Judges Comments

UDGES COMMENTS: There is joy and love expressed in the gesture... surrounded by family and friends. The moment and context feels so real. Hey! An emotion picture that gives us something else: a funny moment. The serious, straightforward action of the woman adjusting the dress contrasts with the soft, tender moment between the central woman and the little girl. This photograph is well framed.

Photographer's Comment

Unlike a simple controlled portrait in a studio, a wedding day is buzzing with activity. You have to develop an ability to monitor many different evolving scenarios at the same time, ready to grab their moments at the peak of their action. In this case, mother and daughter moved so quick that I shot it without raising the camera to my eye. I knew I would have a few opportunities in the hotel room to capture their excitement together and this was my favorite. In the hotel room, I was using a flash pointed to the ceiling to bounce a little bit of fill light and to help balance the ugly yellow lamplight. Since the camera was at belly level, I had to close my eyes just as the shutter and flash popped so I wouldn't blind myself!,

Judges Comments

Peak action, long lens, beautiful frame. The expressiveness of her hands make the rest of the image feel more alive. Pure joy and happiness in a well-composed and caught moment made more emphatic by the out of focus background.

Judges Comments

Captured the peak of her excitement. Straight forward, but that works well here. Gives it more impact.

Judges Comments

I'm not sure if she is in extreme pain, emotional overwhelmed or overcome by joy, but I know that most brides have this emotion at some point during the day; but rarely is it caught so well by the photographer.

Judges Comments

Great to see the photographer really paying attention and capturing something very real. This happy-sad moment between the bride and groom is also expressed in the tender placement of the bride's hands and the slightly blurred background diffuses a busy background.

Judges Comments

This is simply a fine picture. The emotion is genuine beyond doubt. The clean background and tight framing get us right to the emotion, yet there is enough of the two women's' bodies so that the faces' expressions are reinforced by the arms, the lean, the heads touching.

Judges Comments

The subject is positioned in the frame perfectly, his expression subtle. This very genuine yet subtle bittersweet expression on the man's face says so much and is well framed by the figures in the foreground.

Judges Comments

A beautiful inter-generational moment, with complimentary light and framing.