2006 Summer Contest
Getting Ready
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Judges Comments
Talk about Norman Rockwell! This little girl's expression couldn't be cuter and the composition couldn't be more perfect. The woman's face comes into the frame from the top left but does not draw attention away from the little girl because the woman's face does not receive most of the light (or has been burned down a bit). The woman's arms and hands and the girl's arm frame the girl's face perfectly and keep the attention where it should be – on the girl's face and expression. And that expression is so Shirley Temple cute! The clean background not only doesn't detract from the content, the color of the wall actually compliments the ribbon in the girl's hair.
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Judges Comments
The top several photos in this category were really good, making it hard to rank them. This photo rises for me because of its purity. The photographer saw a woman in full joy in preparation for a wedding. The photographer caught that joy with the right lens choice, the right moment, and by using a shallow depth of field to make sure that even the most dim-witted judge got the point. It worked.
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3rd Place: David Murray from Georgia, United StatesJudges Comments
It's the suspenders. This photo works on many, many levels, using the whole frame to tell us a remarkably complete story. The man's unfastened suspenders tell us, for example, that he was in the middle of dressing himself when he was called away to serve as a clothesline. In spite of being complex in it storytelling, there are few stray elements to distract us from the funny tale this picture tells.
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4th Place: David Murray from Georgia, United StatesJudges Comments
A well-timed candid moment.
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5th Place: Kelvin Koh from Singapore, Singapore -
6th Place: Justine Ungaro from Virginia, United StatesJudges Comments
My lips pucker up everytime I look at this photograph! And then I smile. One of the beauties of photography is it's ability to capture fleeting moments that might ordinarilly go unnoticed. Those fleeting moments are critical when taking a documentary approach to wedding photography. I love this moment. And I love the people in the picture. The photograph reminds me of what a Norman Rockwell painting of people getting ready for a wedding might look like. The horizontal and vertical lines in the background are somewhat distracting, but the moment and the expressions easily overcome that.
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7th Place: Jeanna Justice from Kentucky, United StatesJudges Comments
Great expressions. Lovely moment that captures the seemingly eternal youth of these women.
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Judges Comments
Besides being technically well executed, this photo is a very rare scene and offers the viewer an unexpected look into this couple's wedding day. It also shows emotion in a subtle, telling way.
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Judges Comments
Great expression and illustrates the humour of getting ready. Behind the scene situations produce some of the best moments in wedding photography. This is one of them. Many of the scenes of women getting into their gowns emphasize the delicate beauty of the dress. And many of those scenes are beautiful. But this image tells me that all is not sweetness and light when preparing to walk down the aisle. Sometimes, probably most of the time, getting ready is a struggle. This is another photograph that makes me smile. The woman's face shows the frustration and stress that happens when things don't go according to plan. She is obviously having a difficult time getting everything to fit just right, despite having four friends help her. The background is simple and doesn't get in the way of the woman's great expression. The hands of the bridesmaids keep the viewers focus on the bride and her apparent delemma.
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Judges Comments
Hilarious! Very unusual and quirky. Nice interplay between the cowboys and the dresser.
