Category Archives: Awards

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A Little Editing Makes a Big Impact

July 25, 2011 – 3:45 pm

We are proud members of the Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association (AGWPJA).   What is the AGWPJA?  It’s a great organization that recognizes photographers who blend their photojournalist talents with creative post-production skills.  We’re not big believers in “photoshopping” images, but we do think that sometimes, a little editing can go a long way to enhance a great moment.

Being such minimalists with our photo editing, we were pleasantly surprised when the AGWPJA honored 3 of our photos with awards in their first quarter contest.  That makes us the most-awarded AGWPJA photographers in the country  for 2011.   That’s a nice way to start out the year!

One of the winning images was a portrait taken in the Tuscan Garden at Celebrate at Snug Harbor in Staten Island.  Kristina & Dan got married at Snug Harbor on 04/02/11.  With the recent heat wave, I’m sure we’ve all forgotten how cold the Spring was.  The snow had melted just in time for Kristina & Dan’s big day, but unfortunately, the flowers and trees hadn’t bloomed yet.  With the right perspective, however, Mother Nature can be beautiful, regardless of the weather.  We had a happy couple and some sun, sky, water and trees.   That might not sound like much, but after a little editing to bring out the clouds and a change in the color tone to complement the setting, we had a winning combination!

The other two winning images were candids from an Egyptian wedding at the Valley Regency in Clifton, New Jersey.  As you can see, the groom was enjoying the ride much more than the bride.

Like most other cultures, Mona & Wael and their friends & family celebrated with lots of dancing.  We captured the celebration and changed the colors a bit to enhance the look of these images.

Weddings are full of great moments.  And with just a little bit of editing, these moments can look even more magical.

It’s always an honor to have our work recognized.  But the real reward comes from our couples when they tell us how much they love their wedding photos.  To all of our happy couples – thanks so much for entrusting us to capture your special day!

By aliceandjames | Also posted in Funico Studios News, Recent Weddings | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Why Hire Ninja Wedding Photographers?

May 27, 2011 – 12:06 pm

Some of our happy couples have called us Ninjas because we suddenly appear when there is a moment to be captured at weddings. Over the years, we’ve acquired a sixth sense for when something is going to happen and have perfected our techniques to capture it. Take for example the dance floor. Navigating through intoxicated dancers with camera equipment is not an easy task. James has it down to a science when it comes to getting a great photo in the midst of a rocking wedding reception. With his arms stretched above him, weaving to the beat, he can accurately point his camera to get a shot from above. One of these shots recently won an award from the Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association.

The bride and groom were both very active in Indian dance groups, so of course, they love to dance. And so did many of their wedding guests. The winning photo captures the groom in the middle of a group hug on the crowded dance floor at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City. Can you feel the love?

Indian wedding reception at hyatt regency jersey city

This overhead camera technique is only effective if you can get to the moment in time. James prides himself on his ability to navigate through a crowded room in record time. How good is he? Well, while taking this photo of people dancing, James’ sixth sense detected that the groom was at the bar and about to have a shot with his buddies. Can you see it in the corner by the window? Do you think you have what it takes to get there in seconds to capture the shot? Note the distance to the corner of the room and the crowd he will have to navigate.

Within seconds, the Photo Ninja appears and gets the shot of people doing shots. If you look closely, you can see James’ arms stretched above his head reflected in the window.

Ninja Phototography

Our lawyer has told us that we should warn you that we are professionals with years of experience. Do not attempt to do this with your camera when you go to your next wedding.

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We’ve Received WeddingWire’s Bride’s Choice Awards 2011!

February 6, 2011 – 12:36 am

Yay – we’ve been given a WeddingWire’s Bride’s Choice Award 2011!    That means that we’re in the top 5% of wedding professionals based on surveys of 750,000+ WeddingWire newlyweds and that we got a “two thumbs up” for quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism.  This is the second year in a row that we’ve received this honor.  To our past brides – a big thank you for your kind words!   To our future brides – we promise to keep up the good work.

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Our Photojournalism and Artistic Shots Win Awards

January 27, 2011 – 3:14 pm

Hooray – 2 of our photos won awards in the latest Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) photo contest.  The WPJA is a prestigious organization of wedding photographers. One is an emotional moment between a groom and his dad and the other is an artistic shot of wedding rings.

This photo was captured just after Rebecca and Dan’s ceremony.  The judges were touched by, in their words, the “very sweet moment” between the groom and his dad.

We agree.  It’s much more common to see such an affectionate display between mother and daughter and we were touched as well by Mr. McFadden.

Rebecca & Dan recently sent us a great thank you card.  This is the front of the card – beautiful, isn’t it?  Just kidding, we designed the card for the happy couple and they sent it back to us…

…with this very sweet note on the inside.

Rebecca & Dan – thanks so much for the card and the kind words!

The other winning image from the competition was an artistic shot of Janna & Kevin’s wedding rings.  The judges loved the “reflection of the word marriage in the ring.”  So do we.  We used a macro lens to get a very close shot of the rings with words from their wedding invitation reflected on them.

WPJA is a well-respected international organization and we are honored to have them recognize both our photojournalistic and artistic skills.

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Photo Contest Won with Eyes Closed

December 10, 2010 – 2:26 pm

We love this photo of Ana & Alex.  The happy couple got married a few weeks ago and had their reception at the North Ritz Club.  After seeing the pic on Facebook, Alex commented on how his eyes were closed.  They were?  We zoomed in and squinted and squinted and realized that indeed, Alex was right – his eyes weren’t 100% open!   The bubble mania and Ana’s expression really drew us in, so much so that we didn’t notice Alex’s eyes.

Well, we submitted the image to an AGWPJA contest before we knew about the eye problem.  Once Alex pointed it out, we looked at each other and said “oh well, guess we goofed.”  Better luck next time.  To our suprise, the image actually won!  According to the judge “this is a fun, bubbly image that works well. The bride is the center of attention, which makes this photo successful.”  Guess the bubbles and beautiful Ana really drew in the judges as well!

wedding at north ritz club

By aliceandjames | Also posted in Funico Studios News, Recent Weddings | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Our Central Park Photo Wins An Award

October 7, 2010 – 9:08 pm

It’s nice to be recognized as an artist.

We just learned that another one of our photos received an Accolade of Excellence from Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI). This organization was started over 30 years ago to help improve and promote the talents of wedding photographers. Some of the world’s most famous wedding photographers compete in its photo contest. It’s an honor to have our work recognized among such tough competition. The winning image was not taken at a wedding. It’s actually a landscape photo of Central Park after a big snow storm. We’ve been told that it looks like a painting and should be displayed in a gallery. Looks like the WPPI judges agree. We’d love to hear what you think. Let us know!

To see the official press release from WPPI, Click Here.

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Brother-and-Sister Moment Wins an Award

May 26, 2010 – 1:55 pm

We are excited to announce that another one of our images won an award from the prestigious Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association (AGWPJA).  The winning image was taken at a recent wedding of a gay couple, David & Danny.  Both grooms were great dancers. One of them used to be a professional dancer and choreographer.  The reception hall, The Manor in West Orange, NJ, had to raise the big chandelier in the room to prevent people from hitting it when they were flipped into the air by David & Danny!  We will be posting more bout this wedding later, but for now we wanted to share the photo that won an award.  It’s a shot of David and his sister having a blast dancing with each other. We like how the photo captures their special brother-and-sister bond.

manor west orange wedding reception

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We’ve been Given a Bride’s Choice Award by WeddingWire

January 21, 2010 – 6:11 pm

weddingwireaward

We got the following announcement from WeddingWire:

Congratulations! We are excited to announce that Funico Studios has been chosen to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2010. This award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism.

The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews, which means your past clients have spoken on our behalf and selected you to receive this honor.

Many thanks to our brides for giving us “2 thumbs up”!

By aliceandjames | Also posted in Funico Studios News | Comments (0)

Church Photography Restrictions Didn’t Prevent Us from Getting an Award-Winning Photo

January 13, 2010 – 12:23 am

Alice and I are both members of the prestigious Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA).  This exclusive organization represents some of the most talented wedding photojournalists in the world. An offshoot of the WPJA is the Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association (AGWPJA). The AGWPJA focuses more on special effect photos.

We are excited to announce that both of the images we submitted to a recent AGWPJA photo contest have been honored with awards.  One image was taken during a wedding at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. St. Patrick’s is both breathtaking and an important center of Catholic life. We can definitely understand why brides would want to get married there! Unfortunately, for us wedding photographers though, St. Patrick’s is difficult because it has very strict rules.   They actually assign security personnel to keep an eye on us during the ceremony!

St Patrick’s does not allow the use of flashes or tripods.  We, however, have one of the best cameras in the industry for taking photos in low light even if we can’t use a flash. Its speed also allows us to create High Dynamic Range (HDR) images without having to use a tripod. HDR photos are created by combining several shots into one final image to show the dramatic details in both the bright and dark areas of the Cathedral.   For those not interested in the technical details, let’s simply say we didn’t let the church’s restrictions prevent us from creating an award-winning image!

st-patrick's-new-york-city-wedding-photo

The other winning image was taken at an Indian wedding reception at the Hyatt Regency in Long Island.  We love photographing Indian weddings because of all the vibrant colors in everyone’s clothing.  We caught this great moment of a young kid dancing in his white suit to the cheers of his friends and family.  We changed some of the color tones to spice up the moment.

indian-wedding-photo

We hope you enjoy these photos as much as the contest judges did!

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We Won 3 Red Ribbons in a New York State Print Competition

June 29, 2009 – 1:12 pm
We are very excited to report that three of our four entries won Red Ribbons at this year’s Professional Photographers’ Society of New York State (PPSNYS) annual print competition.  Not bad for our first entry to this statewide competition!   It’s an honor to  be recognized by such a distinguished organization that was founded over 100 years ago. 
 
The judges liked this photo we shot at a St. John destination wedding.  
 
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Honestly, how could you not love such a beautiful location?  We’ve been to St. John a few times and are big fans of the island.  The beaches are absolutely magnificent!  The water is so pure, you can see your feet and the fish swim right up to you.  If you’re looking for a place for your honeymoon, we give “two thumbs up” to the US Virgin Islands.   
 
This photo of rain drops on a lily pad also did well.  We like it a lot as well and will probably hang it up in our apartment.
 
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This picture was taken in Central Park’s Conservatory Garden.  We love Central Park and think that the Conservatory Garden is one of the city’s many hidden gems.  The lily pad was in a pool and the golden color in the water is from the sun reflecting off of the New York skyline. 
 
Last, but not least, our image of a musician at the annual New York Renaissance Faire also won a red ribbon.   He looks like he’s been plucked out of the 1800′s, doesn’t he?
 
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One of our brides recently told us that she works at the Renaisance Faire every year and knows this guy.  What a small world…
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