Jurnal #02. An event, a borrowed flash

A friend had her first exhibition opening on Saturday. An event is the hardest place to not have a phone, because an event is the one place everyone expects you to document it.

I counted. In the first ten minutes I saw maybe twenty phones up, filming the same wall. The pictures on that wall are film photographs she spent a year on, and they were being watched through a screen at arm's length. I had a Casio in my pocket and I felt, honestly, slightly stupid.

The flash problem

Galleries are dark and white at the same time. The Casio's flash makes everything look like a crime scene. For the first hour I shot with it off and got nothing but grey smears. Then a photographer who was there, with real gear, saw the camera, laughed, and said just use the flash, that's the look, that's why you have it. So I did.

Who takes the photo

Here is the thing I keep coming back to. At an event, when you have a phone, you are a photographer for strangers. You take the photo for the people who aren't there. With the Casio I only took photos of what I was actually looking at. There's no wide shot of the room. There's no photo of the drinks table. There's her, there's the two people I came with, there's a window.

Around ten the battery gave the warning it always gives, and I put the camera away. After that I was just at the opening. I think that's the version of the evening I'll remember, and there's no photo of it, which is fine.

For next time

• Charge the battery the night before, not the morning of. The charger is slower than I remember.
• Flash on, from the start, no arguing.
• Ask the person whose event it is if they want a photo. They usually do, and it's usually the best one.