Another Tech Event Photo Shoot in Berlin
One of the best things about
photographing events in Berlin is the unique variety of venues in
which I get to work. One week I'll be on the deck of a boat plowing
slowly down the Spree, and the next I'll be in a open courtyard
photographing men in business suits spraying graffiti on walls as a
team building exercise.
I recently photographed
another tech event in the riverside event hall Arena Berlin, a massive
1920s bus depot-turned-armory-turned-refugee-camp-turned abandoned
Berlin building. The huge urban space of Berlin is littered with
hundreds of such buildings, which have withstood the tests of time
and wars to be reclaimed for modern use.Brick walls and vaulted, cantilevered ceilings held thousands of convention delegates playing a new game: advertising and providing online gaming software, servers and safe havens for the multi-billion dollar online gaming industry. A space which once smelled of bus exhaust fumes is now home to the smell of hot waffles being made fresh and handed out to hungry attendees to munch on during breaks. At the other end of the sprawling space is a gaming bar with baristas brewing up vitamin J in ample networking spaces.
I must photograph all
speakers and audiences at each stage, but I am also interested in the
fine details unique to each event: the brick figures pushing out of
the exterior of the hall, the soft light beaming through skylights
over iron beams, and a Berliner's bicycle chained to a drain pipe. A friendly fussball table competition between attendees is always a good photo op.
After the work day, a walk
between buildings leads you to the Badeschiff, a floating
swimming pool forged out of the hull of an old river barge, and a
stroll down a graffiti-blasted alleyway leads to the new location of
White Trash Fast Food, a mainstay of the Berlin music and food with
'tude scene. Just beyond is one of my favorite river bars in Berlin:
Club der Visionaere, where you can test your balance while drinking
cocktails on floating decks.
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For more information on
event photography in Berlin, Prague and the rest of Europe, please
contact Craig Robinson Photography.
