European Molecular Imaging Meeting 2019
European Molecular Imaging Meeting 2019
with a great ceilidh at The Arches, Glasgow.
Back in March, I was commissioned to photograph a three-day event for the organizers of the 2019 European Molecular Imaging Meeting (EMIM), which was hosted at The Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.
Although this commission was about image capture, none of the cameras looked like anything I’d ever seen before! The conference revolved around a highly technical and scientific subject matter of which I have zero understanding. Molecular imaging is on a whole other level but there was some familiar ground with an amazing ceilidh for the delegates to let their hair down.
The 2019 European Molecular Imaging Meeting – Epic Scotland Photography
The annual meeting is put on by the European Society for Molecular Imaging (ESMI), a non-profit, apolitical society and academic community of imaging scientists with a strong interdisciplinary focus. Their goal is to promote the development and practical application of Imaging Science in Europe and around the world!
I had a very stimulating and enjoyable three days. It was a real pleasure to work with this animated, engaging and entertaining group of people from all over the world!
Throughout the event, I was given free rein to document anything and everything I saw. This included more structured items on the agenda, like plenary speakers and audience members, engaged in asking questions. There were also poster sessions where delegates presented their research and ideas to other delegates in an informal way. This made for great pictures, as groups clustered around various posters and engaged in animated conversation.
There was a great display of Scottish Dancing to entertain the delegates at the opening session. But all in all, there was plenty of time for delegates to meet and network with each other, giving me some wonderful candid shots.
One of my favourite moments from the three-day event was the traditional Scottish Ceilidh, a social event at the Argyle Street Arches in Glasgow with a great ceilidh band called Whisky Kiss. Delegates were entertained with high energy traditional Scottish music and many of them rolled their sleeves up and took to the dance floor!
Glasgow Conference Photography
Conference Centre lighting can be challenging, but with my new Sony cameras and fast lenses, I’m able to handle the most difficult lighting situations with ease. The ceilidh dance lighting was in almost complete darkness, so I had to use a series of flash lights to freeze the action and capture the exuberant expressions of the dancers as they spun past the camera at high speed.
Whether it’s a conference or a ceilidh dance, I always try to get close to the action rather than stand back too far a telephoto lens. This serves to capture the mood and intensity. Whether it’s of a discussion or the dancing, I put my documentary skills to work by getting close to the subject, but not distracting them from what they’re doing.
I want to give a big thanks to the organizers, Annette Klein and the team from Cologne in Germany for being so great to work with. I had an amazing time capturing the event on camera and even learning a few things about molecular imaging along the way, although I’ll definitely be sticking my style of photography. Good luck to the team with next year’s conference in Thessaloniki!
