The Prudential International Insurance Conference Photography – Five Days of Event Photography
The Prudential International Insurance Conference was a very international event that was held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. The conference celebrated the accomplishments of its affiliates from 9 countries, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Poland, Italy, India, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. The nearly one trillion-dollar company honored its top life planners and sales leaders in all countries. We provided event photography during this five-day event in downtown San Diego.
San Diego Padres Petco Park Tour Photography
Event Photography began on day one with a ride in one of the two motor coaches that transported four-dozen VIP conference attendees from the Manchester Grand Hyatt to the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park. The VIP guests were given a personalized, behind-the-scenes tour in and around the ballbark. My role as conference photographer was to photo-document the afternoon as we were escorted through the locker rooms, Padres dugout, field, and the historic Western Metal Supply Co. Building, before finishing up with a group photo at the Park with shots of the lunch at a local venue.
Carnival Night Along San Diego Bay
Day Two of event photography for the Prudential International Insurance Conference was the evening welcome dinner with a carnival-like atmosphere at the Embarcadero Marina Park near Seaport Village alongside San Diego Bay, located directly across from the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina. The evening event featured a BBQ buffet with all sorts of foodie delights, which was catered by the Manchester Grand Hyatt. Guests enjoyed color-coordinated seating along San Diego Bay, complete with sailboats and a spectacular San Diego sunset in the background
Event photography for the evening included photos of the dinner with guests and their families enjoying their meals while networking with colleagues from across the world. We also photographed the wide variety of entertainment that Prudential International Insurance had arranged. Event photos included the live, on-stage band, carnival-type games, and other fun activities including face painting, which the kids really liked.
Inspirational and Dynamic Olympian Vince Poscente
On Day Three photography for this San Diego event really started moving fast, as hundreds of conference attendees from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Poland, Italy, India, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico gathered in the main ballroom of the Manchester Grand Hyatt for the Education Session. After a brief introduction by the head of Prudential of Japan, the stage was open to a very high energy, inspirational presentation by Olympian Vince Poscente. As it turns out, Mr. Poscente and I both grew up in the same of city – Calgary, Alberta in Canada. His presentation was dynamic and dramatic, as he talked about ski jumping for the Canada Olympic Team. Mr. Poscente not only had his entire audience fully engaged, but also posing in positions akin to rocketing down a ski jump.
Stomp Drummers, Awards Presentation and Prudential CEO
Day Four’s General Session also opened with a lot of excitement with entertainment by a full ensemble of stomp percussion drummers. This was followed the first round of awards ceremonies. Awards of plaques and trophy cups were given to Prudential agents from all nine countries. Event photography was extremely fast-paced and required carefully working around the two-person video crew from Prudential Productions.
Being a good event photographer also means working in tight quarters. There was so much excitement and support from the audience that often the stage area become swamped with people, so it was necessary to gain proper camera positioning to capture not only posed photos or awards recipients, but also great shots of them receiving their awards from company executives, including CEO John Strangfeld.
Leaders Reception Highlights
On the evening of Day Four, event photograph moved outdoors to the pool area of the Hyatt for the Leaders Reception. There two especially wonderful aspects in photographing took place. The first was the delightful greeting Mr. Strangfeld and his wife shared with each Prudential Leader who the entered the reception. And the second special moment was photographing the exact moment the guests signed each others’ commemorative cards.
Awards Presentation and Flag Ceremony
The following day was Saturday and it was a full day of shooting from the start of the morning into late that evening. Conference event photography started with covering the second General Session. Making a grand entrance while waving a flag, one representative from each of the nine countries came to the stage for a very colorful group photo. In between several presentations by Prudential executives, the second series of awards ceremonies were photographed.
Black Tie Dinner, Illusionist Dave, and Dancing to The Zippers
The evening was a night of wonderful celebration as it not only closed out the conference, but also was an evening of wonderful dining and entertainment. Following the dinner, the audience were treated to the most amazing show with Illusionist Dave and his work with swords and levitation. The evening played on for several more hours with live entertainment and photography of the Zippers Band.
Event Photography Products
Following the five days of event photography, plus image processing, the products prepared for Prudential Productions were the full collection of images hosted in a secure online gallery. This allowed the company the option of easily sharing the images with its representatives across the world. In addition, the company was also provided a DVD of all images in high resolution, along with a slideshow to easily view all those images. These products are what I typically provide to all clients who require a corporate event photographer in San Diego. Feel free to contact me for more information.
