Meet The Client
- Client Smart Solutions Group
- Location: Lakeside, Ferry Meadows, Nene Park, Peterborough
- Project Type: Event Photography, Corporate Networking and Guest Speaker Coverage
- Date: 3rd June 2026
Smart Solutions Group is a Peterborough based business known for hosting events that bring the regional business community together. Cyber IV was the fourth in their series, and the premise was a clear one. Cyber security is no longer just an IT issue. It affects operations, decision making, reputation and long term stability. The evening was created to move past technical language and focus on real experiences and practical understanding that businesses can actually relate to.
What sets Smart events apart is the atmosphere. There is a relaxed, genuine quality to them, a sense of fun and surprise, all set against a backdrop people remember. Cyber IV carried that reputation while delivering a message with real weight behind it.
Key Deliverables
- Full event coverage across the evening, from setup and arrivals through to the close, capturing the complete story of the night.
- Candid networking photography documenting local businesses interacting, catching up and enjoying a relaxed evening together.
- Considered coverage of the guest speaker session, capturing the atmosphere and emotion of a serious, honest talk.
- Natural, authentic images of guests enjoying drinks, canapés and refreshments in a lakeside setting.
- A consistently lit gallery delivered despite challenging mixed light, balanced and polished throughout.
- A complete edited gallery of 143 images, culled, edited and delivered by 11am the following morning.
- A standout individual portrait of a guest, later adopted and used as a professional headshot.
How the Project Came About
Smart Solutions Group approached me to document Cyber IV, the fourth evening in their established event series, held lakeside at Ferry Meadows. The brief from our face to face meeting was clear. They wanted the real story of the night. Candid images, the talks captured properly, people enjoying the evening, genuine networking moments between local businesses.
The evening had two sides to it that needed to live together in one gallery. On one hand, a relaxed social night with drinks and canapés against a beautiful lakeside backdrop. On the other, a deeply serious message delivered by guest speaker Paul Abbott, former Director at Knights of Old, who shared his first hand experience following a ransomware attack that ultimately led to the company entering administration.
My job was to hold both of those truths in the same set of photographs. The warmth of the room and the weight of the message. That is exactly the kind of brief I enjoy.
What The Photoshoot Achieved
The Full Story Of The Night
Authentic Networking Moments
A Difficult Talk, Captured With Respect
A Gallery Delivered Overnight
The Client Brief
Smart Solutions Group needed the full, authentic story of Cyber IV captured in a single cohesive gallery. From our face to face meeting, the brief was for:
- Candid event photography capturing local businesses networking, catching up and enjoying the evening.
- Proper coverage of the talks, in particular the guest speaker session, capturing both atmosphere and emotion.
- Natural images of guests enjoying drinks, canapés and refreshments in the relaxed lakeside setting.
- A gallery that balanced the social warmth of the evening with the serious message at its core.
- A polished, consistent set of images delivered quickly for sharing across LinkedIn and the business community.
The challenge was tonal. This was a fun, relaxed networking night that also carried a genuinely sobering message. The photography needed to honour both without one undercutting the other. That balance was the reason the project appealed to me.
It was a pleasure working with you, Nate. The results are brilliant, but what really stood out was the effort and attention to detail throughout the day. The little things made a huge difference. You made everyone feel comfortable, captured the atmosphere perfectly, and delivered photos we will genuinely use for a long time. 10/10 recommend.
Thank you so much for your support in capturing such a wonderful evening. Your photography was amazing, I highly recommend.
The Creative Approach
One evening, two distinct moods, a lakeside room and one piece of light I had to solve before anything else worked. This is how I approached it.
Reading The Light At Ferry Meadows
The Lakeside venue has a huge glass frontage overlooking Ferry Meadows lake. Beautiful to be in, difficult to shoot. I started the evening working with the natural light coming through that glass, but it washed everything out and left the images flat. So I made the call early and switched to my Godox V100 with a diffuser for the rest of the night. That gave me clean, balanced, consistent light across every frame, indoors against a bright window, regardless of how the daylight shifted as the evening went on. Solving that early is what kept the whole gallery looking like one cohesive set rather than a collection of compromises.
Capturing The Networking
I arrived an hour early, at half past five, to photograph the setup and the first guests arriving. From there my focus was on the candid moments, people interacting, catching up, laughing, the genuine connections that tell you an event has worked. I stayed unobtrusive, letting the room relax and reading it for the moments worth catching rather than interrupting them.
Documenting The Talk
The main event was Paul Abbott’s talk. Cyber security talks can often be a touch dry. This was not. It was a raw, honest, genuine account of how easily a ransomware attack can cripple a business and the immense pressure it places on the people responsible for other people’s livelihoods. My job there was to disappear and document, capturing the weight of the moment and the room’s response without ever becoming a distraction from a story that deserved everyone’s full attention.
I was booked for two hours. I stayed for three, arriving at half past five and finishing at half past eight, because the evening was that engaging and the story was worth telling properly.
The Results
The gallery did its job the moment it landed. 143 edited images, culled, processed and delivered by 11am the morning after the event, ready to share while the evening was still fresh in everyone’s mind.
The response spoke for itself. Both Jenny Melling and Olivia-Fay Bowden shared the work across LinkedIn, and one of the portraits from the night went on to be used as a professional headshot. The images gave Smart Solutions Group exactly what they asked for, the real, authentic story of Cyber IV, the warmth of the networking and the weight of the message, captured in a single cohesive set they can use for a long time to come.
A Personal Note from Nate
Because great photography is about more than images, it is about honouring the people behind them.
Why this evening mattered
What struck me most was how honest the night was. Behind the drinks and the relaxed atmosphere sat a genuinely important message, and getting to document both sides of that in one gallery is the kind of work I find most rewarding.
Telling a harder story
Paul Abbott's talk was the heart of it. Capturing a story that raw and that real, with the respect it deserved, reminded me that event photography is about more than pretty pictures. Sometimes it is about honouring a difficult truth.
Where I come in
If you are organising an event over the coming months and want the real, authentic story of the day captured, I would love to help. Whether it is a relaxed networking night or a high impact corporate talk, telling your story properly is exactly what I do.
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