Nikon and Canon at Eurovision

Watched by more than 200 million people worldwide, the Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most iconic entertainment events in the world. But what’s it like to photograph the historic event in Turin? We lent Corinne Cumming and Sarah Louise Bennett some much loved Nikon and Canon kit to find out. 

Could you tell us more about the kit you borrowed from MPB for the project? How did you find using it? Were you pleased with the results?

CC: I borrowed the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS II USM and a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV to take to Eurovision in Turin. I already have a Mark IV, so having a second made my two DSLR camera setups a lot easier as they were both touchscreens. But the real game-changer was the lens. Even though I was shooting from the green room, which is very close to the stage, I still needed that extra zoom. I took some of my favourite pictures on that lens.

SLB: The brilliant Nikon AF-S 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED VR II for Eurovision. Having previously photographed other music television broadcasts for the BBC, I know that the live broadcast takes priority over stills – meaning I have to work around the multiple television cameras, so I often won’t have my ideal shooting position. The huge focal length meant that I could get the close-ups needed from much further back, whilst the consistent f/4 aperture allowed me to keep my shutter speed high to freeze all the action and choreography.

What else was in your kit bag for the shoot? What features do you look for in the kit for events such as these? How important is it to have the right setup?

CC: The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM, Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM and a Canon EF24-70mm f/2.8 L USM. For my two-camera setup, I also have a black rapid dual-shoulder harness and a think tank belt with a lens changer 35 pouch and another zip-up pouch for spare batteries and memory cards. The most important thing for big events like these is having lenses that cover a wide variety of scenarios. I like to have a wide lens for crowd shots, 24-70 for portraits and less zoomed-in shots of the stage and the 100-400 for closeups. If I didn’t have all those bases covered, I don’t think I could do the job to the best of my ability.

SLB: I brought my Nikon D850 and Nikon Z6 II, the FTZ adapter for the Z6 II, the Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G IF-ED and Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II. They’re both slightly older lenses but they’re built solidly and still work perfectly. I use a Blackrapid double harness with these lenses to minimise the amount of time I’m spending changing lenses so I don’t miss any of the action. I also brought a monopod to use when shooting with the 200-400 lens to minimise any camera shake. It’s so important to have solid, reliable gear when working events like this. You only get one chance to grab iconic moments that are being broadcast live to millions on TV!

What does a day as a photographer look like at Eurovision? The pressure to turn around imagery quickly must be high.

CC: The great thing about Eurovision for me was that no two days looked the same. In the first week, I was shooting portraits in a makeshift studio with rented ProPhoto lights, but I was also shooting the live rehearsals that week. The second week, we had the turquoise carpet event, which was more high-pressure for some photographers in the team (Sarah and Andres, as their photos had to go out to press live – my portraits in the hallway were being held to post the next day as I needed to do some retouching). 

The really busy week was finals week. We would wake up early in the morning to finish editing our photos from the day before. Around 1 pm we would be picked up at our hotel and taken to the venue where we would shoot the first rehearsal of the day. Between that rehearsal and either the second rehearsal or the live show, we would do more photo editing and also cover any press briefings, maybe shove some pasta in our faces and then shoot the show in the evening. On finals night, we didn’t finish working until 3 am, at which point I went back to the hotel and promptly went back out to Sam Ryder’s afterparty and went almost straight from that party to the airport to catch a flight home.

SLB: I joined the Eurovision crew a week before the final, and first up for me was capturing the action on the turquoise carpet at the opening ceremony. It was pretty epic as far as red carpets go; it was hosted at the stunning Venaria Reale and took nearly four hours for all 40 countries to make their way down it!

For the other days, we’d technically be shooting two shows a day. Each live show had two dress rehearsals the day before, followed on the proceeding day by a third rehearsal and the actual live broadcasted show, meaning we’d cover each show four times. We’d actually use the rehearsals to try to capture as much of the action as possible and have it banked to go out as the live show was happening as there’s simply no way to edit everything that quickly. There are so many artists, they only perform for three minutes each and the changeovers between them are roughly 40 seconds long. Instead, we’d then use the live shows to mostly capture the atmosphere and action in both the crowd and the artist's green room, which couldn’t be documented before. However, even if some of the photos were taken in rehearsals, they still had to be true to the live show. If artists changed their stage outfits, hair and makeup, or would do something slightly different in their live performances, we’d edit and upload those images immediately from the green room.

They were long shows to photograph, too. The semifinals were both two and a half hours long and the final was four hours. To put that in perspective, a normal live music gig is normally an hour and a half, so it was truly a music photography marathon!

What is it like shooting a live event watched by over 200 million people worldwide? Knowing your work will be seen across the planet must be so exciting.

CC: Shooting a live event like Eurovision, one of the biggest televised events on the planet, was incredible. I was the first person on the stage after Ukraine had finished their winner's performance so I could take their photo. As soon as I had edited that photo and sent it off to press, I just broke down in tears because I was so overwhelmed with the enormity of what myself and my team had achieved.

SLB: You can’t think about the exact scale of an event like Eurovision – just the things you can do in that room to do the best job you can, or it’d be overwhelming. Of course, you’re aware that the photos will travel widely, but we had no idea that this year may also live in the history books given the heartbreaking events in Ukraine and their entry Kalush Orchestra winning this year’s competition. President Zelensky even posted my photo on Instagram, which was incredibly surreal and humbling.

What is your favourite moment and image you took from the event?

CC: I really don’t think I can pick one image. I took some of my favourite images in the studio, in the beautiful hallway at the turquoise carpet, but also backstage and on stage during the competition. But I think my favourite moment of the event was being right next to Ukraine as it was announced that they had won Eurovision 2022.

SLB: My favourite image would have to be this one of Kalush Orchestra on stage seconds after they’d won. I’ll never forget the overwhelming love and emotion in that room.

Capturing live events requires a particular set of skills. What would be your top tips for event photography?

CC: I think my top tip for shooting events is one I’ve stolen from Art Streiber. He said in a talk once that you have to be the right amount of both prepared and flexible as a photographer, which I think is honestly so accurate. Things never go completely to plan, but you can’t let that throw you. You just have to do your best in any circumstance and trust yourself and your skills.

SLB: For anyone doing live event photography, I’d say that the most important thing you can do is get to know your equipment and how it works so well that you don’t have to think about the technical stuff at all. It should eventually become muscle memory. Of course, it takes a lot of time and practice, but it means that you can then focus entirely on what’s happening in that room and how to best document it – not your settings.

Thanks. You can see more of Cornine’s work at www.capturedbycorinne.co.uk and more of Sarah Louise’s work at www.slb.photography. You can also find out more about the cameras they use in our Nikon Z6 II review and Canon 5D Mark IV review.

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