There is something so warmly nostalgic about dialing a person up by their number from memory. Since the advent of cell phones in all their wonder and cleverness, we have had to reserve very little memory for silly wretched phone numbers. Google doesn’t even show them anymore – a simple “Call” icon is what remains. Typing those 10 digits to reach someone is practically legend in its archaic practice. And yet it signifies a deep familiarity with the one to be reached, and perhaps a kind of constant that connects the present to a quieter, untethered time. Today I dialed one of only three numbers I know by heart and have known since I was a child. It was like the day one steps into the field house at the high school to read the names of who has made it, who is on the Varsity team. To see your name there, eyes wide and heart wild in its rhythm is to know. To know all of this play you have been at – the running, the tumbling, the endless practice, the fun, the pain, the hours no one sees – is unto something. You’ve known it all along, that you are heading somewhere, to some end that makes your heart sing. But now everyone knows. This is not just about play – it is about excellence.
To me, ISPWP is one of less than a handful of wedding and portrait organizations that is consistently presenting images that take my breath away. Images that make evident how high the bar can be set when it comes to documenting ordinary people and one of the biggest events of their lives. Of course the images ought to be excellent – reach out and grab your humanity excellent. Over the past few years I have gone through ISPWP’s contest galleries and just sort of floated away in wonderment at the beauty, mystery, and hilarity of life. The work presented pushed me to work harder, expect more, and demand a concentrated focus in making images at weddings. And here we are at present and I am quite undone that in this most recent contest so many of my images have been awarded. Collectively, they gathered up for me the title of Photographer of the Quarter. Oh, how lovely! I am thrilled simply to compete among the incredible talent that represents at ISPWP – among my mentors, friends, and greatly admired colleagues. What is more, to be recognized among them – I am simply overcome with delight. It was with that same shrill voice of my youth that I proclaimed most ardently this afternoon to the familiar, click, “Hello. Kathryn?” “Dad?! Dad. I’ve done it. I made the team. Varsity.” How magnificent to pursue excellence and lay hold of it.
Many, many thanks to all of my clients for inviting me in to your wedding day and the months and weeks that lead up to it. It is a joy to capture you in all your beauty, mystery, and hilarity.
Here are the images that placed. To see all of the remarkable work from this quarter, please take a look at all of the galleries here.
