My First TechCrunch Disrupt: Flying Cars, Startups & Photographing SF Tech Week 2026
6:00 a.m. in San Francisco.
Camera bag packed. Sony charged. DJI Pocket 3 ready. MacBook somehow squeezed in with everything else.
And, naturally, a Waymo pulling up outside.
This was officially my first-ever day at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
Not just attending, either.
I was walking into Moscone West with a press pass and a photography assignment for Airspeeder, having very little idea what I was about to photograph.
Which, honestly, made the whole thing even better.
7 A.M. at Moscone West: Press Pass Secured
There's something mildly surreal about walking into a convention center before most of San Francisco has had coffee.
I arrived around 7 a.m. with press access, picked up my press credentials and started getting situated.
Moscone West was buzzing with founders, investors, operators and technology people. Between the booths, presentations, networking and basically every variety of startup conversation imaginable, there was a lot to take in.
For someone experiencing it for the first time?
It was a LOT.
But before I could really explore anything, I had somewhere to be.
Airspeeder.
My Assignment: Photographing Airspeeder
I had looked up Airspeeder the night before.
Electric flying race cars?
Okay.
Sounds cool.
But there's a pretty significant difference between seeing something on a website and walking into Moscone West at 7-something in the morning and seeing the thing sitting directly in front of you.
I met the team, we talked through what was happening, and then I basically went straight into content mode.
Photography.
Video.
Details.
Booth shots.
B-roll.
People interacting with the display.
Setup.
And eventually, the big reveal.
And Then They Revealed a DeLorean Flying Race Car...
Yeah.
This was the part where my first TechCrunch Disrupt became significantly cooler.
The Airspeeder assignment brought me right into the DeLorean reveal: an electric flying race car, a crowd gathering around the booth and a whole lot of cameras coming out.
So the futuristic thing I was photographing wasn't simply a cool convention display.
I was documenting an actual announcement.
And suddenly I was thinking:
Ohhhh. Okay. This is TechCrunch Disrupt.
Sony A7C + DJI Pocket 3: My TechCrunch Camera Setup
I kept my setup intentionally small because I knew I needed to move quickly.
My primary photography camera was my Sony A7C paired with the Sony 24–70mm f/2.8 GM, while the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Combo handled a lot of my quick-moving video and B-roll.
This pairing has become one of my favorite event combinations.
The Sony gives me the image quality and flexibility I need for professional stills.
Then I can grab the Pocket 3 and immediately start capturing:
booth movement
product details
crowd reactions
vertical social content
environmental footage
interviews
transitions
without rebuilding an entire video rig.
I've written separately about why the Pocket 3 has become such an important part of my content workflow:
My DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Combo Review
And my long-term Sony experience is here:
Events like this are exactly why I've become so obsessed with keeping my gear capable but compact.
Because I wasn't simply shooting.
I was shooting, transferring, editing and delivering.
At the same time.
Editing Content... From Under the Booth
This is the glamorous part of being a photographer/content creator that Instagram doesn't show you.
At one point, my 16-inch MacBook Pro was essentially tucked underneath the Airspeeder booth while I started transferring content.
😂
But honestly?
The workflow worked incredibly well.
I could shoot on the Sony A7C and Pocket 3, transfer everything to the MacBook, start sorting through the strongest content and get uploads moving while the event was still happening.
That mattered because this wasn't content that could sit untouched for three days.
A reveal was happening.
People were talking about it.
The company needed content.
Speed mattered.
The Reveal Was Where Everything Came Together
Once people started gathering around the Airspeeder booth, the energy completely changed.
That's where I captured most of my strongest content.
There were:
reactions
conversations
interviews
people examining the aircraft
press
attendees pulling out phones
and the general chaos that happens when something genuinely unusual appears on a convention floor
This is one reason I love event photography.
You're not manufacturing the moment.
You're watching the energy build and trying to anticipate where the photograph is going to happen.
Okay... Now I Need Coffee
Once my priority Airspeeder coverage was wrapped, I somehow found myself about half an hour ahead of schedule.
There was only one reasonable destination.
Coffee.
Apparently every other person at TechCrunch Disrupt had reached the exact same conclusion because the line was GIANT.
So I grabbed coffee, pulled out the MacBook again and started editing.
This was also when I learned another valuable lesson:
A convention center full of tech people = RIP internet.
Moscone Wi-Fi?
Trying its best.
My AT&T iPhone with Turbo?
Also trying its best.
But when thousands of people around you are simultaneously:
uploading
livestreaming
texting
emailing
FaceTiming
posting
refreshing Slack
...there's only so much bandwidth to go around.
Somehow, we made it happen.
I bounced between Moscone Wi-Fi and my iPhone hotspot, uploaded the priorities, answered the messages and notifications I'd been ignoring all morning and finally had a chance to people-watch.
TechCrunch Disrupt Felt Like Walking Into Silicon Valley
Once the priority uploads were moving, I finally got to actually walk around.
And this was probably my favorite part of the entire experience.
I've photographed tech companies before.
I've photographed founders.
I've worked with startups around the Bay Area.
But seeing thousands of these people condensed into one building was completely different.
There were people:
on phones.
Pitching.
Taking meetings.
Showing prototypes.
Walking extremely fast with laptops.
Having conversations in corners.
Networking over coffee.
Running back to booths.
It was giving Silicon Valley, in real life.
And as someone who moved to San Francisco and somehow gradually found myself photographing more and more of this world...
it was pretty fucking cool.
Seeing an expo floor in photos is one thing. Standing in the middle of it is something completely different.
AI, Batteries, Robotics and... Basically the Future
As I wandered through the Expo Hall and caught parts of the programming, one thing became immediately obvious:
everything is becoming smarter.
AI was everywhere, obviously.
But there was also a surprising amount of:
battery technology
robotics
energy
mobility
hardware
infrastructure
climate technology
And that was genuinely interesting to me.
Battery technology especially caught my attention as I walked around and caught parts of the presentations.
I spend so much of my life using technology as a creative.
This was one of those rare moments where I got to walk around and see the people trying to build whatever we're all going to be using next.
Being There as Press Changed the Experience
This part meant a lot to me.
Because I wasn't there simply as somebody wandering around looking at booths.
I was there working.
Camera in hand.
Press badge around my neck.
Delivering actual content for a company making an announcement at one of the biggest startup conferences in San Francisco.
There was something validating about that.
My photography career has taken me into some extremely random places.
Hotels.
Restaurants.
Corporate offices.
Farms.
Weddings.
Fitness studios.
Construction sites.
And now apparently...
electric flying-car racing at TechCrunch Disrupt.
I'll take it.
My TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Camera Bag
I also intentionally didn't bring every piece of equipment I own.
For something like Disrupt, mobility wins.
My essentials were:
Sony A7C
My primary stills camera.
Sony 24–70mm f/2.8 GM
Basically lived on the camera. Wide enough for booth/environmental shots and tight enough for interviews and details.
DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Combo
B-roll machine. Seriously.
DJI Wireless Mics
For interviews and usable event audio.
16-inch MacBook Pro
The mobile editing and delivery station.
iPhone
BTS, communication, hotspot, navigation, reference photos and approximately 4,000 notifications.
That was really all I needed.
And honestly, carrying less made the entire day easier.
Finally... Food
By around 2:30 p.m., my body reminded me:
Girl. You have not eaten.
There was food inside Moscone.
Including a hot dog for approximately $13.
Respectfully...
no.
😂
Across the street was Chipotle.
Beautiful.
Reliable.
Exactly what I needed.
There is something uniquely satisfying about finally sitting down with food after you've been moving since 6 a.m., especially when the biggest deliverables are already uploaded.
And Then the Robot Had to Get Me Home
Naturally, we started the day with a Waymo.
So we were ending it with one too.
Unfortunately, downtown San Francisco after TechCrunch Disrupt had other plans.
Traffic was awful.
My robot chauffeur did its best.
And eventually, after one very long morning that somehow only took us to mid-afternoon, I was headed back toward home.
Tired.
Camera cards full.
Uploads moving.
Coffee consumed.
Chipotle secured.
First TechCrunch Disrupt officially complete.
What My First TechCrunch Disrupt Taught Me as a Photographer
The biggest thing I took away from this day wasn't actually about technology.
It was about speed.
Event photography in this environment isn't just about creating beautiful images anymore.
Brands increasingly need someone who can:
capture → edit → transfer → publish
while the event is still relevant.
That's where being a hybrid photographer and content creator becomes incredibly valuable.
I wasn't carrying a giant production team.
I had a Sony.
A Pocket 3.
A MacBook.
An iPhone.
And a workflow.
And from that small setup, I could create:
professional photography
vertical social video
B-roll
interviews
event documentation
same-day assets
That's increasingly what modern event coverage looks like.
And I absolutely want to do more of it.
Would I Cover TechCrunch Disrupt Again?
100%.
Now that I've experienced it once, I already know what I would do differently.
I'd give myself more time to explore.
I'd schedule more intentional networking breaks.
I'd probably capture even more behind-the-scenes content.
And I'd absolutely arrive ready to provide rapid-turnaround content again.
Because there's something really fun about documenting companies when something is actually happening.
Not staged three weeks later.
Not recreated for marketing.
Happening.
Right there.
That's exactly the kind of work I want more of.
Tech, Photography and One Very San Francisco Day
At 6 a.m., I was sitting in the back of a driverless car headed downtown with cameras in my bag.
A few hours later, I was photographing the announcement of a DeLorean electric flying race car.
Then editing underneath a convention booth.
Hotspotting off an iPhone.
Watching founders pitch companies.
Walking through future battery technology.
Eating Chipotle.
And eventually getting back into another driverless car to go home.
Sometimes living and working in San Francisco still feels completely ridiculous.
In the best possible way.
And that's exactly why I wanted to document this one.
Looking for a Tech or Conference Photographer in San Francisco?
I photograph and film technology conferences, startup events, product launches, founders, corporate events and brand activations throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area, with hybrid photo + video coverage and rapid-turnaround content available.
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If you're exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt, SF Tech Week or another Bay Area technology event, I'd love to help document it.