A first edition of an event is a double stake for the organiser. There are no photos from last year to promote the next edition with. Whatever remains in the material after the event will be the foundation of the brand’s communication from the start.
In early February I photographed Post Software 2026, the first open meetup of the community built by Intentee. Venue: Brain Embassy in Warsaw. The agenda featured talks about AI, Q&A sessions and evening networking.
What happened
The format was closer to a conference than a casual meetup. A hall with a full-size stage, a main screen and side screens, several speakers, an audience asking questions with a microphone.
Talks about AI have their own rhythm: a slide, the room’s reaction, the speaker’s gesture. Some slides were handwritten and deliberately provocative – “The Internet is Dead” on the screen makes the shot by itself, you just have to catch the audience’s reaction in time.
After the stage part, the event moved to the networking zone. Conversations over coffee under neon lights, a stand with a robotic arm reaching for sweets for guests, screens with event branding throughout the space. In other words, the material an organiser needs for a report: social media, a wrap-up for the community and promotion of the next edition.
What I watch for at a first edition
Branding has to be in the material. At a first edition, every frame with the logo works towards brand recognition. Screens with the event identity, pins on attendees’ jackets, the venue sign – all of it goes into the selection, meaning the choice of the best photos from the whole day.
The venue is part of the story. Brain Embassy has character: neon lights, greenery, industrial space. I photograph in a way that shows where it was – the organiser did not choose this venue without a reason.
I photograph more broadly than just the stage. A raised hand before a question, the audience’s reactions to a slide, conversations in the corridors. You cannot put together a report of the whole event from speaker photos alone.
Result
The client after receiving the gallery: “the photos are great and will be very useful to us”. The material was downloaded in full and is used for the Post Software community’s communication.
