Event photography: Rob vs Robot
Who would win between a robot photographer and a human photographer?
It’s Rob vs Robot.
Agri-TechE recently celebrated their 10th anniversary (congratulations! 🥳) and asked me to be the official event photographer.
But I had competition.
Meet Eva the robot
Now, before I start, I’ve got to say:
Robots are cool. Eva is cool.
Seeing this friendly bot glide around, encouraging attendees to capture happy moments is a unique addition to an event, and certainly grabbed attention.
My respect goes to the competition.
Now, let’s fight.
The robot’s approach was all-guns-blazing.
Mine was stealth.
The robot’s approach was to slide towards the nearest attendee and ask “can I take your photo?”. Ask and wait.
This got some lovely posed photos. I saw attendees stop and grab pictures with members of the Agri-TechE team, where they had been too busy networking to think of a selfie.
However, this backfired on a couple occasions, interrupting the conversations. It scared me at one point, sliding over to me while I joined others eating burgers. Not while I’m eating!
It also got stuck, not able to slide away after it had asked those around it. “Should we push it into the main crowd?” someone asked me.
My approach was to hunt for those having the most engaging discussions and capture the smiles from a distance, not disrupting the flow of their conversation.
I was looking for candid moments of joy and interaction, to represent how the network has engaged and brought farmers, scientists and the wider community together over the last decade.
One downside is being noticed. Some people feel conflicted when they’re deep in discussion knowing a camera is trained on them. They may want to pose a little, which makes the scene less natural.
Who won this round? Write down your scores.
The robot has faster turnaround time
The robot was instant, setup for automatic sharing.
Every photo was automatically branded with the Agri-TechE logo and event name, and could be sent directly to the subject’s email inbox.
Super quick, super convenient.
On the downside, this meant each photo existed as-is, and couldn’t be adjusted further.
I edited my photos after the event, before handing to the Agri-TechE team.
This meant group photos didn’t have discarded cups or bags in the background, so the shot was much cleaner.
On the downside, it meant it took extra time to make the edits before they were available to the Agri-TechE team.
Who won this round? Write down your scores.
I got a bit creative.
The robot is specialised in getting the perfect group selfie in an event setting.
Having its own lighting, and a fixed position, it’s always ready to capture the moment.
Plus, it’s extremely clear to the attendees what it’s trying to achieve.
The benefit of being a videographer for over 10 years is that I think like a videographer.
I adapt quickly to different situations, and test new ideas.
For example, this group photo was a perfect opportunity to use the camera’s burst mode, and turn into a GIF in post-production for sharing online.
Who won this round? Write down your scores.
“The group pic I think is probably my favourite image ever from the Agri-TechE journey. The animation just makes me smile every time I look at it.”
So who won?
It was a fair fight, but there can only be one winner.
I’ll let you decide.
