Buffalo Photographer Earns 1st Place and 3 Merits at 2018 Shutterfest Image Competition
If this Buffalo Photographer has been quiet for awhile, it’s because I was out of town for a bit. I had the opportunity to attend Shutterfest in St. Louis, MO again this year. Shutterfest is an event like no other. There are speakers galore… concept shoots going on long into the night… models everywhere & lots of networking. My friend & long time mentor, Sal Cincotta, has run this event for the past 5 years & it just keeps getting bigger & better. If you’re a photographer, you should totally check it out. The Shutterfest crew is like family & they’re so happy to help one another out.
Part of the Shutterfest experience is the image competition. People ask me all of the time why I compete. I do it for several reasons. The feedback you get from judges is invaluable. I’m not perfect; no one is. If I can learn a way to better my images or be more creative, it only helps my clients & my everyday work. I compete in several competitions each year for the feedback. For those of you who don’t know about image competition, a score of 80 or above is “deserving of a merit”. 76-79 is considered average. I strive for at least an 80 with every image I capture in my Buffalo newborn photo sessions, Springville senior photo sessions & Western New York weddings. My clients are important to me & creating quality imagery is paramount. I want my clients to look back at their images every day & love them.
Merited Images:
This year the following images merited. There is a story behind every image & I’ll share a little bit of each one with you.
“Woodwind”
This is Sarah. She is a class of 2018 West Valley High School graduating senior. She plays the flute & I wanted to do something creative. “Woodwind” is the perfect title for Sarah’s blowing hair, music & her woodwind instrument. It was a pleasure creating this image for her & I look forward to creating fun images for the class of 2019 Senior Photos I’ll begin capturing in the next few months.
“A REAL Doll”
This image was a true pleasure to create. You see, I captured their parent’s wedding several years ago… Then, 4 years ago, I captured Morgan’s newborn & then her milestone photos. I love watching my EKP families grow & was so happy when their beautiful mama contacted me & said they were expecting Kate. Kate was a dream baby to work with & I’m so blessed to have captured so many milestones for this wonderful family.
“Return to Sender”
This image was also a ton of fun to create. Are you wondering why Carson is dressed as a UPS worker? His Dad works for UPS so we wanted to tie that in to make something extra special for him! I did change the UPS logo to OPS to avoid any copyright issues for image competition, but you get the idea… My goal when I photograph every family is to tell a story… lots of times 2-4 year old siblings are rather unsure of their new sibling & I recall wanting my own mother to return my brother when he appeared one day too. Haha. Carson was actually quite sweet to Benson & I’m forever grateful to this family for trusting me to capture their most prized treasures.
The biggest surprise with this image is it won FIRST PLACE in the Children’s Category! It was such an honor to earn this award & be featured with the best of the best. I’m very grateful for my clients & to my mentors.
To see all of the winners, click here http://shutterfest.com/image-competition-winners-gallery/
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