Event Photography
by Thaddeus Pope
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Based in Japan, I am an event photographer specialising in reportage coverage of conferences, summits and multi-day events. I have photographed more than 70 international events across Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
I work primarily across the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Nara) and the Chugoku region (Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane and Tottori), and I am available for assignments throughout Japan, including Hokkaido and Okinawa. Tokyo is also within easy reach by direct flight.
I have photographed events for institutions and organisations such as the Government of Japan, The Wall Street Journal, J. Walter Thompson, Merrill Lynch, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), University College London (UCL), the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP), Hope International Development Agency, Virginia Tech, Osaka University, the University of Hawaii and the University of Barcelona.
Over the years, I have photographed people from across public life, business, academia and the arts, including government ministers, politicians, diplomats, university presidents, charity leaders, film directors, journalists, CEOs, actors, activists, artists, architects, musicians, lawyers, jurists, poets, writers, clergy, scientists and philosophers. My event photography has also appeared in Newsweek Japan, The Japan Times and other publications.
What matters most to me is making photographs that attend to the character of an event – its atmosphere, its exchanges, and its moments of gravity and release. That approach is shaped by my background in documentary photography. I work quietly and unobtrusively, observing rather than directing, and I look for the images that best convey the tone and rhythm of the day.
My event photography covers a wide range of assignments, including academic conferences, business and corporate events, PR events, award ceremonies, exhibitions, trade shows, grand openings, sporting events and tournaments, and live music.
Planning an event?
For pricing, FAQs and booking information, please visit TADO Visuals, my dedicated event photography website.
Portfolio
Internationally recognised specialist in human rights, sexuality and culture Professor Baden Offord gives a Keynote Presentation on human rights research and interdisciplinarity at The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS) in Kobe, Japan.
Takeshi Komoto, Executive Director of the Japan External Trade Organization’s (JETRO) New York Office, gives a Keynote Presentation titled “Abenomics and the Three Arrows” at The North American Conference on the Social Sciences (NACSS) in Rhode Island, USA
Held at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe, Japan, the Kansai Resilience Forum was comprised of three panel sessions on Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy, Resilience and Society, and Resilience and the Globalising Economy, and culminated in a Special Keynote Presentation by world renowned architect, Tadao Ando, who designed the event venue following the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 as a symbol of memorial and overcoming tragedy, as well as one of beauty, looking to the future. In his presentation, Tadao Ando emphasised the link between art, architecture and resilience and its impact on communities, and the role each member of a community can play in increasing social resilience, stressing the importance of education.
Professor Richard Roth of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism delivers a very personal Keynote Address on the year of his retirement, looking at how he has tried throughout his career as a journalist and educator to mentor and nurture young talent in an industry where it is said that there is no apprenticeship. His presentation talked about his own experience as a rookie reporter coming of age in a foreboding American prison called Attica, one part of an American system that holds more than 2 million people captive, more than in any other nation. Roth was one of two newspaper reporters inside the prison yard at Attica during the September 9-13 riots in 1971, serving on the Select Observers Committee, and his subsequent writing about Attica earned him a 1972 nomination for the Pulitzer Prize.
The maître d’ of the conference welcome reception venue greets a group of delegates – including one professor carrying a very cute baby.
Following a presentation of his academic research at The European Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS), a conference delegate answers questions from his audience.
Taiko performance by the award-winning Osaka-based Akutagawa Senior High School Drum Club at The Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioural Sciences (ACP) in Osaka, Japan.
Former Wall Street Journal and Washington Post investigative reporter Professor Alec Klein gives a Keynote Presentation at The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia) in Osaka, Japan.
Against the backdrop of Nagoya Castle at sunset, Ginger Griggs gives a workshop presentation at the American Chamber of Commerce Japan (ACCJ) Women in Business Summit in Nagoya, Japan.
Lowell Sheppard, Asia-Pacific Director of the Hope International Development Agency, lectures the audience at The Asian Conference on Education & International Development (ACEID) about indiginous education activities in the Philippines, the subject of a documentary made by Hope and IAFOR.
Professor Marjo Mitsutomi and Professor Minna Kirjavainen from Osaka Gakuin University in Japan give a Featured Presentation at The Asian Conference on Language Learning (ACLL) titled First and Second Language Acquisition: The Things That Unite and Separate Us”.
Professor Barbara Lockee takes questions from the audience during her Keynote Presentation at The Asian Conference on Education (ACE) in which she discussed “Empowering Learners as Designers – The Rise of the Maker Movement”. Dr Lockee is Professor of Instructional Design and Technology at Virginia Tech, USA, where she is also Associate Director of the School of Education and Associate Director of Educational Research and Outreach.
Conference attendees gain knowledge and practical experience in the Japanese art of calligraphy, with a fun and informative demonstration given by calligraphy students from Ritsumeikan University.
Dr Patricia Greenfield, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UCLA, addresses the 23rd Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) in Nagoya, Japan.
Delegates network at The Asian Conference on Language Learning (ACLL) in Kobe, Japan.
Conference delegates get to know each other during the welcome reception at The European Conference on Psychology & the Behavioural Sciences (ECP) in Brighton, UK.
Local highschool students give a traditional Japanese dance performance at the 23rd Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) in Nagoya, Japan.
Following a presentation of her academic research at The European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH) in Brighton, UK, a conference delegate answers questions from her audience.
Delegates network at The Asian Conference on Education (ACE) in Osaka, Japan.
Professor Arthur J.A.A. Stockwin from the University of Oxford, UK (left) and Jun Arima, Director General of JETRO London (right) discuss the emerging defence and international relations posture of Japan and the effects that the change in Tokyo’s outlook will have on the Asia-Pacific region at The European Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS) in Brighton, UK.
A spirited academic presentation at The European Conference on Language Learning (ECLL) in Brighton, UK.
Professor Heidi Safia Mirza from Goldsmiths College, University of London, gives a Keynote Presentation at The European Conference on Education (ECE) in Brighton, UK. Professor Mirza spoke on “Decolonizing Pedagogies: Black Femanist Reflections on Teaching Race, Faith and Culture in Higher Education”, and challenged delegates to explore the radical possibility of transcending the ‘stuck’ institutional discourses of ‘race equality’ and ‘social inclusion’ that dominate higher education.
Nobuo Sato, Executive Director of the Harvard Business School Japan Research Center in Tokyo, explains the changing focuses of MBA programmes in America during his Featured Presentation at The Asian Conference on Business & Public Policy (ACBPP) in Kobe, Japan.
Speaking at The European Conference on Language Learning (ECLL) at UCL, Professor Svetlana Ter-Minasova of Moscow State University, Russia, was interviewed by longtime friend and colleague Bruce Monk on her career as Russia’s leading public intellectual and proponent of ELT in Russia, which included reflections on the development of scholarship in the field, the differences in teaching in the Soviet Union and after its collapse, and the changes she has seen in students over her years in education.
Networking at The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS) in Kobe, Japan.
Following a presentation of his academic research at The Asian Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS) in Osaka, Japan, a conference delegate answers questions from his audience.
Dean Foster, President and Founder, DFA Intercultural Global Solutions, gives a Keynote Workshop Presentation at the American Chamber of Commerce Japan (ACCJ) Women in Business Summit in Nagoya, Japan.
Dr Failautusi ‘Tusi’ Avegalio is the director of the Pacific Business Center Program and the executive director of the Honolulu Minority Business Enterprise Center at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business. Descended from a long line of Samoan chiefs, Dr Tusi was raised in the coastal village of Leone in American Samoa before receiving university education in the United States, and becoming a professor. Here he delivers a Keynote Address that looks at the importance of respecting indigenous knowledge and wisdom in the context of modern educational systems.
In his Keynote Presentation at The Asian Conference on Language Learning (ACLL), Richmond Stroupe of Soka University in Tokyo, Japan, discusses enhancing learner autonomy in Japan through teachers’ professional development.
Celebrated pianist, composer and former Fulbright scholar Marusya Nainggolan of the University of Indonesia, gives a stirring performance at The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities (ACAH). Marusya Nainggolan performs music nationally and internationally, as well as teaching European Studies at the University of Indonesia and serving as a music counsellor for studies on music and health in the Indonesian National Health Department.
Delegates share their thoughts on teaching and learning during a Featured Workshop at The Asian Conference on Language Learning (ACLL) in Kobe, Japan.
Professor Kristen Sullivan of Shimonoseki University in Japan delivers a Featured Workshop on “Helping Learners to Succeed” at The Asian Conference on Language Learning (ACLL) in Kobe, Japan.
Ambassador Yukio Satoh gives his Keynote Presentation titled “Shifting Strategic Balance and Asian Security” at The Asia-Pacific Conference on Security and International Relations (APSec) in Osaka, Japan. Former Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations and former ambassador of Japan to Australia and the Netherlands, Yukio Satoh is now based at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, Japan.
In her Keynote Presentation, Professor Insung Jung of the International Christian University, Japan, examines the ways MOOCs are being used by individual learners and university systems, and their impact on access, quality and cost in higher education, at The Asian Conference on Society, Education and Technology (ACSET) in Kobe, Japan.
Dr Hiagi M. Wesley, responds to questions following his Keynote Presentation titled “Pacific Indigenous Perspectives vs Global Ways of Learning”, which dovetailed perfectly with Dr Avegalio’s address, and looked at the value of indigenous ways of learning. A Rotuman by birth, Dr Wesley is Director of the Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Island Studies and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Humanities at Brigham Young University, Hawaii.
Speaker at the 23rd Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) in Nagoya, Japan.
Conference delegates get to know each other during the welcome reception at The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia) in Osaka, Japan.
Conference poster session at The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ACERP) in Osaka, Japan.
Speaking at The International Conference on Education in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dr Sela V. Panapasa of the University of Michigan, USA, addresses the “Surviving and Thriving in Times of Change” theme of the conference in her Keynote Address titled, “Anticipating Educational Needs That Ensure a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Workforce for a Changing U.S. Population”. Dr Panapasa is a sociologist who was born in Fiji, and who has worked extensively throughout the Pacific Islands.
Taiko performance by the award-winning Osaka-based Akutagawa Senior High School Drum Club at The Asian Conference on the Arts & Humanities (ACAH) in Osaka, Japan.
Networking at The Asian Conference on Politics, Economics & Law (ACPEL) in Osaka, Japan.
After presenting his academic research at The European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH) in Brighton, UK, a conference delegate answers questions from his audience.
Members of IAFOR’s International Academic Advisory Board, Professor Dexter Da Silva of Keisen University, Japan, and Professor Keith W. Miller of The University of Missouri, USA, greet each other at IAFOR’s flagship event, The Asian Conference of Education (ACE) in Osaka, Japan.
Speaking at The European Conference on Education (ECE) in Brighton, UK, Professor Kwame Akyeampong of the Centre for International Education (CIE), University of Sussex, gives a Keynote Presentation on transforming the educational experience of African children through emancipatory research. Professor Akyeampong has been a senior policy analyst at UNESCO, and also consulted for the Ghanaian Ministry of Education.
Conference Chair for The Asian Conference on Education (ACE), Professor Sue Jackson answers questions from delegates after her Welcome Address. Professor Jackson is Pro-Vice-Master (Vice-President) for Learning and Teaching, Professor of Lifelong Learning and Gender and Director of Birkbeck Institute for Lifelong Learning at Birkbeck, University of London, UK.
Speaking at The IAFOR International Conference on the City (CITY), Gloria Montero, celebrated Spanish novelist, playwright and poet, offers her own insights into the city of Barcelona, where she has made her home and where the CITY conference was held.
In her Keynote Presentation at The North American Conference on Media, Film & Cultural Studies, actress Jenna Stern discusses the value of “Creative Pluralism” – having the ability to pursue multiple passions while staying focused on your main goals.
Professor Hiroshi Nittono, Professor of Experimental Psychology at the Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Japan, gives a Keynote Presentation on the psychology of Japanese “kawaii” culture at The Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences (ACP) in Kobe, Japan.
Acclaimed Balinese percussionist, I Ketut Budiyasa, performs alongside Marusya Bainggolan at The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities (ACAH) in Kobe, Japan.
Dr Paul Lowe, Founding Judge of the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award, gives a Keynote Presentation titled “Testimonies of light: Photography, Witnessing and History” at The European Conference on Media, Communication & Film (EuroMedia). Dr Lowe is an award-winning photojournalist who has covered breaking news around the world, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nelson Mandela’s release, famine in Africa, the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the destruction of Grozny.
Professor Michael A. Cusumano, the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), addresses The North American Conference on the Social Sciences (NACSS) on the topic of “Japanese Firms and Staying Power”.
After completing a presentation of her academic research at The Asian Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment (ACSEE) in Osaka, Japan, a conference delegate answers questions from her audience.
Taiko performance by leading Japanese taiko group, Batiholic, at The Asian Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment (ACSEE) in Osaka, Japan.
Sensei Hiroshi Nishioka (5th Degree Black Belt, Master Instructor, Chito-Ryu Karate Do) is the Head Instructor of Nishioka Dojo located in Izumisano City, Osaka, Japan.
The conference theme of “Power and Empowerment” was explored in this ice breaking demonstration at The Asian Conference on Education (ACE) in Kobe, Japan.
Sensei Hiroshi Nishioka (5th Degree Black Belt, Master Instructor, Chito-Ryu Karate Do) is the Head Instructor of Nishioka Dojo located in Izumisano City, Osaka, Japan.
The conference theme of “Power and Empowerment” was explored in this ice breaking demonstration at The Asian Conference on Education (ACE) in Kobe, Japan.
Sensei Hiroshi Nishioka (5th Degree Black Belt, Master Instructor, Chito-Ryu Karate Do) is the Head Instructor of Nishioka Dojo located in Izumisano City, Osaka, Japan.
The conference theme of “Power and Empowerment” was explored in this ice breaking demonstration at The Asian Conference on Education (ACE) in Kobe, Japan.
Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, UK, delivers a Keynote Address entitled “Think Like a System, Act Like an Entrepreneur” at The European Conference on Education (ECE). Prior to becoming Chief Executive of the RSA, Matthew Taylor was Chief Adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair, as head of the Number 10 Policy Unit, and is the author of the 2017 Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, commissioned by the incumbent UK government.
Professor Umberto Ansaldo, Chair of the School of Humanities at The University of Hong Kong, delivers a wide-ranging Keynote Presentation that looked at controversial questions of language preservation and conservation in “Heritage in Language?”, as part of a Plenary Session panel on Language and Heritage. The panel explored issues surrounding the role of heritage languages in contemporary society and education, both from theoretical perspectives as well as practical solutions.
Brent E. Huffman, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, USA, delivers his Keynote Presentation entitled “Documentary Journalists on the Front Line – Exposing Corruption, Protecting Human Rights and the Environment, and Saving Cultural Heritage” at The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia).
Monika Merz, President and CEO of Toys “R” Us Japan, gives a Keynote Presentation at the American Chamber of Commerce Japan (ACCJ) Women in Business Summit in Nagoya, Japan. The summit sought to share best practice, greater cross-cultural understanding, and strategies for real positive change in the working lives of career woman and their role in society as well as generally build further knowledge, diversity and inclusiveness in the Japanese workplace.
Speaking at The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS) in Kobe, Japan, Professor Gaurav Desai of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, examines the figure of the migrant in recent Anglophone fiction from Africa and South Asia in his Keynote Presentation entitled “Precarious Futures, Precarious Pasts: Migritude and Planetarity”.
Networking at The Asian Conference on Technology in the Classroom (ACTC) in Osaka, Japan.
Conference attendees gain knowledge and practical experience in the Japanese art of calligraphy, with an informative demonstration given by calligraphy students from Ritsumeikan University.
Group photo at The European Conference on Education (ECE) at the Jurys Inn Waterfront Hotel in Brighton, UK.
Conference poster presentation session at The Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioural Sciences (ACP) in Osaka, Japan.
Delegates watch a plenary presentation at The Asian Conference on Language Learning (ACLL) in Kobe, Japan.
Ken Wilson, prominent ELT author and trainer, gives a Keynote Presentation titled “Motivating the unmotivated – Ten ways to get your students to DO something” at The European Conference on Language Learning (ECLL) in Brighton, UK.
Panellists at the Kansai Resilience Forum discuss the perception of resilience as a concept in and outside Japan and what is unique to Japan and could be exported to the outside world; whether there is a platform for Japanese communities, businesses and individuals to share the experience gained in natural disasters; whether Japanese resilience is effective for international guests, workers and students inside the country, who should be the agent to enhance resilience and decide how it should be communicated to the local and international community.
Networking at The Asian Conference on Technology in the Classroom (ACTC) in Osaka, Japan.
Speaking at the Kansai Resilience Forum, Takenosuke Yasufuku of Kobe Shushinkan Breweries, Japan, situated in the largest sake production region in Japan, talked about how damage caused to his brewery was devastated by the earthquake of 1995, and reopened in 1997 after strenuous effort. He underlined the role of business in coping with the aftermath of natural disasters showcasing how the brewery supplied local communities with basic necessities such as water from their processing facility.
Delegates from Turkey network over coffee and cake at The Waterfront Hotel, Brighton, during The European Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS).
Coffee and cake at The European Conference on Education (ECE) in Brighton, UK.
Networking over drinks at The Asian Conference on Technology in the Classroom (ACTC) in Kobe, Japan.
Delegates enjoy traditional Japanese cuisine at the ACAH conference dinner in Osaka, Japan.
Conference delegates get to know each other at the conference dinner, which offers attendees the chance to sample local cuisine.
Delegates enjoy sake (Japanese rice wine) served in traditional “masu” boxes at The Asian Conference on Education (ACE) welcome reception in Osaka, Japan.
Conference delegates get to know each other at the conference dinner, which offers attendees the chance to sample local cuisine. Here they are served traditional Japanese food and sake as they look over the impressive Osaka skyline.
I have photographed international events in collaboration with the following global institutions and organisations.
