It wouldn’t be the New Year without a brief look back on where we were, and a BIG, BIG “Thank You” to all our fantastic clients, thoughtful supporters and wonderful friends and family.  We would be remiss if we didn’t mention a few key partnerships that kept us going in 2010: one with Apple Computers (you know, that little California company), another with Canon Professional Services and last, but not least our friends at Broncolor Imaging and Calumet Photo.  For those that aren’t familiar with Broncolor: simply put, they make the finest lighting equipment in the world and through their New England rep Dave McRitchie (and Calumet’s Wayne Cozzolino)… they also provided incredible 24-7 support to keep us “in the field” doing what we do best.  Thank You!

We’re starting 2011 with a short update on the tail end of 2010:  Thanks very much to our friends at The Wedding Photojournalist Association who again selected one of our images for an award in their international photo contest.  We always feel lucky to be selected… and congratulations to Lyndsay & Josh for having such an amazing winter wedding at The Mount Washington Hotel!

In other (belated news) our friend and fellow Bowdoin alum Coren Moore, featured many of our weddings on her website.  Coren is wildly successful dress designer in Manhattan, and we were honored that she would feature our images in her blog (here, here, here and HERE!).  Thanks Coren!

We have news and updates from California, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Maine… and everywhere between!  Rest assured, we’re back… and have lots to share!

That being said, while we were traveling and shooting far away from the blogosphere, much occurred, and we will try to recap some of it here:

First up… my sister Lea and her husband Billy adopted an adorable baby boy!  Henry is absolutely beautiful, and has a remarkably calm energy about him that is just amazing.  Though we did miss the cranky-baby 2am diaper changes and feedings, we are quite certain that Henry is either high on baby formula… or just happy to be alive and have parents who adore and appreciate him so much.

Though we only stopped in for a few days during our return from Hawaii, one thing led to another… and of course an impromptu photo shoot occurred that resulted in baby Henry winding up in a salad bowl.  Sorry Henry, but you just don’t know where creativity will lead you!  Anyway, we wanted the whole world to know how proud we are to have him in our family!

And speaking of growing, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that we won a few more awards for our photography and we wanted to thank the sponsors for their encouragement and recognition.  First up, we managed to sneak out a few awards from the prestigious Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA.com) once again.  There are some truly incredible photographers that compete in their contests… so we are honored that we had NINE winning images in the past year.

Here are the two latest winners:

This image is from Matt & Ashley’s Hurricane Wedding at The Newagen Inn in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.  The photo is a fun grab shot of the bridesmaid being “blown away” in the wind.  The great news is that the bridesmaid holding the umbrella (Christine) is engaged to be married & in June we will be in Massachusetts to document their wedding for them!  There is no greater honor than to get the opportunity to support the friends of great clients like Matt & Ashley.  Don’t worry… we PROMISE… the weather will be better!

Next, from Heidi & Ross’ wedding at The Sebasco Harbor Resort, we won 4th place for dancing… but the true story is that the dancing started about 8 hours earlier, and the award should really be for the consistency and longevity of the dancing.  If I remember correctly, this is Heidi’s brother… who started dancing before the ceremony and in my mind is probably dancing wherever he is right now.  Congrats!

Last up, our favorite social media guru / Innkeeper Jason Schlosser (from The Newagen Inn in Boothbay Harbor) held a photography contest and self selected our entry because we were out of the country at the time (thanks Jason!!).  By popular vote, we were lucky enough to win the contest in 2008, and we never expected that we would again in 2009, but as luck would have it, we did!  The prize for winning the contest was a 2 night stay at The Newagen Inn, along with dinner.

In honor of all our good fortune, our great clients, and most of all… our precious new nephew Henry, we’ve decided that we are going to donate our two night stay at The Newagen Inn to raise money for LIVESTRONG and their continued fight on behalf of survivors like my sister in their battle against cancer.  More details about the raffle will be coming tomorrow: we’ve got a donation page all setup with LIVESTRONG, and Jason at The Newagen Inn is psyched to host the prizewinner.

So for now, thanks for all the support, love and emails.  We love hearing from everyone… and rest assured, we are back!!  Spread the word about the contest… more details right here tomorrow!

No sleep for the weary here at Brian Wedge Photography, but rest assured, WE ARE BACK!  We’re back from some wonderful commercial and editorial shoots that have led us across the country capturing all sorts of interesting and talented people.  We’re back with reinvigorated creativity and some wonderful experiences under our belt.  Stay tuned as we share more in the coming weeks… but for now, we thought we’d share the fact that a bunch of our wedding images won a few MORE awards while we were away!

We love capturing natural, authentic moments in creative and unobtrusive ways, and once again we were honored by the Pulitzer Prize winning judges for Brides Magazine and the prestigious Wedding Photojournalist Association.  Yahoo!!  It’s always wonderful to have our work recognized by such respected people and organizations!

The photo above was captured at Stacia & Lloyd’s beautiful Bar Harbor Wedding in Maine.  The image encapsulates so much of the emotion and tension that almost every bride feels on her wedding day.  One part excitement, another nerves: so much effort and time planning for the big day and then all of a sudden it’s here!  The final pieces come together seemingly all at once.

Speaking of timeless, there’s a universal appeal to the image above… every body part in motion, from arms and feet to nose and eyes… this guys is GROOVING!  As interesting are the reactions of the people watching him in the background.  One part astonishment, another admiration.  There’s always one at every wedding!

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We’re truly honored to have won awards again from the WPJA and Brides Magazine.  We’re always striving to create unique and meaningful images for our clients… and it’s a bonus when our work is recognized elsewhere, especially alongside such a talented group of international photographers.  Thanks again!

One of our awards came in the category “Emotion.”  We’re thrilled to see that, because the hallmark of our work comes from an ability to capture the natural moments & real emotion in an unobtrusive, creative manner.  There’s an elemental truth in this scene: one of joy, relief and love.  What a wonderful opportunity to capture something like that for a great couple!

JUDGES COMMENTS: There’s pure joy in this photograph. It’s a clean, easy to read shot that has immediate impact, revealed through their body language. It’s a simple, yet, effective image that evokes a higher emotional state than the others for me.

JUDGES COMMENTS: A dreamy, long lens image that makes one think they are in a dream. These two obviously are, and the outstretched arms are like one big smile ready to embrace the groom.

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We also received another award for our image of an engagement ring left beside a note from a groom to his bride.  At our core, we’re storytellers… and it’s important that we always attempt to capture details in a way that contribute to that underlying story.  We usually arrive early at weddings to creatively document these details… often overlooked by folks at first glance, but cherished years later as an important element to their very special day.  Something as simple as a ring and five words from a brief letter says so much.

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]]> http://www.brianwedge.com/blog/2009/10/01/wpja-award-winning-images-again/feed/ 1 http://www.brianwedge.com/blog/2009/04/26/wedding-photojournalist-association-honors-us-again/ http://www.brianwedge.com/blog/2009/04/26/wedding-photojournalist-association-honors-us-again/#comments Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:39:04 +0000 brianwedge http://www.brianwedge.com/blog/?p=529 Continue reading →]]> The good folks over at the prestigious Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) have always maintained some of the highest professional standards in the industry.  They are one of the very best photojournalist organizations out there, and to be accepted by them to become a member, you really have to be at the very top of your game.