Top UK Wedding Photographer – WPJA

Top UK Wedding Photographer // WPJA

I’ve been a member of the WPJA, the leading worldwide directory for wedding photojournalists, for 9 years now, almost to the day; I was accepted as a member on 20th May 2010. In that time, I have won 56 awards, which makes me the most highly awarded UK photographer in the WPJA, not just at the time of writing, but ever, which I thought deserved a post of its own! UPDATE – as of May 2022, I am still the most awarded UK photographer on WPJA, with 128 awards in total.

As well as the 56 awards for documentary wedding photography, I have won 12 awards from their sister site, The Artistic Guild of Wedding Photojournalists, and 4 Global Titles; Top 50 Photographer in the World 2018, Top 50 Photographer in the World 2017, Top 25 Photographer in the World 2016 and Top 50 Photographer in the World (Artistic Guild) 2016.

Below are all 56 images that won awards for documentary wedding photography, shown chronologically,  starting with the most recent, which was taken at Shahrzad & Stefan’s wedding in January of this year, going right back to the very first image that won an award, the boys getting ready at Caroline and Troy’s wedding in July 2012.

Humourous, Award Winning Photography

Over the years, the WPJA awards system and the frequency of the contests have changed. In previous years, there have been 4 contests per year with separate categories.For example Getting Ready, Ceremony, Humour, Details, Symmetry, Reception etc. Each category would have 20 awards, so to be awarded 1st Place in any category was a major achievement. I personally preferred this system. Receiving an award felt like a real honour, as there were just 20 awards for any given category, for all photographers worldwide, and it made you think hard about which category to enter an image in, as some images fit into multiple categories. Receiving a First Place, which I did a few times, felt amazing!  Now there are more contests per year, with no categories and the award system is no longer 1st to 20th Place, but Gold Medallions, Blue Medallions, Purple Medallions and Green Medallions, gold being the best.

Documenting without Directing

The images below are in order (most recent awards first) and where the judges gave comments, as occasionally happened in previous years, I have added them. I absolutely love the comment left by a judge for the image of the little girl in the aisle at Dee & David’s wedding; one of my favourite images ever and one that won me a 1st Place in the Kids (Being Kids) category in the 2016 Q4 contest.

A big thanks to the WPJA for having me as a member for the past 9 years, to the judges – all notable and respected working newspaper photojournalists and picture editors in the news industry- for awarding me these 56 awards which make the Top UK Wedding Photographer in the WPJA, and lastly, of course, to my brilliant couples and their guests for providing the moments that made these pictures.

Judge’s Comments “Solidly done. Love the light and colour – it’s not purely about the mode of transportation, that’s simply one element of the most successful images in this category”

Judge’s Comments “Juxtaposition can be such a powerful tool in still photography. The expression of this little girl against all the people doing their own thing – funny and sensitive photo”

Judge’s Comments “If ever there was a face of prolonged, undeniable childhood angst, this would be it. This poor child can’t stand the view, can’t stand the sound, heck – can’t even stand at all. For her, there is no moment but her own. Everything else is a mind-numbing blur of an eternal red carpet. What a delight it is to view this classic moment masterfully executed.”

Judge’s Comments “Off balance. Good moment, nicely seen.”

Read more on my awards with the WPJA here