A few weeks ago, I was hired as the photographer on record for the 2014 Southern Governor's Association annual meeting held in Little Rock.
Founded in 1934, Southern Governors' Association (SGA) is the oldest and historically the largest of the regional governors' associations. Since its inception, SGA has represented the common interests of Southern states' chief executives and provided a vehicle for promoting them. SGA supports the work of Southern Governors by providing a bipartisan, regional forum to help shape and implement national policy and solve regional problems.
It was a long, tiring, yet fascinating four-day photo shoot. Top minds from various fields including technology, science, research and education met and discussed various topics with several Governor's from southern states.
In addition to photographing all of the panel speakers and events, I also photographed all of the social events including golf, several evening receptions and dinners and luncheons.
I cannot brag enough about how wonderful the SGA staff is to work with. I also want to rave about the event lighting crew that was hired out of Kentucky. This crew took a boring, drab and mostly inconsistently lit ballroom (white balance-wise) and lit the hell out of it. It was a real treat to photograph the panel speakers in a well-lit room with consistent white balance, 39 perfectly placed spot lights (yes I said 39) and colored up-lighting.
I was a very happy photographer.
Another highlight of the event was photographing (and dining) at the Governor's mansion. While shooting the dinner at the Mansion, I chose to sit at an empty table by myself in the back of the room. It's a great place to people watch. No one wants to be photographed while they eat so there's nothing to do. And after working for 13-hours, I was happy to be alone.
In between courses, Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe was going back and forth between tables talking to guests and spotted me...sitting alone. He walked over and invited me to sit elsewhere, but I respectfully declined. He actually stopped by twice.
It was a great evening to close a wonderful photo shoot.
Below are some of my favorites from SGA 2014!
