SAJ ’09

I attended the 2009 Southern Alberta Jamboree at Camp Impeesa last week.  I was the main Scouter in charge of a patrol of 4 scouts, so most of my photography was focused on capturing their experiences there.  Being involved in the activity meant that sometimes I would have to hand off the camera to someone else to take the shots.  You don’t always get the best photos that way, but you can be surprised.

The Jamboree had a volunteer photographer wandering through the events.  His shots were part of a slide show at the closing ceremonies, but, due to privacy concerns, that’s all we’ll ever see of those.  So don’t ever rely on someone else’s work to record a special event.

What do you record on an event like this?  From my experience I have a number of tips to pass on:

1. I wanted to have something for each of them, so I looked for opportunities to highlight the single youth doing each activity.
   
2. Sometimes I wanted to show the energy of the event, but not necessarily any faces.  Most certainly though, I wanted to show them doing things as a team.
   
3. Capture interesting things going on that give you context to what is happening outside of your group.
   
4. Include friends that they make.
   
5. Make sure to capture the all-important group shot.
   
6. And don’t forget your camera back at the camp or you’ll be making extra trips.

Try to follow the rules of composition.  Your memories should be artistic, but it’s best to just get any shot you can first, then you can try to refine it until the shot goes away.

Tags: Events, Impeesa, outdoor, Photography