I am now Vice President for marketing for a corporation in Northern Virginia and I have been with that corporation since college; however, as a kid, I was a typical army brat being educated wherever my dad happened to be posted. One place where I stayed the most was in the south of England; which is where I received their equivalent of my high school education. During that time, I was rather good at swimming and represented my school many times at what they called “galas” over there. Any event that involved competitive swimming was billed as a gala and that is still the meaning of the word that comes straight into my mind whenever I hear it spoken.
I have a blind spot when it comes to things like the gala opening of a movie; or a gala ball – I simply write off the gala aspect as some sort of advertising hyperbole. So; when I was informed that our company was to be holding a gala celebration to mark the opening of our new HQ building; I wondered if the swimming pool would be on the roof or down in the basement. My feet were firmly set back on dry land when I opened my next e-mail and learned that the boss had given me the job of arranging the gala photography in Northern Virginia for our opening day celebrations.
If I Am To Find A Gala Photographer; I’d Better Know What A Gala Is
The second bit was easy; looking it up in a dictionary informed me that the main feature of a gala is that it involves a festive entertainment or performance to mark a special event. From which it must follow that I needed to find a professional photographer who works outside a studio; has experience in photographing performers in action; plus photographing people – singly or in groups that might range from couples to literal crowds.
Choose A Photojournalist
A photojournalist is a photographer who uses his skills with cameras to record the total story behind and during an occasion. By now, I had a plan in mind that involved our gala photography in Northern Virginia starting with some historical shots of the corporation along with our main activities before moving along to the gala performance and opening of the new building with all its other festivities and personalities. Who better than a photojournalist to put all of this together for me?
The Rodney Bailey photojournalism group has a couple of decades of experience in gala photography For Northern Virginia and have documented many high profile events.
