Add Some Photo Flavor to Your Party

Two nights ago we had a chill Halloween party. Drink, food, games, etc.

It was a really chill night - nothing crazy or delinquent.

For kicks, I decided to add in a real-time photo hot-wall. I took pictures of people posing in their costumes on a digital camera and printed them out. Then, I doubled-backed some Scotch tape on them and started a collage on the wall. I got the idea from those photobooths available at wedding receptions for guests to just stop by and take photos as souvenirs.

To my surprise, it was a hit and people enjoyed posing and looking at other ridiculous pictures. I recommend offering something like this the next time you plan for a similar event. It's fun, it's a conversation/gathering piece, and it's a great way to document the event.

For the next time, I'll think of a better way to automate the event since my method [described below] is completely ad hoc and ineloquent. I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of Eye-fi card, wireless printer, [better] camera with tripod, and weak wall adhesives.

The Method [note: you're going to need someone to actually take the pictures unless you think of a better way to do it, like a photobooth at a wedding reception.]

Grab a digital camera. Have two memory cards ready.
Get a hold of a digital photo printer, preferably one that can download photos directly from a flash memory card. Most Canon PIXMA printers can do this.
- Note that the print speed is more important than the print quality. At events like this, the quality of the physical photograph itself is not as important to people who just want to see it. We need to still see it, but it's not being framed [maybe], get it?
- Use medium-grade 4x6 photo paper.
Take pictures. Post them on a wall where people can see them using the adhesive. Keep the wall close, but not that close to you so you can post pictures quickly but people can see them without you in the way.
I used two memory cards so I could maintain a take-pictures-while-pictures-are-printing rotation so the momentum didn't die.

As you can see - totally scrappy, but it worked.

Lastly, make sure it's not awkward, but the more random the photo, the better. The more comfortable the people, the funnier. Halloween is easy because everyone is whack - it's standard. However, for other events I would add in props associated with the theme of the event [i.e. birthday, holiday, house party] to provide some randomness.

Enjoy.