Last week I was enjoying a little vacation in rural Maine, when the latest ISPWP awards were announced.  It’s always super nerve-wracking working your way through the awards to see if any of your entries placed in the competition … and with barely a flicker of wifi in your rural Maine cabin it feels like Christmas morning played at 100th of the speed it should be.  For an impatient person (yes I am) it’s both incredibly frustrating and super exciting when you gradually – over the course of several hours – figure out that three of your photos have made the cut!

The first award that popped up was in the ceremony category.  I had entered two photos in that category, but the wifi was so crappy that all I saw was my name listed at first.  The suspension!  It almost killed me!  Turns out that it was from Ada and Jon’s wonderful State Room Boston wedding, and one of my very favorite photos I’ve taken in the space, of bride Ada descending the stairs with Jon and the entire congregation looking up at her.

The next to pop up (slowly emerge) was a winning entry in the decisive moment category.  It was from Nellie and Chris’ beautiful Vermont wedding – which is the next wedding to be blogged, in fact.  Their reception got pretty fun and I threw myself on the ground to capture one of the guests doing “the worm” on the dance floor.  It’s not the prettiest image ever but it’s one that makes me smile every time I look at it.  I really like the expressions of the guests watching him too.

The final image to place did really well – 12th place in the venue or location category.  This is an exceptionally tricky category in which to place because, aside from the talent, the photographers who enter this competition come from all around the world, so there are always some pretty exotic and unusual locations in the mix.  This portrait of Alyssa and Bill at their State Room wedding in Boston is probably one of my best known photos (clients often comment on it when they see my sample albums) and it’s really nice to have it officially recognized and awarded in an international competition.

If you want to feel inspired, check out the other winners of the current ISPWP contest on the site here.