Ignite SF April 2008

As part of Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008, Brady Forrest and company hosted an Ignite SF at the DNA Lounge last night. Ignite nights are always a good time. What's Ignite? Take 14 or so speakers, give them 5 minutes each to talk, and see what happens. The result is almost universally fun. And, thanks to the format, if somebody's talk is a dud, well, you only have to wait 5 minutes for the next one.

The challenge of shooting in the DNA Lounge is that it was dark. Really dark. The speakers were illuminated by a single light and, if they stayed in the light, the exposure was 1/100 at f/2.8 using ISO 1600. If they drifted out of the light, well, forget the exposure. The cool part, however, was that there was lots of red and purple light around the perimeter of the club, which was useful as a backdrop lighting to the highly contrasty speakers.

The only bad part of the night? Trying to catch a cab in the rain to get back to the hotel. Thankfully a friend of a friend helped out and snagged a cab on Folsom street and brought it around to the club to share a ride back to our respective hotels. Thanks Jamie for that!