Having this position of power (Judging the Fearless Awards!) isn’t half as easy as I thought it would be!
I’ve been asked to judge the latest Collection and I’m sitting here at my computer feeling completely bamboozled!
Most of these entries are absolutely top-notch!
Creative, blow your mind, step out of every comfort zone you’ve ever known photos!
It’s exhausting in the best possible way!
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When I got the initial request to step into this golden seat, I was thrilled – I’ve won 5 Fearless Awards in total over the past couple of years and it’s no easy feat.
Judging the Fearless Awards with this Collection has given me a whole new insight into why some of my photos, one’s that I’ve deemed worthy and entered into past awards, have been left, wallowing in self pity with no applause at all!
The first round sees us judges (9 in total from different countries around the world) picking our favourite 100-150 images from approximately 10,000!
The first cull was fairly easy, after all, it’s my job to separate the wheat from the chaff with my own wedding images but it was hard to be ruthless with the rest and the final selection, getting it down to 100-150, was brutal!
I had to keep asking myself, “Is this a Fearless photo?”
Some of the photos that didn’t make the final selection were amazing images, really beautiful, stunning landscapes and technically great photos but they lacked maybe just 1% of that certain something that makes an image Fearless.
Images that I’d have been proud to call my own nevertheless!
Now of course, this is all subjective, I might be blown away by an image that another photographer wouldn’t look twice at and vice versa but honestly, I think the final Collection was pretty bloody awesome and I’m sure you’ll agree too!
This was a huge learning curve for me, one I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and I’ll be looking at my own images now with a different eye for sure!
So, what did I learn –
I would say that over 90% of my delivered wedding images are colour so I surprised myself when I was judging the Fearless Awards by being drawn to so many black and white images but only the photos that were edited beautifully, told a story and conveyed emotion.
I love couple shots and have the best fun on a wedding day doing these photos but the majority of photos I chose were candid and documentary images.
Ones that showed real emotion, made me laugh or made me do that cock-your-head-to-the-side thing and say “awwwww”.
I’m always looking for non-busy backgrounds in my own work but again I found my eyes drawn to quite different images in these awards – architecture and shadows played a big part in winning photos for me.
I’m a sucker for an image that I’ve never had the pleasure of taking and I’ll be pushing my couples from now on to get covered in vodka poured straight from the bottle! Yes, a well executed booze in the face photo swung it for me!
Kids – love ‘em! I’m sure being a parent plays a big part in this but seeing kids being ultra cute and doing something they shouldn’t be doing on a day when everyone else is on their best behaviour (until the party starts!) floats my boat something rotten!
I love having my heart strings pulled to breaking point!
Reflections – There were plenty of these entered and a lot didn’t cut it – if you’re entering a reflection photo, make sure it’s as good as it can be because when it works, it’s beautiful! I adore the shot of the bride in the car with the groom or Father of Bride reflected in the car window and there were a good few entered but only one or two had both the emotional pull and the technical know-how to make the final!
Composition – With so many photos to look through, composition played a huge part in the first few culls – if I had to search a photo to find the point of it, it, quite frankly, pissed me off!
There were only a couple of photos that took me on a journey that I actually enjoyed where all of the elements in the photo came together to make me finally see the point and feel joy!
The rest, I got an immediate reaction from.
The wow factor. That, “Yes!” fist bump the air reaction and most of that came down to composition.
So, that’s the Good.
Now for the Bad and the Ugly…
Out of focus images – Movement aside, an image that has just plain missed focus, let’s not try and pass it off as art.
Over edited or under edited – The RAW image is the bones of your photo, the editing is the skin and we all need that layer to give us (and our image) some body.
Watery editing, harsh editing, over or under saturated editing completely ruined some amazing photos.
The majority of images that made the final cut for me had a timeless edit, something that wouldn’t go out of fashion in ten years time.
Bad copies – Inspiration is no bad thing and I love to push myself out of my comfort zone at a wedding and try something new. It may be a shot of my own design or it’ll have been inspired by an amazing shot I may have seen someone else produce, but I also know when it hasn’t worked and that’s a skill in itself. A photo that might please the couple won’t necessarily please a Fearless judge!
Gimmicks – There was a massive overuse of prisms. And that’s coming from someone who’s always loved (and will continue to use) a good piece of triangular glass in their bag! (I just won’t be entering it into Fearless!)
Nothing weddingy – not even a jot. No bride, no groom, no flower girl, bridesmaid, groomsman, no people at all. Nothing weddingy. In a wedding photography competition. That one lost me a little bit.
Dutch tilt – people still do this?!
Chromatic abbheration – No. Just no.
But seriously…
I absolutely loved this process and I’m so honoured to have been asked and to be involved with a company that cheers it’s members on to bigger and better things.
Viewing other photographers images was truly inspiring, there’s some wonderful work being produced out there by amazing wedding photographers! And some serious competition for future award collections! 😉
Judging the Fearless Awards left me with a re-ignited passion and I’ve entered Collection 47 with renewed vigour, a different viewpoint and updated images.
Finger and toes well and truly crossed for another Fearless Award soon!
All images included in this blog are my Fearless Award winning images, if you’d like to see the full set of award winners from Collection 46, CLICK HERE!
(All opinions expressed in this article are my own, completely subjective and probably different to some of the other amazing judges involved in this collection!)
If you’d like to check out more of my work you can find my portfolios (including some of my Fearless winners!) here.
And if you want to get in touch to see if I’m available for your day (let’s get some more awards in the bag!), drop me a line here!
