash having to work overtime in the darkness.


A concern about my personal safety. The email that got me the gig simply stated "a friend told me about you" and CJ wouldn't confirm who the friend was. I was supposed to turn up to the venue at 10pm and leave at 2am but CJ kept changing his mind about when he would appear. First it was 11pm, then midnight. And CJ said when he did turn up, I was supposed to meet him outside. I sent CJ an invoice and my bank details for the deposit in order to see how genuine he was. Giving my bank account details to a Nigerian seemed to break all the rules.....


When I turned up, the bouncers at the nightclub confirmed it was reserved for CJ to my relief.  I set up my portable photography studio which consisted of a white background seven feet high by 8 feet wide, one 42" flash umbrella on a light stand and my SB-800 Nikon flash set up for remote flash. The studio was located in a corridor on the way to the toilets but in sight of the dance floor: this location was as ideal as it was ever going to get being four feet wide which meant my light-stand and backdrop weren't going to get in the way of passing traffic and the flash umbrella was far enough away from the backdrop to evenly light it.


The studio was a huge hit, particularly with the women, who had arrived en masse way before the men because it gave them something to do whilst waiting and it was novel - no one had ever seen such a set up at a party before. So rather than me asking permission, the women asked if they could be photographed and I was happy because I had controlled the lighting and backdrop so I I knew the photos would be great. Before long, the men arrived, studied what I was doing and liked what they saw.

More of these images can be seen at http://www.johnslaytor.com.au/img/flashcj/index.html




Had I known what a terrific ice breaker the photography studio was, I would have brought another flash umbrella and also figured out a way to pre light the subjects because as it was, the venue was almost too dark so my camera struggled with auto-focussing; the subjects' clothing and skin colour didn't help.