Our
Approach to Wedding Photography is Unique:
The
Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) is an organization of photojournalists
and wedding photographers from around the world that photograph weddings in a
candid, documentary style. We prefer to work in an unobtrusive manner capturing
the real moments as they happen. It is our goal to tell the story of your wedding
day, not dictate it for you.
Our
Selection Process for Wedding Photographers:
The
WPJA is a highly screened, critical organization. Less than 5% of wedding photographers
qualify for membership. Membership is based not only on web site and image quality,
but also on:
1.
Technical/Creative Qualities:
Members
must have exceptional skill, originality and creativity in their work. Frequent
membership denial is based on:
• Indoor images with poor on-camera lighting
and direct flash shadows.
• Images that appear to be shot at F8 with
a 50mm lens. A good use of a variety of lenses will score high during the review
process.
• Many subjects in portfolios cropped at the knees with huge
amounts of high noon, cloudless sky overhead. Members are encouraged to crop work
to improve image content.
• Many hand tinted or digitally manipulated
images.
• Redundant images or sequence shots with minimal change in content.
2.
Factual Information:
Members
must make factual and knowledgeable statements where quoted. Frequent membership
denial is based on:
•
Bold statements on web sites, i.e, "digital is better than film".
• Misleading or confusing information on wedding photojournalism, using the
word 'photojournalism' alone to describe 'wedding photography' or identification
as a photojournalist but lacking work history or images to prove it.
•
Description of style or approach that doesn’t match work displayed on a web
site.
3. Web Site Quality:
Members
must reflect a clean web site design with easy navigation. Sites must load with
all images and links functioning. A photographer’s web site is an extension
of their creativity and reflects on the WPJA members as a whole.
4.
Image Quality:
Members
must reflect good image quality on their web site. Do you need to optimize your
images in Photoshop for the web? We try to look past poor image quality to see
the moment. Frequent membership denial is based on:
• Entire portfolios
that are flat (lack black in the images).
• Images with large pixels.
The
Wedding Photojournalist Association is setting the standard in the wedding photography
industry when it comes to Wedding Photojournalism.
