Judges Comments

I really like this photo. It's fun and natural. I wish it were framed tighter. The faces make this photo and coming in tighter would have made more of an impact. This photo has it all that encompasses the bridal party franticly getting themselves together before the wedding. The girl brushing her teeth is great. Each person is doing something different. I like the angle of the photo and the use of available light. I feel cramped up in that little bathroom with them.

Judges Comments

This one really jumped out at me. Beautiful, meaningful moment. Good composition. The photographer looked past the obvious and found a really special, real picture. This was the hardest category to judge because there were so many good pictures.

Judges Comments

This looks to me like a true candid moment with the photographer able to capture this moment because he or she was able to anticipate the action and be in the position to make the photograph. Some would mind the fence of rail in the foreground, but I don't. If anything it adds to this candid moment. This particular moment was not one of the many predictable moments of a wedding. Howard Chapnick taught me that a great photograph is a combination of elements: capturing the moment, conveying useful information, emotion, and composition. Howard wrote a book which I think is the Bible for picture editors and photographers: TRUTH NEEDS NO ALLY. Everyone has similar expressions and that's what makes this photo--as the bride is helped with her dress on the way to the ceremony.

Judges Comments

Nice emotion on the bride framed nicely by other faces in the mirror as she gets her hair done before the wedding. The rest of the photo nicely frames the sharp focus on the bride's face reflected in the mirror, which is more soft focus. Several nice layers fill the frame.

Photographer's Comment

This bride went to a quiet room to get her hair done, but all her bridesmaids followed her. I was on the other side of a bed, and caught this moment of her and her bridesmaids getting emotional before the ceremony.

Judges Comments

Beautifully composed. The look on his face is perfect. Excellent decision to go vertical. I'd love to have an image like this with my daughter when the time comes.

Photographer's Comment

This bride was in a terrible car accident a few years before her wedding, and her father was very clear about how grateful he was to see her health and happiness on her wedding day. So I waited for a quiet moment and this tender expression emerged.

Judges Comments

This photo has wonderful tones and symmetry. The parents holding their daughter's dress are not aware of the photographer, which is what makes this a very nice photo. The photograph is simple and clean. It caught my eye right away.

Judges Comments

I loved this moment and the simplicity of the composition. This picture took me beyond the glitz and satin and often overdone trappings of weddings and told a little story about the people involved.

Judges Comments

It is the expression on the bride that makes this photo. She is obviously in pain as the hairdresser is oblivious to what is going on.

Judges Comments

This is a fun image. Love the composition, the energy, the message. Lens selection was ideal

Judges Comments

There were quite a few photographs of brides fixing their veils, but this one was different from the others. The lady looking through the door peephole adds an extra element to the photograph. I guess every photographer studies “body language” — this photograph has great body language.

Judges Comments

I wish there was a little bit cropped off the top of this frame, but I really like the layering of the two dogs and the simple expressions on the bride and women trying to help her with her veil as the one dog jumps up for attention. All nicely framed the door.

Judges Comments

I laughed out loud when I opened this image. Just plain funny. I would have liked this image better with a longer lens, less depth of field and better handling of the light, but I appreciate the timing and the moment so everything is forgiven.

Judges Comments

The light in the room is perfect for the scene. It is well balanced and the mirrors behind the subject's heads are almost perfect. I would have liked to have seen each head exactly in the middle of each mirror. It is a special quiet moment between Bride and mom before the wedding

Judges Comments

What a nice moment. The light is intriguing and well handled. Even though some of the bodies were truncated, the correct use of the wide angle lens, keeping distortion to a minimum, allowed this image to be successful. It put me in the room where I could enjoy the mix of emotions and promise of things to come.

Judges Comments

Funny moment with great expression after a bottle of champagne is uncorked with reaction at left and also a little girl at right blurred as she topples over.

Judges Comments

This is a great documentary photograph. The subjects fill the frame and your eye flows right to the bride. Very nice.

Judges Comments

This picture said a lot about weddings and little girls dreaming of their big day. It told a story for me and I was glad to see the photographer pull back and show the surroundings instead of making tight, bride manual type pictures.

Judges Comments

I like the clean vibrant background in this picture. The girls all seem to be in on the same joke.

Judges Comments

I remember my wedding day and certainly I was worried about the responsibilities of my marriage vows, but I might have been more worried about saying those vows and not screwing up. This photograph shows a good eye of a talented storyteller. Very well done