Monthly Archives: September 2007
I finally got around to updating the ‘about me’ section. If you want to know how much potential that I have to become super-cool, then you will not want to miss it.
As many of you know, I am a member of WPJA or Wedding Photojournalists Association. This association is a group wedding photographers who use photojournalistic skills in most or all of their wedding photography work. The association has also expanded to help out future brides, as well. I was accepted into this group of select photographers a while back, and I use this service mainly for advertising on the internet. There are other kinds of services that are offered to photographers, such as quarterly wedding image contests, group discounts, etc.
Well, I have been meaning to enter some images into the quarterly contests being offered, but I have been lazy in my attempts. I hate these types of contests because it is always hard for me to figure out which images I want to select to enter. Also, I have to figure out how much I want to spend to enter because every image submitted for the contest costs money, regardless of if they win or not.
There is also a sub-association under WPJA called AGWPJA or Artistic Guild WPJA. This is where you get to enhance your images through photoshop and submit them in for contests that are outside of WPJA contests (You are not allowed to enhance any images for WPJA contests). Since AGWPJA is more along the lines of the style I produce, I finally got the nerve to enter in the contest for this quarter.
Well, the results are… ok. I didn’t place in the top 3, nor did I place in the top 10, but i did place in the top 20 of two of the eight categories. I won’t win a prize, but at least I found out what the judges are looking for, and I know how to improve my work for the next contests.
Here are the links to the results:
Here are the images that placed.
This bride wore a really awesome dress for a wedding day and it flattered her figure so well. It was almost Monique-Lhullier like, except the bottom was different from that style and the dress fit her like a glove. I was really blown away when we did her bridals, and I know that the groom, Jeff, was blown away when he saw her coming down the aisle.
We started out the day with capturing her at Jackson Ruiz salon and the folks there are awesome and they really know how to pamper their clients. They do an awesome job with the hair and makeup and I HIGHLY recommend them to any bride. I know they are pricey, but they are so worth it because I know that every bride wants to look her best on their wedding day. Kendra, the gals, her mom, her surrogate mom (a close neighbor that she grew up with) and Jeff’s mom all came along to get pampered.
We then moved on to the cememony and reception site, Barr Mansion. We really made a good impression on the owners, too, in that I have already been called by Rick, one of the manager’s at Barr Mansion, to have some images from this wedding to be used for their new website and marketing materials. I was VERY excited and honored to hear about this. This place really provides so many opportunities for photographs. I always love capturing this one right before the ceremony.
My second photographer HJ Brockway captured this awesome image of the bride and her father coming down the aisle. This is a great reason to hire two photographers because we can capture multiple angles at the same moment. I was up at the front end of the aisle anticipating the father kissing the bride away and the father handing her off to his new son-in-law.
It seems that all of the giggles come out and all of the stress is gone once the rings are placed on their new home and the couple is pronounced as man and wife.
I wonder which cake these kids are waiting for…
Another highlight of the night was Kendra dancing with her daddy. One of the unique aspects of this wedding was that she and her father danced together first, and they put on a show with a choreographed dance. This is one of the few moments when they were ‘slightly’ still. They really had the entire crowd’s attention.
After the first dances, it was one big dance party after that, and EVERY song was jammin’, and everybody was out on the dance floor for a fun hip-hop time.
It seems like we taught the ol’ ball coach Steve Spurrier a few tricks of our own when we beat them this past weekend. It was a great game, and we played well despite having 3 players out due to injury. It was kind of funny, because I got to watch some of the game while the groomsmen were getting ready in their room.
ALERT to all brides! You come first on the wedding day, so don’t think I put football first, but I do check my cellphone every now and then for score updates that are mailed to me during the games!
Anyway, we play Tulane, which should be an easy game, but I’m really focused on Florida in two weeks.
