The Fuji Photographic Awards came out this week, and several of my circle of photographers won deserved awards and recognition. On Friday, I was speaking to one of the students that I mentor and he asked me why I don’t enter these competitions.

The answer is fairly simple. A while back when I left varsity I decided that I was going to shoot for clients not for other photographers or judges. I’m fortunate to have a style that is very personal, and is based on real moments, those moments are what’s important to my clients. These are the people that I am trying to impress, not on technical excellence, but on the actual image itself and what it represents to them about their wedding day.

Many of the images that win awards, are technically perfect, beautifully set-up and executed. I often find them quite bankrupt when it comes to the emotional content. Its just an opinion, there’s nothing wrong with having a fashion spread as your wedding album. It just isn’t what I’m after or my clients are after, I do think its what most judges are after.

This entry was posted Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 8:19 pm and is filed under Awards, Opinion, Photography.