On that first call I walked Alex through what had gone wrong. Moiré and black bars come from the screen's refresh rate clashing with the camera's shutter, and they also change with the angle you shoot from and the focal length of the lens. You can adjust the shutter speed, but the only way to really get it right is to test on the actual screen. Most photographers never think about it, because most clients don't care about the slides. Alex's client did, so we would. I showed him work where screens had to read cleanly.

Then we planned the rest:

✅ Brief locked weeks before. We chased the final requirements, so Alex could focus on his client.

✅ On site two hours early. We shot all the branding in the empty rooms and tested the screen until every frame looked right. Then we kept re-checking all session long.

✅ Hero shots shot on purpose. Every speaker, the packed room from the back, the Up Close logo. Flagged during the event, not hunted for in the edit.

✅ Two-person crew. I ran photography. Jan Mazur ran video.

✅ 25/25/25/25 coverage. Venue and branding, sessions, networking, after-party. Equal weight, so the story is complete.

✅ A selection, not a dump. We picked the best 100 against the brief and shared them in an online gallery A*live could still adjust.

The day itself brought its own surprises. I usually meet the person who owns the content before the event, so nothing catches us out. This time I could only meet Amazon's event lead on site, and some of what we'd agreed with A*live had changed by then. We sorted the differences there and then. During the event, several people from Amazon each needed photos for their own purpose, all at the same time, so we juggled their requests live. That's the reality of working with a company this size: a lot going on and very little time. It's also where experience on events pays off.