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When most people go out to a nightclub or a live music event, they anticipate an evening of fun and entertainment. But when Christian Hopewell attends such events, it’s a different story. Christian is a student events photographer, a job that often entails photographing people enjoying a night out. “I get people coming up to me and saying, ‘you’ve got the best job in the world!’ says Christian, “but they’re usually drunk and enjoying the party!” Being an events photographer means long hours and short deadlines, but it’s also highly satisfying to capture the atmosphere of an event and fulfil a client’s brief.

Christian was born in Sheffield in 1992, and after a brief spell as a physics student, switched to journalism, which he now studies at Sheffield University. He fell into photography by accident. “When I was around twenty, I started creating video content on YouTube [Christian’s blog, , has more than 64,000 subscribers] and found that I needed to create pictures for thumbnails and advertisements,” he recalls, “I borrowed my girlfriend’s camera, and found myself getting more involved in the photography side of things than making video content.”

Christian purchased a Canon 700D camera and developed his technique through a combination of reading, studying online content and watching YouTube videos. “Since then, I’ve spent a semester studying commercial photography in Volda, Norway,” he notes.

But the biggest impact on his photography has been joining the university’s photographic society, “My biggest influences are not famous photographers, but other photographers who are my peers,” states Christian. His first paid commission came in March 2017, “I found an agency online and contacted them. It was about four months later when they contacted me.”

The job went well, and as Christian got more commissions, and developed his portfolio, he began getting more work from outside the agency. “I get a lot of my work through the photographic society. I’m the jobs officer on the committee, so when jobs come in for student photographers, I advertise them to other members, and when they apply for a job, I add my application to the list. I am now a resident photographer for some venues, and regularly have one or two jobs a week.”

Being an events photographer requires various skills. “When I did photography for fun, I was mainly shooting nature and wildlife,” says Christian, “and so I had some anxiety about being in front of people with a camera, but you quickly get over it. People are generally happy about being photographed, especially students, although at some events, your presence is less welcome.”

Christian typically works from midnight to 2am at a venue, although jobs lasting from 10pm to 4am are not unknown, “In some cases, there’s also a four-hour round trip getting to and from the venue,” he adds. Christian travels light, “I have a Canon 5D Mark IV (with a 24-105mm lens), a flash and external modifier. I have confidence in my equipment and so don’t feel the need to take an extra camera body. You need to be confident about the camera, because you’re working in the dark and don’t get many opportunities to take a shot.”

In a typical night’s shoot, Christian will turn up at an event just before midnight, “Some venues want you to take 60 shots per hour; others may want 75. I usually take a test shot of the venue and then tweak my settings. Some venues I’ve done a number of times, so I have a pretty good idea about what works. A lot of nightclubs have strobes and flashing lights. You have no control over the light, so you have to shoot in manual. You also have to work very quickly, moving from scene-to-scene.”

There is certainly no time to join in the fun. “I shoot for around two hours and then head home. A lot of clients want the photographs uploaded by noon or early afternoon that day. They want to put the images on their social media pages, so that customers can see them and share them on their Facebook pages.”

When Christian returns home, he puts his images into for editing, “I shoot in RAW and I often delete as I go along. Normally, I’ll shoot 2-3 frames, because in some cases, the light hits the subject in the wrong direction or they are looking away. If there isn’t time for in-camera editing, then I have to sort through 700 images back home. I batch edit everything and tweak each image until it looks right. When I’ve finished editing, I’ll upload the images and then head for bed. It can be tricky juggling work with university commitments, but it’s an exciting job and it’s very satisfying when you deliver the goods.”

Christian has also started making some income from stock images with 17�Թ�����, “That came from someone from the photographic society mentioning that 17�Թ����� has a student membership scheme,” says Christian, “I applied and got accepted. I don’t rely on stock to pay the bills, but I have made some sales from my own images. What I like is that it has pushed me to create work that’s a little more professional, rather than just shooting stuff for myself.”

These are both good times and challenging times for young photographers, says Christian, “One of the great things about social media sites like Instagram is that they are good sources of inspiration for me. It puts the emphasis on creating still images, and if there wasn’t social media, there wouldn’t be as much drive for me to go out and photograph. There wouldn’t be the images that make me think, ‘I want to see that,’ or ‘I want to shoot that.’ I think it’s an exciting time to be a photographer.”

But with everyone having their own cameraphone and so many images available online, who needs a professional photographer these days? “As a consumer, you are catered for better than ever – you don’t have to buy a magazine; you have a whole world of content available to you,” notes Christian, “But for someone who is creating content and trying to find an outlet that can support you, it’s more difficult and more competitive than ever, and that’s a little scary. If there’s no solid, reliable way to create content and live off that or have something to show for it, then the quality will potentially go down.”

However, Christian is confident that professional photographers can thrive in this environment, “There’s more content out there; there’s more choice and you can distribute it easily, but I think there will always be a quality gap in the technology of a cameraphone and an SLR, and in terms of the skill that comes from years of training and learning your craft, and simply owning a cameraphone.”

Christian’s journalism course has taught him the importance of copyright. “It depends on the job. I’ve never signed my copyright over to anyone, but if a venue has paid me and puts the images online for people to share on Facebook, I don’t have an issue with that. But if someone steals or reuses content I’ve created to supplement my YouTube stuff; that is more concerning.”

What are Christian’s plans for the future? “I’m in my final year at university, so hopefully I will get a job after that!” he says, “if I can get something in the area I’ve studied or in creative media – video or still image, I’d be very happy with that.”

Finally, does Christian have any advice for other student photographers? “The best thing I did was to get involved with the photographic society, because it put me in a situation where I was surrounded by other people who are interested in the same thing and you can share and bounce ideas off each other.”

He also cites the three Ps – patience, persistence and practice, “Keep photographing and keep putting stuff out there. It took a while to get my first sales on 17�Թ�����, so you have to be patient. Keep creating things and evaluate what you have done. And then, go out and do it again and again, and improve and improve. If you keep improving, you’re going to get more opportunities and more positive feedback.”

See some of Christian’s work here.