The first category to be announced was the commercial photography section. We were thrilled to be announced as Winner of this category.

Commercial Photographer of the Year

Commercial photographer sponsored by Calumet

The next award category was Pictorial Photographer. Pictorial is a strange category. It covers landscapes, illustrative, composites and fantasy. Our male Angel was a digital composite. This category was sponsored by Orchid Bridal Studios and Neil Anderson, owner of Orchid was there to present the awards. Neil also was responsible for the table decorations on the night which fitted in with the vegas theme. The table centrepieces were made from cards, money and coins and were very novel. We were awarded 2nd Runner up in this category and the winner was Marie Allen.

Pictorial Photography Awards Image 2nd Runner Up

Neil Anderson of Orchid Bridal, Annette Burke of 4Ever Photos, Katie Larmour presents Pictorial Awards

The next award category was Fashion Photographer. We loved the image of Abdul that got to the final of this category. It was a take on the 1980′s Athena posters which every 35-50 year old woman had hanging on their wall as teenagers. I had high hopes for this image so was a little disappointed when it was placed as 2nd Runner up. Had there been a woman on the judging panel, it would definitely have scored higher. The first runner up in this category was Ciaran O’Neill and the winner was Stephanie Williamson. This category was sponsored by Murray and Co Jewellers and Mike Roper one of the judges of the event was on hand to present the awards.

PPANI Fashion Award Category

Mike Roper, Annette Burke of 4Ever Photos and Katie Larmour presenting awards for Fashion Photographer section

Then came the Under 5 Photographer of the Year Award. We had one of our little fairy day images in this category. Ella our little fairy has been coming into the studio since she was born so it was lovely to see her make it to the finals. This category was sponsored by Fairytale Chair Covers who had decorated the room for the event. Unfortunately Barbara could not make it on the night, so Stuart Cooper who was the speaker during the day presented the award. We were placed as 1st Runner up in this category and the winner was Dermot Murphy with his newborn image.

Stuart Cooper, Annette Burke of 4Ever Photos and Katie Larmour presenting the awards for Under 5 Portrait Photographer Section

Under 5 Portrait Photographer 1st Runner Up Picture and Award

The next category was “Family Portrait Photographer” This category was sponsored by Loxley Colour Labs and Mr Glenn Norwood who was one of the judges on the night came on stage to present the awards. We were thrilled to be called as the Winners of Northern Ireland Family Portrait Photographer of the year.

Glenn Norwood – Judge, Annette Burke 4ever Photos and Katie Larmour present the award for NI Family Portrait Photographer of the Year

Family Portrait Photographer of the Year 2013

The next category was Open portrait category which unfortunately we did not have an image that reached the finals in this section. This section was won by Simon O’Neill with his image of a boxer.

Then it came to the wedding categories. These are the most popular categories. There is much higher competition for the wedding awards than any other award, so we were delighted to have reached the finals in all 4 wedding categories. The first wedding category to be announced was the reportage wedding photographer of the year. This category is for the best documentary style image taken on a real life wedding day. The category was sponsored by Mc Quillans menswear and the award was presented by Brendan Byrne who is an honorary member of the association. We were placed as 1st runner up in this category with the winning image going to Peter Crymble.

Reportage Wedding Photographer Award Entry

Brendan Byrne Honorary Member, Annette Burke 4Ever Photos and Katie Larmour presents the awards for Reportage Wedding Photographer

The second of the wedding categories was Contemporary Wedding Photograpeher of the Year. We had an image of Seana McErleane and Liam Hitchen which was taken in Hugh McCanns in Newcastle. The category was sponsored by Graphistudio and Chris Woods was there on the night to present the awards to the category finalist. We were ectastic to be announced as the winner of the NI Contemporary Wedding Photographer of the Year.

Contemporary Wedding Photographer of the Year 2013.

Chris Woods of Graphistudio, Annette Burke of 4Ever Photos and Katie Larmour with the winning award for Contemporary Wedding Photographer of the Year 2013

Then came the Classical Wedding Photographer of the Year. As many of my friends and family know, this is a category I struggle with. I was so pleased to have an image reach the finals this year. So when I was not called as 2nd runner up or first runner up, I thought it was great to get to the finals in this section. You can imagine my surprise when katie Larmour called out – and the winner is Annette Burke. It was the one I was most excited about receiving. The image was taken in Cabra Castle on 23rd December 2012 at the wedding of Conrad and Catherina. This category was sponsored by “I do” Wedding cars and Keith Radcliffe came to the stage to present the award.

Annette Burke with The Radcliffes from I Do Wedding Cars presenting award for NI Classical Wedding Photographer of the year 2013

Classical Wedding Photographer of the Year trophy and image

Then it came to the overall Category Winners
First was the overall portrait award which went to Dermott Murphy. Then came the overall Creative Photographer of the year. This category was sponsored by The Linen Mill ..and we were chuffed to win with our Commercial image.

Finally the one we were all waiting for – Overall Wedding Photographer of the Year which was sponsored by Getting Married In Northern Ireland Magazine and Dawn Hamilton came onto the stage to announce that the winner was … Annette Burke. Well you can imagine the thrills and shrills that came from our table.

Tracey and Dawn from Getting Married in NI magazine presents Annette Burke with Overall Wedding Photographer of the year 2013

This year there was a new award introduced called the NI Style Award. Photographic judges judge the images on lighting, composition, expression and it is all very technical. This year the committee of the PPANI invited some non photographer, but people who worked with professional photographers and images to choose the best image from the night that they considered worthy of an overall style award. The judges on this panel were Jason and Brenda Shankey from Jason Shankey Grooming and Dawn Hamilton of Red Dot Publications. The image chosen to win the style award was that of the very handsome Abdul in the Athena type shot. As I said earlier, if girls had been involved it would have been placed higher…and it was. It won the style award.

Katie Larmour, Jason Shankey, Annette Burke, Dawn Hamilton

Annette Burke, Katie Larmour, Sean Burke

All the girlies

newsletter

The Classical Wedding Section section is all about classical lighting, classical posing and right down to the detail of the position of the fingers, hands, feet etc. Our style of shooting a wedding is much more reportage and contemporary and we have done better in these areas over the year. I am just so grateful that we got one through to this section. Below is the selection of images we put forward for this section of the competition.

Dunadry Hotel Wedding Couple

Tolymore Forest Park Entrance

Merchant Hotel Belfast

Titanic Building Belfast

And the image that was chosen to go through to the finals of the PPANI competition in the Classical Wedding section is this image taken in Cabra Castle in Kingscourt.

Cabra Castle Wedding

Shoes and rings

Wedding in the Carrickdale Hotel.

Belfast Titanice WEdding

Fast Love in Galgorm Manor

And Finally the image that has reached the finals of the “Contemporary Wedding Photographer of the Year 2013″ category is shown below. Fingers and toes crossed that is placed well. This image was taken in August 2012 of Seana and Liam Hitchen who were married in Hugh McCanns in Newcastle, Co. Down.

Vintage Themed Wedding

Attention to Detail on Wedding Days

Awards are only one of the reasons why you should book a photographer.
This is a time of the year that I love and dread at the same time.
To enter a photographic competition a photographer has to put their work up for critique by some of the best in the industry. It is a double edged sword. On one side the critique of your work allows you to benchmark your photography against others in the industry and more importantly to find out how you can improve technically with lighting, composition and emotion. Sometimes judges can be harsh and it takes a strong character to shake off critique and feel worthy of continuing with your passion. The most difficult task is to go back the following year and put another set of images into the competition.
As I said there is another side to the sword – the images that work and reach the finals or even better win a category – That is the time for celebration. It is not a celebration of “beating” others but rather a celebration that you have listened, learned and have created technically good images.

When you are looking for a photographer, what the awards show you is that your photographer knows the technical and emotional art of capturing your wedding.

More importantly, YOU must love the images and YOU must like the people who are going to take your images. All the staff at 4Ever Photos should make you feel special and welcomed. Come in for a chat if you are looking to book a wedding or portrait session.

Last year 2012 we had a great year for awards

PPANI (Professional Photographers Association of Northern Ireland)
2012 Contemporary Wedding Photographer of the Year
2012 Storybook Wedding Photographer of the Year
2012 Under 5 Baby Photographer of the Year
2012 Fashion Photographer of the Year

GMINI Readers Awards
2012 Best Wedding Photographer in Northern Ireland

So lets see if we can reach the finals in March.
Categories up for Grabs this year
PPANI 2013 Classical Wedding Photographer
PPANI 2013 Contemporary Wedding Photographer
PPANI 2013 Reportage Wedding Photographer
PPANI 2013 Under 5′s Portrait Photographer
PPANI 2013 Family Portrait Photographer
PPANI 2013 Open Portrait Photographer
PPANI 2013 Pictorial Photographer
PPANI 2013 Fashion Photographer
PPANI 2013 Commercial Photographer
PPANI 2013 Wedding Album Competition for best wedding album

Fingers and toes crosses
Watch this space next week. I will put up all the images we entered into the competition.

Frances and Jon have a beautiful son Jonathon who we have photographed since he was born in our cherub baby portraits. So it was lovely to be able to photograph this great couple as we have got to know them.

Autumn themed floral bouquet

October is such a colourful time of year. These autumn colours were brought into the wedding in the flowers and the chair sashes.

Bridal shoes

boys boys boys

Here come the girls

Grooms parents

Brides mum

The stunning guests including the lovely Toni

Mum walks bride down the aisle

Kissing Cousins Baby Jonathon is shocked by the ladies kissing him

Exchanging rings

Happy couple and baby son Jonathon

Stunning bride in dress from Perfect Day Bridal Shop in Lurgan

Hidden Garden

The McKenna Girls

Happy couple with the couples parents

Table favours

Autumn bride and groom

Vintage baby fairy portrait

20 places available.
Book early

Bride with veil

Groom getting ready

Boys at the pub in Donegal

Donegal fiels with bride and groom

Lighting cancles

Bride with her parents

Walking down the aisle

Groom

Biddy Barnes Bride and Groom

happy fun couple

hugging pageboy

Hugging guests

Now to Harveys Point. Whao. Noel Cunningham is a true professional. This is a 5 star hotel and Noel and his team ensure 5 star service in every detail of the wedding. As photographers, we are in all the hotel venues around the country. Some of the hotels forget that we are potential customers or that alot of our family and friends would come to us for recommendations for holidays or when they are getting married.. The guys at Harveys Point are aware that they are in the hospitality industry and treat everyone including photographers and videographers with like royalty. Anyone going for a trip to Donegal should seriously consider a weekend in the hotel.

I arrived with Katrina early in the morning to capture her getting ready shots. She did not have a room. It was a suite, with four poster bed, lounging area, bar room, changing room, enormous bathroom and basically a square footage of a typical detatched home.

Harveys point bridemaids

Grooms family shot

Sparkling Dessert

Watching the speeches