Joe Szurszewski is a corporate, association, and non-profit event photographer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and traveling from coast to coast to photograph events for clients in a broad range of industries. His years of delivering compelling images you can use to market your future events, as well as showcase the hard work that goes into your events, means that you are collaborating with an experienced professional who knows exactly how to show your events in the best possible light. Read what Joe's clients say about the quality of his work and how easy it is to work with him.
Joe specializes in photographing many different kinds of events for a wide variety of clients across the United States and internationally, and has been thrilling clients with his work for nearly 20 years. While Joe is based in Minneapolis and shoots many events in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota, he also travels frequently around North America and beyond to bring his unique approach and experienced eye to dozens of events every year for clients ranging from large corporations like Google, Home Depot, and Yamaha, to associations like the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Planning Association (APA), and Hospitality Finance and Technology Professionals (HFTP), to non-profit and education clients like United Way Worldwide, the Council on Foundations, and the University of Minnesota.
Clients and other photographers alike often ask Joe about his approach to great event photography, and how he produces the work he does. The answer has many parts, including technical skill, years of experience, a solid understanding of light and how to capture it, and esoteric skills like being able to use his cameras by touch in the dark, but it all starts with the fundamental understanding that your events are really about the people who come to them, your attendees. While fabulous food, exciting entertainment, and dazzling decor can all help make an event successful, none of those things by themselves mean much unless they connect with your attendees. When your event is over, you are probably eager to see the evaluation results because you want to know how everything was appreciated by your attendees at an emotional level. So what does this have to do with great event photography? A skilled corporate event photographer like Joe knows how to capture the fleeting moments of emotion that best illustrate how much your attendees appreciated the hard work and planning you put into your events.
The types of events Joe covers are sometimes called MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions), sometimes called "meetings industry" events, and sometimes just referred to by any one of dozens of terms like conferences, conventions, sales meetings, trade shows, expos, symposia, summits, convocations, incentive trips, congresses, assemblies, seminars, forums, board meetings, and many others. Joe likes a term he coined that rather than trying to enumerate all possible event types, instead covers the much shorter list of types of organizations who sponsor such events, which leads to CANoPY events (Corporate, Association, Non-profit, Public & Youth).
When you ask Joe to photograph your events, you get a partner with a deep knowledge of events and what makes them successful. Joe knows that different events measure success differently, so he delivers photos that let you showcase and amplify your events according to your goals (take a look at an article Joe wrote for BizBash about the value of good event photography). Joe is an active member of ILEA (the International Live Events Association) which lets him stay current on trends in the events industry and keeps him plugged in to what matters to event planners.
Joe has been nominated for and won numerous awards for his event photography, and he applies that award-winning mindset to every event he shoots. Joe is an active member of the International Live Events Association (ILEA) where he regularly interacts with planners and other professionals from across the live events industry. Because of this, Joe knows the challenges that planners face and he knows how to make their lives a little bit easier by anticipating their needs and efficiently delivering the photos they need. Joe understands that planning an event with hundreds or thousands of attendees is big job and he works hard to make sure that the event photography is something the planner can take for granted as handled.
Joe knows that a great photo of your event might not be so great tomorrow because events are all about timing. Because of this, Joe is happy to provide photos of your event while the event is still happening that you can use on your organization's websites or social media accounts, or for walk-in slideshows at your sessions - nothing grabs attendees' attention like seeing photos of themselves and their colleagues, taken yesterday or even just a few hours ago, up on the big IMAG screens!
If you want compelling photography of an upcoming event in the Twin Cities area, take a look around this site to see why you owe it to your event sponsors and to yourself to get the best possible photography by contacting Joe. But what if your event is happening somewhere else? A significant percentage of the events Joe covers involve traveling for the simple reason that once clients have hired him to photograph an event in Minnesota, they see the value of bringing him to their next events, wherever they may happen. Consider this from a cost-benefit or ROI standpoint - the travel expenses involved with bringing Joe to an event outside of Minnesota are usually less than the typical revenue from one additional registered attendee, which means if Joe's dynamic photos convince just one more person to register for your next event, the decision to hire Joe has paid for itself.