A new year started 2 months ago. On to new beginnings and new experiences. We’d like to take a few moments to reminisce about 2009 and announce our 2009 Best Funico Wedding Photo contest. The slide show below has our favorite wedding images from last year. We obviously couldn’t narrow them down. Help us select the best 2009 wedding photography image by casting your vote! CAST YOUR VOTE BY POSTING A COMMENT BELOW. Only 1 vote per person please. The name of each picture is the number below it. For example, the first photo is called “1.”

We’d like to give an award to the winning photo. The winning image will receive a complimentary 16X20 gallery wrap. Of course, if the winning couple prefers, we’d be happy to give them a 16X20 gallery wrap of another picture from their wedding (maybe they’d like to hang something else on their wall!) CONTEST WILL CLOSE AT 12AM ON 03/04/10.

We will post the results on 03/08/10.

We searched high and low for an appropriate song. After looking at a lot of “best 2009 song” lists, we decided on Beyonce’s “Sweet Dreams.” Great lyrics for newlyweds, don’t you think?

We had a lot of fun putting this together. It sure brought back a lot of memories. Hope you have fun watching the slide show! AND, DON’T FORGET TO CAST YOUR VOTE BY 03/04/10.

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!

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.

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

As a professional photographer, I find these competitions very valuable because each print gets judged and critiqued by certified judges and master photographers.  Of course, constructive criticism can sometimes be frustrating (don’t want to lie and say that criticism is always music to my ears!), but it’s also a powerful learning experience. 

The award-winning photo below is a candid that I had captured at the Renaissance Faire a few months ago.  When I was growing up, I would always see the Renaissance Faire commercials on TV, so Alice and I were excited to go this year.  The judges said that the lighting and expression of the guitar player is what makes the photo so powerful.

Some of my other entries that scored high but did not win ribbons included some High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos I had taken in Central Park, NYC.  HDR photos are created by taking several images of the same subject and then merging them together to bring out the photos’ highlights and shadows.  These were my my first attempts at creating  HDR photos and I look forward to mastering this new technique.   This one was taken at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.  The judges loved the lights and reflections in the water but said it lacked a central subject.  I guess I will have to go back and do it again while some ducks are swimming in the water! 

This is a photo of Central Park’s recently-renovated Bethesda Terrace Arcade.  The judges felt that the cropping and details in the highlights could be improved.  This can be done on the computer and will not require any bird control tactics.

A kiss on the magnificent beaches of St. John…romantic and absolutely beautiful.  It’s no wonder that WPPI likes it.

But again, we have to thank Maari & Mark for being such great subjects!

Thank you, Maari & Mark, for being such great models!