Hi Guys, well it’s that time again – entries for the Australian Professional Photography Awards close on Wednesday and I’ve just had my four prints done and I’m about to get them matted and sent off. I enter the “Wedding – Open” category, which is considered the most difficult, and it’s certainly a challenge each year to select images. Because the judges are professionals with years of experience they’ve seen everything, and so when selecting a print one needs to choose something outstanding – a pretty picture just doesn’t cut it. In any one year, under 20% of images score 80 or better, sufficient for an award. In my previous years I’ve got one silver each year, with my other three prints in each year getting 78 or 79…. just short of award standard.
Scores of 75-79 are regarded as being of “high professional quality” but awards are tough. This is one of the reasons that Australians have done really well in the WPPI awards and other international awards, because the award standard over here has been a higher level than that seen internationally. Anyway, with no further ado, here are my entries for 2011.
Just thought I would share these with you – I need one more silver to be awarded the title “Associate of the AIPP”, which is the first step to the final goal of being awarded the title “Master of Photography”. My mum would be proud. Anyway, thanks for looking! Antony
Stills V3 
Antony, these are excellent, good luck in the competition.
The top shot, great expression and love looking through the doorway. The framing of Emma works well as well.
And is that 2 polaroid prints being held on the bottom picture?
Comment by rhoehne — May 20, 2011 @ 10:45
Hi Robert, yes that’s a couple of shots taken with the 110A on Fuji FP-100C. I’ve just folded the edges so I could have them side by side.
Comment by northcoastphotography — May 20, 2011 @ 12:31
Robert, I agree with Robert that these are excellent and I wish you well in the contest.
My thoughts on the individual pictures:)
1. Lovely shot and very nice tonality. I like the dark areas of the frame as much as the light. I might crop the right ege in towards her, but that’s likely just me.
2. Lovely picture, but typical of the UK based wedding photography I’ve seen!
3. Not my favourite. The sky is so very dark and the lighting on the couple leaves me wondering if it’s a composite? Modern classic sort of picture though.
4. I like. Clever and thoughtful and nice to see some polaroid getting in on the act.
All the pictures appear posed to me, including the first? Not a criticism so much as a question. Quite different from the PJ style in vogue over here, though I think they do tend to ‘help’ situations.
Comment by sojournerphoto — May 26, 2011 @ 18:57
I always admire wedding photographers and have shied away from the associated responsibility when asked to perform. Can anything be made more difficult? Immense pressure and the subjects choose to wear black and white.
I like the new fashion of informal pictures of weddings, the old fixed arrangements are now complimented with the background images, a bit like Chris’ “in the act”.
These are neither type, obviously carefully staged but not the normal “mums & dads”.
1) I like the composition and lighting, the mirror is a clever touch.
2) Ummm. Lots of comments come to mind but none are appropriate to put here. Not a run of the mill wedding picture!
3) I am afraid the physicist in me came to the fore. I know that the sun needed to be over my right shoulder to produce that rainbow. :-)
4) Very clever and good fun.
I hope you will let us know how you get on and I wish you good luck.
Comment by Rex — May 26, 2011 @ 21:10
Thanks for the comments guys. The rainbow image is not a composite – that’s a storm front coming in being hit by the light at the end of the day. I’ll post the original so you can check it out!
Re. the sky darkness, well that’s just something with the awards – dark images score much better. This was the end result after advice from other awarded photogs.
Thanks for your comments, we’ll see how I go!
Comment by northcoastphotography — May 26, 2011 @ 23:07
First – I’m just back from Scotland, where a special storm was laid on for us!!
It’s great to see a selection of photos, particularly being for the competition. The only wedding photography I’ve ever done was my son’s wedding. As it was in a hired restaurant by the sea in Cornwall on a sunny day, interior shots were relatively easy. I bagged a seat behind the registrar to get frontals of the betrothal and spent the rest of the day treating it like a street shoot!! I wouldn’t like the responsibility of being paid to get it right though.
1) This one is well set up to look (almost) informal. The lighting on her face is almost too professional for me – I would never have got that!
2) Presumably the groom was hovering outside the door in a jealous frenzy!
3) I started off thinking like Mike, but it is growing on me with that amazing lighting on the lighthouse and the acrobatics.
4) Nicely original.
Yes, good luck.
Comment by zavaell — May 27, 2011 @ 06:56