Expert Advice: Remote Digital Teching with Discord

In a photography industry rocked by quarantines and shutdowns, the question of how to best execute remote photoshoots is more pressing than ever. One forward-thinking photographer and digital tech in Brooklyn, Sydney Arroyo, has repurposed the gaming chat application Discord to work remotely as a digital tech. 

We learned of Sydney’s work through an online discussion, when Philadelphia-based photographer Colin Lenton made mention of a digital tech he knew who’d set up to work remotely through Discord—an app made for gaming communication. Thinking this would make a great story, I asked Colin to point me in the right direction. He led me to Sydney Arroyo, a Brooklyn-based Florida native photographer and digital tech (who I realized, recognizing the name, I’d actually corresponded with before!). She was kind enough to join me for a Zoom call to explain how this cross-pollination of Discord and photography came to be.

With a crew consisting of herself, Brooklyn photographer Brit Worgan, and an art director in Manhattan, “our remote photo shoots are a cool way to blend the boroughs,” Sydney says, adding a laugh. When Brit called upon Sydney to have her digital tech an e-commerce shoot at her home studio, Sydney first thought that she would just go over to Brit’s house. Then, as consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic became more pressing, she adjusted her course.

I was wondering if we could do it remotely, [but] I needed to be able to communicate with her while we were shooting.

Sydney’s boyfriend, Greg, suggested she try the gaming chat platform Discord. They held a test day and it went great. Here’s the gist: By using a screen-sharing desktop app like Jump, Sydney gains remote control of the photographer’s computer. This computer will handle the actual image processing. Using discord not only allows Sydney to live-stream that computer’s screen, but also message, voice chat, share files with the others, and even play music through its own audio channel.

Within Discord, before the shoot, Sydney makes a “server” to which she can invite crew members, designating them “privileges.” These allow the members to see certain channels Sydney’s made. Here’s a screenshot from Sydney of her Discord Interface, and description of what we’re looking at.

The text channels that you can see there such as General, Information, and Ann Taylor allow us to send texts back and forth as well as documents and things like that while we are all online. The Music channel you see is our virtual DJ, and that’s where I can play music for the whole crew to hear while we are online.

With no crystal ball to tell us when in-person photoshoots may resume, solution-based approaches will likely attract clients and work. Discord, originally made to serve gamers, may find it has a larger potential market than it expected. But, with the spread of similar options, why Discord?

The voice channels are the most important part because that’s what enables us to talk to each other live throughout the day. If there’s a call out that the art director has, she can just call it out and we will all hear her. The voice channels I feel are really what helps our remote shoots the most because it’s as if we are all in the same room together just like we would be normally on a photoshoot. 

If you are interested in learning more about Discord (which is free, by the way), here’s a useful video on setting it up, and the basics of its interface and uses.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us. You can also check out our COVID-19 resources page.