This was a presentation I did with my talks in the UK last year.

I am curious about any interest in a talk in May this year on the album design process.
I am looking at two or three locations in the UK ... Let me know if you are interested.

It is still sinking in. Ian Baugh from Queensberry contacted me this evening with this picture and his congratulations from Las Vegas.

This is our trophy!

I want to thank Queensberry and my beautiful wife Jo Grams for all their support.

I also need to thank Virginia and Richard the beautiful bride and groom.

see also this award

Last night we were awarded Wedding Album of the Year at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography's annual award ceremony. It was a convincing win receiving a Gold with Distinction from the judges.

We have won this title every year it has been awarded (3 times).

I see myself as a storyteller.

I wanted to create a book that was like a personal and intimate journal.
I wanted to tell a story in a less than obvious way
I wanted the book to say these things before you even opened it.
I referred to the feel of the album as being similar to your old, comfortably worn couch.
This couch is the one where you sit in the sun and read while listening to the music that moves you. It gives you comfort and has a reality, almost a wisdom, about it that comes from years of being a couch.
I wanted the viewer to feel an honesty and a beauty when they held this amazing book.
I wanted it to suggest a quality that said way more than a bunch of photographs on a page.
This album wanted to be suggestive of a rich reward to anybody who had the privilege to hold it, and the curiosity to look inside
You could argue ‘but its just a book of pictures.’
In one sense you might be right, but the truth is that it is somebody’s dream that we have retold. Dreams are worth more than that.

I was very fortunate that my needs coincided with something that Heather Baugh from Queensberry was working on as part of a series of unique bespoke albums. Queensberry have just gone through a major exercise in redefining themselves.

The images were simple narratives of a day in the life of two beautiful people.

I am so lucky to share that day with people and put it somewhere safe for them to go back to one day.

cover

Wedding album of the year

Weding album of the year opening 4

This is a great achievement for us at Moda Fotografica. But especially for me it is wonderful to get the recognition of my work by my respected peers.

Earlier this Year I won the NZIPP Wedding Album of the Year award for the second year in a row.

First page for wedding album award

As a Wedding Photographer I am also a story teller.   This is what makes an album such a wonderful way to bring the parts of a wedding together.

Wedding Photography in New Zealand is up there with the rest of the world.   I read a wonderful piece about New Zealand by a guy called Kevin Roberts, the author of "Lovemarks".    He spoke of the independent momentum of New Zealand as a small isolated identity.   An environment very well suited to freespirited change, more flexible than countries with larger populations that were affected by the inertia of a resistance to change cause by size and mass.

To this end wedding albums should be independent designs that reflect the subject matter, as well as the personal style of the Photographer.    Not the Photographer's style as seen through the images of somebody else's wedding.

I feel strongly about the poetry and rhythm of an album and try to pace the presentation of images to allow for the natural flow of the story being told.    The same would apply for a portrait album.    The story must be as strong as the photographs.

Sometimes there will be pages with many images, but they will always be near quieter spaces.   There is a flow that feels right.  What I am trying to say is that the album should read well and not be cluttered.

Both years the albums were for brides who were reluctant about photography.   I think this helped me because in each case I was encouraged to look at the entire wedding as a story.   The final albums were made as Queensberry Duos and designed with album design software called Photojunction.

Some photographers say that I shouldn't be allowed to enter next year ... I'm still thinking about it.