I’m number 15, I’m number 15! That might sound kind of lame, but when you enter photos into a contest with 1500+images being judged, 15 overall doesn’t sound so bad, right? That’s what I tell myself, anyway! At any rate, I’ve blabbed on and on before on how important it is to me to have my photos judged by a group of my peers and I’m pleased to have placed in this contest in this awesome organization, The International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers this past quarter. Before I toot my own horn too much, I do enter contests and sometimes (gasp!) I don’t place. In fact, I entered 20 images in this past ISPWP contest and four of them placed. And I regularly enter in both PDN, WPPI, WJPA and AGWPJA…and sometimes…bupkis. But hey, I don’t show you the losers, right? The reason for this is because like my clients, I am attached to these photos. I was there when they were taken. I know what I had to do to get the shot, and I know what was going on behind the scenes and I know the emotions involved. Wedding photography is a strange animal in the photographic world because a really great image has to both adhere to the “rules” of a good photograph and also make the judges look twice because it’s something unique and different. Add to that with wedding photography you generally don’t have time to “stage” things, you are shooting real life and real emotions on the fly without the benefit of setting up lighting, directing where people should stand for the cleanest back rounds, etc. I’ve sat through enough photo competitions and judged a few contests to understand what the judges are looking for, but it’s still hard to separate myself from an image that I love and my clients love knowing it will be passed over for something as small as a hand being cut off in the frame. That sounds picky, but those “rules” make you work harder when photographing. It’s just a part of growing and seeing. My assistant Ericka will vouch for the fact that I often will say to her when we got to a wedding ‘Today your challenge is…” and very often the things I am trying to teach her are things that make a good photograph great…during the first dance, look for the best light, emotion, facial expression, composition and for GODS SAKE no exit signs, DJ banners, things growing out of their heads in the back round! Or, “No more than two frames of the same thing unless you change your position!” One of my mentors and great friends Brooks Whittington said something to me that has never left me when I told him years ago I preferred zooms to fixed focal length lenses so I could be “unobtrusive” in my coverage was “Zooms make you lazy. Get in there and zoom with your damn feet! Get close, get the shot. It will be a better, more intimate image”
Nothing is more heartbreaking to me than a great moment ruined because of my sloppy framing and inattention to detail. I call these photos “Coulda wouldas”. This photo could have been great if I would have done this. Being able to see that on the back end really, truly makes you grow as a photographer. Zoom with your feet. Be safe, but when you get what you know works, try something new. Second shoot for a photographer you admire. For free. Watch, learn, grow, enter contests. Be willing to accept criticism, even from photographers who have different style than you have.
With that, the winners from the contest!
First Place, “Pure Art” from Angie and Ryan’s wedding
9th Place, “The Wedding Dress” from Kim and Jason’s wedding
11th Place, “First Dance” Katy and Joey’s wedding
7th place “Wedding Details” from Stephanie and Matt’s wedding
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