As a big advocate of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography, and of course a recently qualified member, it was important to my personal growth and development that I entered a few prints in the recent Iris Awards.
Well, imagine my excitement when I sat through 6+ hours of print judging during the awards to see my prints receive awards. And not just any awards, but a Silver and a couple of Bronzes.
Of course, it didn’t really sink in until hours later after been congratulated by plenty of other photographers. Apparently Silver is quite a big deal. Who knew? 
The full gallery of winning images can be found here, with the Wedding category (where all 4 of my images were entered) here.
What was really important to me when selecting and processing images for the awards was that the image were true to me. Past winners of these awards have often been criticised for being overly photoshopped, and whilst I’m sure some tone mapping and heavy use of textures could have added some emphasis and drama to my images, I wanted to enter these awards with my photos being processed the same way that me – and our clients – like seeing them. Other than some sepia toning (which, I’ll be honest, isn’t entirely normal for us) these are almost as I delivered them.
The following were the medal winners. 3 out of 4 prints isn’t a bad ratio – next year, I’m going for the album category. Aiming high.
Silver (Kahiwa & Grant):
Bronze (Matt & Kel):
Bronze (Leigh & Giles):
A big thank you must go out to Jenny & Larissa at FineLine Photography for their assistance in helping me choose suitable images, advice on processing & cropping my images, and finally working with me for the final printing & matting. I couldn’t have entered – let alone won these awards – without their help. Thank you!
