Birth by Fire

Edit (May 25th, 2024):

I finally got around to editing the entire 3-day event album. I've swapped out all photos on my event page and in this post to the updated versions. These are a much more complete and accurate representation of my work. If you attended the event and had used one of my unedited photos on your social media as a profile picture, I would appreciate if you would update your photo to the edited version. If you chose not to that's perfectly alright and I'm still happy knowing that you liked my photo enough to use it.

The best way to learn is by doing.

It hasn't even been a month since I picked up photography, but my good friends at Fragadelphia are hosting a 3-day esports event locally and I figured it would be a great opportunity to practice. Originally I was only planning on going in for a few hours each day because I hadn't ever photographed an event up to this point and I didn't know if I would be any good at it, but once the camera came out I was having too much fun to stop. Down-the-line, candid reactions, portraits, special moments, I was getting every shot I could think up. It was a small venue so people quickly noticed me and asked to see my photos. They were loving my pictures which meant I had to keep going. I remembered my time coaching at events like these and how exciting it was to get high quality photos of myself and I felt like I had a purpose there. I had an opportunity to give everyone the same feeling I used to get and create a record of memories for us all to be able to look back at.

Steve and Ed, the owners of Fragadelphia, were very appreciative of the work I was doing and how it was helping improve everyone's enjoyment of the event. To thank me they refunded my spectator ticket, fed me (and the entire staff), and brought me on as an official Fragadelphia staff member. I was having so much fun that I wanted to get the photos I took each day out as fast as possible. During my commute home every night I would sort through about 6000 photos and uploading all the best ones then announce to the participants that the RAW photos from each day are available. This eagerness was my only regret in my process. Ultimately all the photos still came out great and I got tons of positive feedback immidiately, but now that a few days have passed and I've been selecting my personal favorites to begin editing, I realize I jumped the gun. Seeing people posting my unedited photos and using them as their new profile pictures has been both an amazing and slightly disppointing feeling. When I uploaded the RAW photos, I knew the they could be much better with some Lightroom tweaks, but I'm still very new to editing on top of photography so I'm wasn't sure how long it would take me to go through them all. In the end, even though it's not a complete representation of my ability, just being able to see all the participants and Fragadelphia staff enjoying the photos made it all worth it.

Attending the event resulted it some major breakthroughs for me. I learned how to be more effective in low light environments. I learned more composition and framing techniques. I learned that photography is more than just stealthily snapping photos and that interacting and engaging with the people is just as important. I'm glad I took the opportunity to explore my hobby further and leave my comfort zone. It not only gave me an chance to improve my photography, but I also go to see a lot of old friends and meet tons of new people.

30 hours and 18,000 photos later, Fragadelphia CS/DO 2024, my first event as a photographer, was a massive success.