NZ Wedding In-Camera Artistry Photographer of the Year 2019 (NZIPP/Iris Awards)
The Nikon/NZIPP Epson Iris Awards 2019 were held in Wellington again this year. I was a finalist again for both the In-Camera Artistry and Open categories, and ended up winning the In-Camera Artistry category. I walked away with 1 Silver Distinction, 7 Silvers and 2 Bronzes (10/10 awards - Yay!)
I was pretty stoked to be announced winner again for one of the wedding categories for the 3rd year in a row now. I didn’t put much pressure on myself this year and actually entered quite close to the entry closing date. Keeping a high standard for me starts at the job, on the wedding day, because most of my awards these last 3 years have been client work (except for a few landscape/travel/documentary images that I entered). I give 110% of myself at a wedding and my goal is always to try create something refreshing and interesting for my couples, along with obviously capturing the standard formalities and moments etc. I don’t really have ideas in my head anymore, i’m approaching more of a ‘work with what you’ve got’ scenario nowadays, in that every wedding is different and provides totally different opportunities, you just have to be able to see the opportunities and usually act fast on them - as the moments pass by very quickly.
The Wedding In-Camera Artistry category is all about photographs created with conventional in-camera techniques only. Thanks so much once again to Momento Pro Wedding Albums for sponsoring the category, and for the awesome prize!
The Iris Awards is a photography print competition, the only one in New Zealand held by the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography, and it's quite highly regarded by professionals in the industry. The process involves printing a selection of images (MAX 10 in total and MAX 4 per category) and matting them for presentation and display, to be judged. There are quite a lot of stringent rules to apply by. There are categories for classic in-camera techniques (i.e. no photoshopping), and also opportunity for the more creative and photoshop kind of work, in the open categories - so the awards cater to all types of photographers and artists. Working out what images to submit is always a tough call and you never know how they will be judged. It’s my 8th year entering so i’m a lot better nowadays at knowing what is award worthy and what isn’t, but you still never know how the images will do, and that nervous energy is something that never seems to disappear. Sometimes the ones you expect to do the best don’t, and the ones you expect the least from often surprise you.
I have a few ideas for next year's awards, which involve more personal work and probably very little or no client work at all. We'll see how it goes :) I’ll probably get in the judging chair at some point too :)
Thanks to all my couples who trust in me to capture their big days! Without you none of these awards would be possible!
Here are my images from the awards this year:
