Yes, we still want to come and shoot your event for you! While these are difficult times for the event and photography industries, we are still committed to coming and documenting every moment, however because of COVID, there are some steps that we as professional photographers need to put in place in order to keep everyone safe.

And although event photographers are not responsible for managing the conduct of others at an event since this should fall within the responsibilities of the event planner, we can still play an important part in ensuring that our clients have the best information on how to stay safe at their event during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This involves making sure we as professionals strictly adhere to health and safety guidelines while providing the best service and also ensuring that our clients understand the requirements for themselves and for event participants.

The following is an outline of all of the best COVID-19 health and safety practices for professional event photographers, as well as helpful information that photographers can share with clients to ensure that everyone is well informed at the event.

The Role of The Event Photographer

Any social gathering during the pandemic comes with inherent risks, and event photographers play a vital role in limiting those risks. Since our job involves capturing all of the key moments at any event, we are often the ones who move around the most and come into contact with the greatest number of people in order to capture quality moments.

Our unique position gives us two major responsibilities. The first is ensuring that we as photographers are practicing appropriate health and safety procedures so that our conduct at events is safe, and the second is ensuring that we provide everyone we encounter with the best information regarding the appropriate health and safety practices for the event.

Although photographers are not responsible for the etiquette of others at an event, keeping everyone informed and up to date regarding health and safety requirements can be seen as a courtesy to help keep everyone safe.

The health and safety practices for photographers are as follows:

Social Distancing and the Use of Face Masks

Maintaining a minimum distance of 6 feet from others and wearing a face mask is commonly known to limit the spread of COVID-19 at events, but there are ways that we as professionals can maximize the effectiveness of this practice. Photographers should practice giving verbal directions to guests when arranging people for pictures, rather than stepping in close to guide people into position so that the social distancing rule is maintained.

Members of the same household will be able to stay in close proximity with each other since they are in close contact at home, so when possible, learning who is from which household means that we will be able to safely group people together for photos without any risk of exposure. This practice will become even more important as people will want to remove their face masks for photos, in which case they should only be within 6 feet of members of their own household.

The more people there are in one space, the greater the risk. Photographers should communicate with clients that photos need to be taken in smaller groups and preferably within household groups, and that photos in an outdoor setting are preferable as this allows for more social distancing space and ventilation.

Be Mindful of Your Health When You Are Not Working

The fact that photographers will be coming into close contact with a large number of guests at an event means that we have to be mindful of our health outside of our working hours as well. This includes avoiding going into crowded spaces and high-risk environments, sticking to social distancing measures, wearing face masks as much as possible, and taking all other precautions such as regular hand washing and avoiding touching our faces when out in public. We may even need to postpone our own social events to a later date after the scheduled event if we are worried that this may pose a risk to others while we are working

It is our responsibility to ensure that our health is not compromised, as this could be passed on to our clients. It’s a good idea for photographers to start implementing these practices at least two weeks before the scheduled event so that they have enough time to monitor their health and possible symptoms in the case of an infection.

Have an Associate Ready to Step In

Responsibly shooting an event means having a plan B in any case when we need to call in sick. As well as being mindful of our own health and keeping a watchful eye out for any symptoms of illness, we should always arrange for an associate or colleague to step in on the off chance that we fall ill, regardless of whether it could be COVID-19 or not.

This removes the pressure to show up from of the photographer so there is no way anyone is put at risk by a professional who feels like they can’t cancel, even when they have a health concern. For photographers working within a larger team, this will be an easy coordination amongst colleagues to ensure that your emergency replacement is available on the day. For solo photographers, it can generally be a good idea to implement a system with a friend or other professional where you arrange to cover each other for specific events should one of your fall ill.

Clean, Clean, Clean

As much as we try to, it can be impossible to avoid touching things in our environment with our hands, which then transfers germs to our equipment and vice versa. This means that as well as regularly cleaning our hands with disinfectant, we should also be regularly cleaning our equipment too in order to maintain a safe environment. In addition to our cameras and any other photography equipment that we are using and in regular contact with, we also need to remember to clean our mobile devices since they are the most likely to come in to contact with what ever may be on our hands.

Make sure that the disinfectant you use is compatible with your equipment so that you can clean thoroughly and frequently without worrying about damaging anything.

Part of maintaining a good standard of hygiene is to avoid sharing equipment between people. If you are a solo photographer, then you and you alone should be the one behind the camera. Sharing equipment is a good way of potentially passing the virus to someone else or receiving it from someone else, even if you don’t come directly into contact with that person.

If you are working as part of a photography team, then the same rule should apply where each person has their assigned equipment and role, where everyone avoids sharing equipment. If this is unavoidable, keep a bottle of disinfectant with you or with the piece of equipment so that it can be sterilized each time it changes hands.

An additional courtesy to our clients can be provided by placing disinfecting stations at the entrance and exit of a designated photo stage, where people can use an alcohol disinfectant on their hands both before and after posing with others for photos. Photographers should communicate with the event planners to have this included in the plan.

Maintain an Open Dialogue with Clients

This is likely a stressful time for event planners as well as for photographers and everyone else involved, so an open dialogue is necessary for everyone to work together as a team to get the best results while maintaining good health and safety standards. Provide clients with multiple ways to contact you so that they can keep you informed of any changes to dates, venues, and so on, and make sure that you also have multiple avenues for contacting them if at any point you need to make a change. This will help make an already stressful process more streamlined.

Face to face meetings before the event should also be swapped for online meetings as much as possible in order to reduce the amount of close contact time everyone has as an additional preventive measure.

Information for Clients and Event Attendees

While the CDC has released their own guidelines and considerations for events and gatherings, individual states, and in some cases, counties and cities, have been left in charge of their own lockdown and safety measures, which if not adhered to, may incur fines and other penalties.

Local State Mandates

It is recommended that photographers, event planners, and everyone else who is going to be present at the event read and review information from both the CDC and local state websites. While some states, counties, and cities have issued complete lockdowns for all non-essential workers, other states have remained open and operational, so your location will heavily impact whether an event can take place, its size, and whether a professional photographer may be allowed to work. For local state information, you can find the applicable state or city health website here.

Federal Considerations

While local states are ultimately the ones who get to decide what legal requirements are met by events and professionals, the CDC’s Considerations for Events and Gatherings are summarized below, and are extremely useful for understanding what procedures need to be followed by everyone at an event.

Staying home when it is needed

All staff and event attendees should stay at home instead of going to the event if they have tested positive for COVID-19, are showing COVID-19 symptoms, or if they have been in close contact with somebody who has been tested positive for the virus.

Hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette

All staff and attendees are encouraged to frequently wash hands with either soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or to clean hands using a hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol. This should be done frequently both before and after touching shared items and surfaces.

Everyone should also cover their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing using a tissue which then needs to be immediately thrown into the bin, or the crook of the arm should be used to cover the mouth and nose rather than covering with hands.

Handshakes, high-fives, hugs, and other social actions involving physical contact should be discouraged.

Masks

All staff at the event will be required to use masks, and they should be provided with the right information on how to use, remove, and wash their masks. All event attendees should be encouraged before the event to bring and use their own masks. In some states, attendees will be required to wear masks when in public areas, so ensure that everyone is aware of the requirements.

Supplies

Make sure that there is appropriate access to sinks for hand washing, and that there are enough tissues, hand sanitizer, soap, disinfectant wipes, masks, and covered trash cans for the number of event attendees.

Signs and dispersing information

Place signs in easily visible locations such as at toilet entrances and at the entrance to the event advising attendees on the above protective measures. Messages should also be circulated among staff and attendees regarding preventive behaviors on social media and related websites.

The CDC considerations for events and gatherings page also has some great guidelines for cleaning and disinfection, providing food services, and maintaining an overall healthy operation so it is definitely a useful resource for event planners and anyone thinking about scheduling an event.

The pandemic has definitely hit businesses hard which can make surviving in these times even more stressful when we are worrying about our health and the health of our families, colleagues, employees, and friends. That is why photographers like myself take pride in going above and beyond to make events easier for our clients while delivering the same high-quality photography services. Event photographers have a unique opportunity to not only keep themselves safe, but to influence the environment of the event so that everybody can be safer.

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How to Photograph an Event Responsibly During COVID