I can pretty much guarantee that your first event photoshoot will be one of, if not, the most stressful times you'll have during your photography career. Whether it be a stranger's wedding or your cousins baby shower you will be stressed because, if you're like me, you want them to treasure the work you give them for years to come. I had filmed a couple of weddings and quinceneras before, but I knew photography was a whole new game. Events are nothing like a 1 hour portrait session because you only have one chance to get the images that really matter.
My first event was an engagement party in a rather small venue so I knew using a prime lens on my DX body wouldn't work in this situation. The space was just too tight to capture the images with a 50mm lens. At the time my 50mm was the only lens had invested in outside of my actual camera. So I basically had to use my 18-55mm kit lense for most of the shots that I took. The 18-55mm is in no way a terrible lens but the situation didn't have the best lighting, and the lens didn't have a very wide aperture which made it very difficult to get the shots I wanted using only my camera settings. If I lowered my shutter speed then I'd catch a lot of motion blur, but I raised my ISO my picture would be very grainy. Thankfully, I made the wise decision to invest in an external flash. I'll probably get more into flash in a later post, but the flash was, for the most part, what saved this photo shoot. I went around and took pictures of each table and tried to get as many candid shots as I could. I followed the bride and groom and photographed them with their families. After a few shots my nerves calmed down and I was in the zone. Everything was going great until the toasts began. Probably the most important portion of the entire party and my external flash begins to fail me. Before I go any further, I should mention that my external flash was not a very high end flash. After each picture my flash began taking up to 15 seconds to recharge which caused me to miss the most important shot of the entire party. 15 seconds may not seem like a lot, but when you're taking pictures at an event those 15 seconds could cause you to miss some very important moments. You're either waiting for an important moment, and miss some great shots because you know your flash will take forever to recharge if you use it, or you missed a great moment while your flash was recharging. Anyway, I missed the only kiss between the bride and the groom because my flash was recharging, and I still cringe thinking about it. Despite all this, the shoot went great and the couple loved their pictures, but I know that that one shot would've made a big difference.
My biggest piece of advice is to remember that people are trusting you to capture these memories for them. Make sure your equipment works and you know what you're getting yourself into when you agree to do an event. I can't imagine how I would've done it if I didn't have my external flash to get some very well exposed pictures. If you know you're going to be in a tight space and have to photograph large groups of people then invest in a wider lens. If you're going to take pictures in a dark area invest in a good external flash. Since then I've invested in both of these. If you work hard then the equipment should pay itself off in no time.