Reception Lighting

I was wondering what your thoughts were on how Ross Harvey lights his receptions (speeches, dancing, etc). Check out his incredible blog, http://www.rossharvey.com/weddings/lake-como-erba-gastel-wedding.

Could he simply be pointing the flash directly at the crowd during dancing pics while dragging the shutter or do you think he is bouncing somehow?

From a quick look, I would say direct flash(probably with a diffuser) combined with slow 2nd curtain sync. For the reception photos, the light looks pretty harsh(note the sheen on their foreheads) to me and even with the obvious slow sync the subjects still stand out from the background.

 

Back when I did events occasionally, these sort of venues/events were a nightmare for me. You often DON'T have a good place to bounce the flash, and even if you could theoretically do it the amount of light required would make it even more difficult. Some sort of diffuser is certainly a must(back then I often used cardboard and paper as Gary Fong stuff was expensive and there weren't a lot of options for the flashes I used then). I also used a Stroboframe, which is bulky but placing the flash 1ft+ higher than the lens helps a lot(plus lets you make verticals without moving the flash). For the worst caves I'd even bring out a 60-series Metz(Potato Masher) just for the sheer amount of light it could throw.