Event Photographer in Madrid: Our Coverage of the CONAF Women in Economy Gala at the Real Casino de Madrid
On 29 September 2026, Lupu Agency photographed the Gala Women in Economy at the Real Casino de Madrid for the Embassy of Romania in Spain. The evening was organised by CONAF, the Romanian National Confederation for Women’s Entrepreneurship, together with the Embassy, and it brought diplomats, Spanish officials, business leaders and artists to the Salón Real for speeches, a performance and ten award presentations.
This article is not a summary of the gala. It explains how we approached the event photography: what the client needed from the images, how the venue shaped our decisions, and what we would recommend to any agency or company planning an event at the Real Casino de Madrid, or in any historic venue in Spain.
The brief: one evening, three audiences
When an embassy commissions event photography, the pictures are not only a memory of the evening. They are working material, and in this case they had to serve three different audiences at once.
- Institutions and media in Romania, who needed to see the Embassy of Romania and CONAF leading a bilateral event in Madrid.
- Spanish partners and press, who needed recognisable Spanish officials and a recognisable Madrid venue.
- The guests themselves: winners, presenters, speakers and sponsors, who share their pictures on LinkedIn and on their company channels within days.
The schedule ran from 18:00 to 22:00, and the agreed delivery was a minimum of 200 edited photographs. That figure sounds generous until you divide it between speeches, ten award handovers, a musical performance, official group photos, the room and the guests.
Coverage of the gala soon appeared in Romanian and Spanish media, including Periódico El Rumano, which published our photographs with the Lupu Agency credit. For an organiser, that is the real test of event photography: whether the images are ready to be used by someone else, quickly and without questions.
Planning around protocol, not only the running order
Every gala has a running order. An event organised with an embassy also has protocol, and the two are not the same thing.
The running order tells you when things happen. Protocol tells you who must appear in the coverage and in what order of importance. At this gala, the opening speakers included Raluca Maria Mihăilă, chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Romania in Spain, Cristina Chiriac, founding president of CONAF, and Ana-Maria Geană, State Counsellor for Romanians Abroad. Each of them needed at least one clean image at the lectern, with the gala branding visible.
That last detail matters more than it seems. A speaker photographed from the wrong side of the lectern is still a good portrait, but it no longer says where or why it was taken. In the photo of Cristina Chiriac, the panel reading “Gala 2026 Women in Economy” and the magazine in her hands do that work. The image can be published anywhere without a caption and still be understood.
That is why we always ask for the list of speakers and presenters before the event, and learn their faces. In a full room of guests in evening dress, recognising a former President of the Spanish Senate such as Ander Gil García, or a Director General of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, before they walk on stage is what allows the photographer to be in position in time.
Ten awards: the moments that cannot be repeated
The Women in Economy gala included ten awards, each presented by a different guest. For the photographer, that means twenty people walking on and off the stage, often in less than a minute each.
Each handover follows the same sequence: the winner walks up, the presenter hands over the trophy, they shake hands, and then both turn towards the audience. For each award, we aim for three images:
- The handover itself, with both faces visible.
- The official photo, with the winner and the presenter facing the room.
- The reaction: the smile, the moment of emotion, the applause.
The third image is usually the one people share. The official photo goes into the press release, but the photo of the winner laughing with the trophy in her hands is the one that ends up on her LinkedIn profile, with the organiser’s name in the post.
None of these moments can be repeated. A trophy is handed over once. If the photographer is changing a lens or standing behind a guest at that second, the winner leaves without the picture she came for, and that cannot be fixed later.
Reading the light in the Salón Real
The Real Casino de Madrid, on Calle de Alcalá, is one of the city’s best-known historic private clubs, and its rooms are a big part of why organisers choose it. They should appear in the photographs. They also come with their own challenges.
At this gala, the stage was set in front of large leaded-glass windows with decorative ironwork. The production team added violet and magenta uplighting on the columns, and the speakers used a transparent acrylic lectern. Each of these elements affected how we worked.
Backlit windows behind the stage
A bright window behind a speaker is normally a problem. In the Salón Real of the Real Casino de Madrid, with the stage set against the glass, it could not be avoided, so we used it as a backdrop. By exposing for the faces and letting the glass turn soft and luminous, the windows became the visual signature of the evening. You can see it in the photo of the host, Teodora Tompea, and in the performance of soprano Anita Hartig.
Coloured uplighting and skin tones
Violet and magenta LEDs create atmosphere in the room, but they also change skin tones. The goal in editing was to keep the colour of the evening without making the guests look purple. Our approach is to correct the faces so they look natural, while the light on the columns and walls keeps its colour.
The acrylic lectern
A transparent lectern reflects light and can hide the speaker’s hands or create bright spots in the picture. Choosing the angle carefully keeps the branded panel readable and the reflections out of the face.
Two lenses and as little movement as possible
The equipment for this event was simple: a 24–70 mm and a 70–200 mm lens. The choice was about discretion as much as image quality.
At an institutional event like this one at the Real Casino de Madrid, the front rows are taken by official guests. A photographer who stands in front of them during a speech is noticed by everyone, including the client. With the 70–200 mm, we could work from the sides and the back of the room, at a distance, and still fill the frame with the speaker’s face. The long lens also softens the background, which helps when the stage is crowded with microphones, stands and screens.
The 24–70 mm was used for everything that needs context: the room, the stage seen from the audience, group photos and guests talking during the breaks.
Two lenses also mean fewer changes. At an event where the most important moments last a few seconds, every lens change is a risk.
The audience is part of the story
Many event galleries are full of stage photos and almost empty of guests, even in a venue as photogenic as the Real Casino de Madrid. We think that is a mistake, especially for organisers who need to show sponsors and partners that the evening worked.
During the speeches and awards, we kept part of our attention on the audience: guests listening, reacting, applauding and filming the stage with their phones. These images do several jobs at once:
- They show sponsors that the room was full and engaged.
- They give the organiser material for social media that does not look like a press release.
- They give individual guests a natural portrait from the event, which many of them will use.
A guest filming the stage with her phone is also a reminder of something organisers sometimes forget: the event is being shared in real time, with or without the official photographer. The official images need to be better than what guests capture themselves, and they need to arrive soon enough to still be relevant.
Captions and metadata in three languages
This is the part of the work nobody sees, and one of the most useful for the client.
The gala was bilateral, organised by CONAF and the Embassy of Romania in Spain. The images would be used by Romanian media, Spanish media and an international audience. So the photographs were delivered with captions and keywords embedded in the files in English, Spanish and Romanian, depending on the image. Each file includes the name of the event, the venue, the organisers, the people who can be identified, and the photography credit.
Why does this matter to an organiser?
- Names are spelled correctly. Romanian names such as Mihăilă or Chiriac carry diacritics that are easy to lose. A journalist who copies the caption from the file will not get them wrong.
- The credit travels with the image. When a picture is downloaded and republished, the copyright information goes with it.
- The images are ready for the web. Descriptive captions and keywords make it easier to write alt text and help the photos appear in image search when they are published on the organiser’s website.
For an agency based outside Spain, this saves hours of work after the event. Nobody needs to send a list of names by email or check spellings with the client before publishing.
What to plan if you are organising an event at the Real Casino de Madrid
Many of the organisations that hold events in Madrid are not based here. Embassies, international associations, foreign companies and event agencies often plan everything from another country and arrive a day or two before the event. These are the points we would agree with the photography team in advance, whether the venue is the Real Casino de Madrid or any other historic venue in Spain:
- The running order and the protocol. Not only the timing, but who must appear in the coverage and in what order of priority.
- Names and photos of speakers, presenters and winners. This is the single most useful document for the photographer.
- The languages of the event. Which languages will be used on stage, and in which languages the captions should be delivered.
- The stage design and lighting. Coloured uplighting, LED screens and backlit windows all affect the result. A short call with the production company helps.
- Official group photos. When, where and with whom. They are easy to forget and hard to organise once the dinner has started.
- Branding that must be visible. Lectern panels, banners, sponsor logos.
- The first selection for the press. How many images are needed the same night or the next morning, and who approves them.
- The final delivery. The number of edited images, the deadline and the format of the gallery.
None of these points is complicated. But each one that is left until the day of the event becomes a decision the photographer has to make alone, in a room they may be seeing for the first time.
Why organisers choose a local event photographer in Madrid
An agency organising an event abroad can bring its own photographer, or work with a local team. Both options are valid, but a local event photographer in Madrid brings a few practical advantages: knowledge of the venues, no travel or accommodation costs, the ability to visit the room before the event, and familiarity with how Spanish venues, production companies and institutions work.
For agencies, there is one more option. Lupu Agency also works on a white-label basis, which means our team can cover your event under your agency’s name, following your brief and your client’s brand guidelines.
If your event is in another Spanish city, or elsewhere in Europe, the same approach applies. You can read how international agencies choose a partner in our article on selecting a photography and video partner for multi-city European events, and how we covered a larger gala in our article on the Best CEO Awards at the Mandarin Oriental Ritz.
Frequently asked questions about photographing events at the Real Casino de Madrid
Is the Real Casino de Madrid a good venue for photography?
Yes. Its historic rooms, decorative ceilings and large windows give the images a strong sense of place, which is exactly what organisers want when they choose the Real Casino de Madrid. The challenge is the light: mixed sources, backlit glass and coloured production lighting all need to be handled carefully, and a photographer who has seen the room before has an advantage.
How many photographers does a gala like this need?
It depends on the programme, not on the number of guests. A single-stage evening with speeches and awards can often be covered by one or two photographers if the running order is clear. If there is a red carpet, a photocall, interviews or activity in several rooms at the same time, each of those spaces needs its own person. At the Best CEO Awards, with arrivals, a photocall, interviews and a ceremony, our team on site was eleven people.
How quickly can the photos be delivered?
It is agreed with the client before the event. For institutional events such as the Women in Economy gala, we recommend a short selection for the press the same night or the following morning, and the full edited gallery a few days later.
Can you work in English with an agency based outside Spain?
Yes. We work in English and Spanish, and also in Romanian and French. International clients can brief us remotely, by video call and email, and we meet on the day of the event.
Do you also film galas and institutional events?
Yes. Besides event photography, we film galas, conferences and institutional events: a short recap video, interviews with speakers and guests, and clips for social media. If you need both, it is worth planning them together from the start. Photographers and videographers share the same running order and the same positions near the stage, and they should not block each other’s view during the key moments.
What does the photography team wear at an event like this?
The team follows the dress code of the event. At the Real Casino de Madrid, our team worked in elegant black, which keeps us discreet among guests in evening dress and in photos taken by others. For black-tie events, we match the formality of the room.
Do you only work at the Real Casino de Madrid?
No. We cover events in hotels, palaces, museums, conference centres and private venues across Madrid and the rest of Spain, and we travel for events elsewhere in Europe.
Lupu Agency: event photography and video in Madrid and across Europe
Lupu Agency is based in Madrid and works with embassies, institutions, international companies and event agencies across Spain and the rest of Europe. You can read more about our event photography in Madrid and our video production for events.
To see recent work, view our photography portfolio and our video portfolio.
If you are planning a gala, an award ceremony or an institutional event at the Real Casino de Madrid or anywhere in Spain, write to us at contacto@lupu.agency or contact our team on WhatsApp: +34 633 902 333.
NICOLETA LUPU
Executive Director
contacto@lupu.agency
ES 
EN