On Tuesday evening I covered a reception and dinner at the European Parliament for the European Ceramic Industry Association. There were 100 guests, 7 speeches, 4 courses and I took over 500 pictures in the space of nearly 4 hours.
As always, I met some extremely nice people, including Giuseppe from Bologna. We got talking, and it turned I out I that I had actually visited his tile factory in 1983.
You might think that a European industry get-together would not be much fun. But if you enjoy photographing people as much as I do then it is a sheer delight to spend an entire evening with 100 willing subjects. As I got to know them, some posed, some fooled around and some played shy. Most simply ignored me. Meanwhile, I could take my time to stalk the room, picking my angles and my moments.
I wasn't bored, but I certainly did get hungry. As the evening wore on, one of the waiters took pity on me and brought me some food and wine. I wanted to make a portrait of her but she said she didn't like photographs.