It was quite a treat two days ago, when I got a call from SBofT asking if I was able to cover their Business Excellence Awards (BEA) on November 3, at Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel in Surrey. Their usual photographer, my shooting buddy, was unable to work that night. He usually has the event well covered.

The shoot covers a VIP session, where the nominees get to meet and greet before dinner, general networking before dinner, speeches and the award presentations themselves. There are usually several photo requests after the event as well – winners and the family, winners with the employees, people with the keynote speakers, etc.

Just for a bit of a change here, I’m going to link off to the SBofT photostream on Flickr. Photos from the event are up. I spent the morning doing some post-processing work and put a photo disc together by 2 pm. Heather, in the SBofT office, had them posted in about 5 minutes. She’s quick!

Unfortunately, none of the photos have titles, but you can find out who won what via the SBofT website.

Overall, I was happy with most of the shots. I used Nikon’s newish 24-120 f4 lens, which offers a good focal range for event work. Compared to a f2.8 lens, the f4 is a bit of a trade off with weight, but the focus is quite responsive.

That said, there were a few shots where I didn’t seem to get the focus where I wanted it. It could have just been camera shake, but it could also have been a combination of f-stop and focal length not giving me the depth of field I needed with the subject(s) I had.

I’ll have to experiment more with the lens. Each one has it’s own foibles; it just takes time and practice to get use to them to advantage.