Overseas Awards from SWPP & BPPA

The Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers in conjunction with the British Professional Photographers Association awarded Don Harper and Ines Harper at The Edge Photography accolades in the following categories:

Overseas Bridal Portraiture Category (May)
Overseas Nature and Environment Category (May)
Overseas Wedding Category (May)
Overseas Pet Category (May)
Overseas Landscape (June)
Overseas Glamour (September)
Overseas Portraits (October)

Wedding Album (November)

These awards were awarded during Monthly 2006 Competitions and will be published in issues of the BPPA "Professional Imagemaker" Journal this year and in 2007.

These winning entries will go on to competition at the annual SWPP/BPPA meeting in January 2007.

Wedding with Cliff Mautner in Wilmington, DE

I had the privilege of working with Philadelphia photographer Cliff Mautner in Wilmington Delaware. The wedding ceremony was in the Brandywine Valley at the Dupont estate; Winterthur Museum and Gardens.

The Winterthur Gardens and museum are a great place to visit throughout the year. Stroll through the gardens and learn a bit about the Dupont dynasty. There is always some interesting event at the garden worth seeing from the Yule display to antique and car shows.

This special wedding was held by the reflecting pool near the library. Visit the Winterthur website for more info.

http://www.winterthur.org/

The Dupont Hotel is located in downtown Wilmington and was the location for the both bridal preparations and the reception. The hotel is a winner of the Conde Nast Awards and the rooms have been the site for a number of fashion photo-shoots.

Cliff Mautner is a fellow member of DWF (Digital Wedding Forum) and will be teaching a four-day workshop in Chicago with several other DWF mentors. This workshop is titled the DWF University and runs August 14th-17th. Check out the DWF website for more info.
http://www.digitalweddingforum.com/ubbthreads/

It was fun to watch Cliff working with natural light and something increasingly rare;35mm film. We had beautiful light from the east spilling in the windows of the bridal suite for preparations and after the ceremony the setting sun illuminated a hillside with tall grass where Cliff photographed both the bride and groom in silhouette and warm but harsh light.

I love to see other artists at work in all kinds of lighting conditions.

Hunt Country Weddings in Virginia

Hunt Country Celebrations

Interested in a Hunt Country wedding in Virginia Horse Country? Don Harper is the membership chairman for a group of wedding and event specialists dedicated to promoting successful weddings in the Virginia Hunt Country including the Warrenton, Leesburg area in Loudoun and Fauquir Counties.

Ask us about this group of wedding professionals who work well together to make your event really special.

WPPI Photography Judging

This post is about how images are judged at WPPI (Wedding Portrait Photographers International).
People want to know how judging is done and how transparent the process is to provide a credible score and award.

Prior to the beginning of the WPPI convention two days are allocated for judging of 16x20 prints and wedding albums. Prints are displayed against a neutral background with consistent lighting that's balanced for both color and intensity. Albums entries are projected with a digital video projector from jpeg files provided by the entrant.

Each catagory of judging has a panel of 5 judges with a moderator. Each image is displayed on a turnstyle by a judging assistant and scored by the judges via a computer keyboard system. Another judging assistant can lock in the scores once all of the judges have entered their scores. Any judge can challange the result and than discussion begins with the low and high scoring judges stating their case for why they feel their score is appropriate. If there is a descrepency in judging of more than 10 points between high and low than there is an automatic challenge and rescore.

Each judge may recuse themselves when they see a possible conflict because of input they've had on the image creation or for other reasons. A backup judge than takes their place for that particular image scoring.
Scoring can be tedious and for that reason, one judge rotates out about every 20-30 minutes.

About the Judges:

Each judge is selected by the WPPI leadership with input from the moderators and other experienced judges.
They have a proven track record of not only producing winning images, but also an ability to look at the work of other photographers and photographic styles and judge it for impact, professional printing, color balance, etc.

Judging is of course subjective by nature and influenced by HOT styles and techniques that change over time, but I think there is a remarkable repeatablity of scoring for prints. As one would expect the most extrodinary images will create the most variablity on initial examination in particular images that push the judges comfort zone.

More Awards at WPPI, Las Vegas 2006

Ines's sister visited us from Germany and the two of them flew out to Las Vegas to watch the WPPI judging.
We entered several albums and 5 prints. I was photographing a wedding that Saturday, but flew out on Sunday morning to join them. We had a productive event including Accolades of Excellence for one of our January weddings and also for 4 of our 16x20 prints.
Each year the quality of work has been progressively better, and this year the judges were instructed to raise the quality required to prove superior quality.
On Monday the ladies went for a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon while I attended the WPPI workshops.
In deference to our guest we headed out to Utah to tour Zion & Bryce National Parks. Mid week we than headed over to Death Valley and had the luck to photograph a rain and dust storm. The temperatures were low with a high of 98 but than we headed up to Mammoth Lakes in the California Sierra Nevada's.
The snow drifts were over the windows of our condo and it snowed that night.

It was a whirlwind trip with a chance to visit with friends from around the country and join our mentor and friend David Williams for dinner. David is from Australia, but makes frequent trips to the US to provide professional photography workshops. We were able to capture some awards, and capture some new images in the desert. We talked with Gerald & Edie Hardage about some of our upcoming workshops. You should visit their website to view some great images. We met Gerald & Edie at one of Rick Ferro's workshops 3 years ago.

I will provide more details about the jury process for judging professional photographs and wedding albums.

WPPI is Wedding & Portrait Photographers International. There trade journal is Rangefinder Magazine.

Photography Workshops and Classes at The Edge

The Edge Photography Studio

The Fine Art Nude in Photography March 25th 2006 Saturday workshop includes six hours of hands on instruction in our Northern Virginia Leesburg studio. This workshop is about shadow and light- Curves and landscapes- texture and form - posing - building a photograph not just taking a snapshot. If you want to explore this exciting area of photography reserve your spot in our workshop. The fee for this workshop is $345.00 that includes modeling fees and lunch. Class size limited to 6 students.

Bill Reckert Photography Critique -10 Weeks of Education and Fun beginning March 27th, 2006. Feedback is critical to many of us involved in photography, and we have many requests from our students for this workshop.The Edge is initiating monthly critiquing sessions at our studio in Northern Virginia. The weekly sessions will be conducted each Monday from 7:00pm until 8:45pm or later (if needed). Attendance will be limited to 16 students wishing to show work. Prints or digital files are acceptable forms of presentation. Projection will be available. The Edge Photography offers this challenging 10-week program to both film and digital photographers of all skill levels. If you are interested in better composition; if you enjoy photography and would like to be challenged this is a workshop you should not miss. There will be a new surprise assignment each week. See Bill’s credentials on the “About Us” menu item. Workshop tuition is only $195.00, that’s just $19.50 for both an educational and entertaining evening.

Introduction to Studio Lighting Workshop February 2006 Weekend of February 18th & 19th. This popular workshop was sold out again! Ask about our next workshop later in 2006.We have a state of the art studio where you can learn about lighting techniques that apply to home, studio and location assignments. In February, we offered a much-requested hands-on workshop in Studio lighting for both the hobbyist and pro. This workshop gives you a total of 10 hours of instruction. Study with a professional photographer and explore different lighting techniques and their applications, proper metering, color temperature, etc. Class size is limited to 10 students and involves hands on work. Each student should bring a film or digital camera with a pc or hot shoe connection to utilize our studio strobes. Please ask about film requirements when registering. Modeling fees and releases are included in the tuition. The tuition is only $245.00 per student. Call to reserve your spot in our next fun-filled class at The Edge before we are sold out.

'Almost Alone with David A Williams' Completed Workshop on November 14th, 15th, and 16th, 2005. Ask about our next 2006 session.
THREE DAYS OF PRACTICAL PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC ENHANCEMENT & EDUCATION FOR WEDDING AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS.
That "Learning should be fun" is a fundamental part of David's presentation. Come and share an experience that will make you smile and think! Topics to be covered include...(and, no - I don't know what we're doing and precisely when - whaddya wanna know for anyway?)
• Detail Miniatures - story-telling images, and portraits of environments.
• Existing Light as the primary light source
• Supplementary light sources "Love that mixed lighting"
• Doing more with less - learning to think differently.
• Creating a homage portrait - ( how I make my Master Works portraits)
• What makes Aussie photographers different?
• Aussie weddings & my approaches.
• Aussie children & my approaches.
• Single light portraiture
• The horizontal and the using depth - using negative space.
• Visual communication.
• Immediacy and expression.
• Art and design influences - identifying the component construction of a style.
• Fine-quality inkjet printing & Digital hand printing.
• Digital practices for weddings - sorting & proofing, freehand page layouts.
• Digital tools you really need - e.g. use and creation of actions.
Cost for Three Days is $550.00
35mm Photography Taught By Bill Reckert Winter 2006
Contact us for our next Class in 2006
Bill Reckert is a popular photography instructor in the Northern Virginia area. Bill will be teaching a 10 week class in Photography concentrating on the tools and concepts of interest to both 35mm and digital photographers.
This 1 1/2 hour class will meet each Monday for 10 weeks at 7:00PM
Cost is $185.00 per student. Call to Join Bill in this fun-filled class at The Edge before we are sold out.

Annual Photoshop for Photographers Winter 2007 Class
Starting January 9th.
In January, we are offering a repeat of our popular hands-on class in Adobe Photoshop for Photographers. Some of the techniques we explore are applicable to Adobe Elements as well.
This class is scheduled two nights a week for three weeks and gives you a total of 15 hours of instruction. Study with a professional photographer to learn the Photoshop tools most useful in photography including file types, selections, effective dodging and burning, cropping and resizing, sharpening techniques, color correction, printing, working with layers, touch-up techniques, selective depth of field, powerful black and white or duotone conversions, and other topics of class interest.
Class begins on January 10th at 7:00PM, and meets each Tuesday and Thursday for three weeks. Class size is limited to 10 students and involves hands on work in the studio digital lab. We have a computer workstation for each participant, and class handouts allow you to focus on the exercises.
Cost is only $395.00 per student. Call to reserve your spot in this fun-filled class at The Edge before we are sold out.

Call us at (703) 669-1000 or (703) 431-7009 for any questions or to enroll.
The Edge Photography is located at 312 E. Market St. Suite I, Leesburg, Va. 20176

Learn about Editorial Style Wedding Photography

What is the best style of wedding photography, classical or photojournalistic?
For most brides neither meets their needs. What they really want is a merging of the two styles. This is editorial photography and it does address that need. Contemporary brides want their wedding album to tell a story. They expect the photographer to capture three things. The first is emotion, the joy, the tears, the sharing of love reflected in the faces of the bridal couple, family and friends. The second is the fashion present in the details of the wedding day, details in the bridal gown, the flowers, the cake, the event venues, and the light illuminating their day. The third is the art of the new coffee table wedding albums. The new albums are works of art personalized to the couple’s special day and worthy of publication. These albums are displayed for years in the family home and shared with family and friends. This is in contrast to the older collection of prints that collect dust on the top of the closet shelf.
Editorial wedding photography is easy to recognize.
Think of a top bridal or fashion magazine without the advertising text. You will see a story that includes more than a ceremony and reception. Frequently there will be an integration of the engagement, rehearsal dinner, gown fitting and the elaborate preparations for the special event. The camaraderie of the groom with his buddies and family. This covers everything from a surfing session on the wedding morning to a meditation or prayer session between the groom and his father. The bride’s preparation including hair styling, makeup session and dressing of the bride and her best friends and family while sharing stories and the excitement of the upcoming bonding of two families. Fashion details may be reflected in the lingerie, shoes, jewelry and of course the gown. Family concern and excitement are reflected in the photography. Pictures at the ceremony not only reflect the pageantry, but also the emotion of not only the bride and groom but also family and friends as they respond to the shared love.
Photographs should capture the unique qualities of the wedding venue and the play of light either inside or outside. Formal pictures are a small part of the editorial style and sometimes done in part before the ceremony. Other formals may be done prior to the reception where the fun kicks into high gear. Here is the opportunity to capture the family and friends having a good time. The emphasis is on the activities and fun and less on static table shots. The departure of the bridal couple signals a new beginning and in some cases photography of the beginning of the honeymoon. Something as simple as a tuxedo jacket and gown hanging on a chair can close the story.
A good editorial wedding album brings all of these elements together in an uncluttered artistic style that will remind the bride of her day in a manner worthy of Vogue or Elle magazine. Every story is different and every album should also reflect that individually.
Editorial photography meets the simultaneous needs of the hip young set and the pictures the grand parents can also treasure. Editorial style works for both weddings that are elegant in their simplicity or elaborate in size and venue. It works indoors or outdoors and it works for both young couples and more mature couples merging families. The children become an integral part of the story. Good editorial photography requires two photographers working simultaneously sometimes independently and other times as a choreographed team. A graphic artist designs the coffee table album and artistic slide shows. There is frequently a mix of color, black/white and other artistic toning of images in the album. DVD slide shows with music can portray movement and action and in some cases are replacing videography
When selecting your photographer look for emotion, look for fashion, look for art in the photography and presentation. When you’ve found these elements you’ve found the photographer who has “IT”.

The Edge Photography Studio is now blogging

Well this is Don Harper's first post and we are neophytes at this so please have patience.
I'm a professional photographer based in Northern Virginia with a studio in Leesburg Virginia.

We have a website showcasing our work at http://www.theEdgePhotography.com.

You can also see a more electic view of our images at http://www.photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=470295.

We photograph a large number of weddings in the mid-atlantic area with a unique style that's a combination of emotion, fashion and art. My wife Ines has a unique artistic perspective when it comes to designing unique coffee-table style albums.

We also teach photography workshops and classes at our studio or unique locations in the Virginia Hunt Country.