Let’s Talk Awards!!!
This is my very first THIS IS REPORTAGE Award!!! and I could not be happier right now. It’s 12.05 after midnight on October 3rd and after a year of entering I’m finally sitting here as a this is reportage winner.
Nothing staged, Nothing posed. That is TIR's moto. For those of you who don’t know, TIR was founded by the very talented Cornwall wedding photographer Alan Law. Who in the jist of it created the website for a place where documentary wedding photographers could showcase their work outside of the then portrait obsessed instagram (now reel obsessed). Roll on 2024 and Tir now has 1000s of members and averages about 10-11k images entered per round of awards with only 50-60 images chosen. Giving you a less than 1% chance of winning. Every round which is every two months is drenched in the immense talent that presides in the documentary wedding photographer located the length and breadth of the world not just Ireland and the uk. As a documentary wedding photographer I thought I knew what documentary photography was until I entered the world of TIR, boy was I wrong (embarrassed emoji). The level was beyond anything I had known and for a year I entered images in a bit of a hope and wing it kinda vibe!! and each round for a year I came up empty handed. The awards would be released, my heart would sink and I’d look through the collection and realise why I didn’t win. My images just weren’t good enough!!! and I knew this deep down. I was playing it too safe.
12 months later and I entered the above image. The veil shot from Jason and Kates awesome little wedding in The Tankard pub just outside of Tralee, Kerry in the south of Ireland. I knew I had something with this one and the feedback from my peers suggested the same but that didn’t guarantee anything. I had to be brave enough to put myself out there over and over again.
Beep comes the notification for a new email and I open it at the desk. This is reportage….. you’ve won an award!!!!!
What the actual F**k!!!! My head is gone and I’m dancing in my chair like a kid who was just given cake for breakfast!!! I did it I finally did it!!!
And if you’re sitting there thinking it’s only one award whats the big deal. And you’d be entitled to that opinion cos you’re right it is only one award but it’s what the award means which is so much more important to me. It means growth, It means the hard work is paying off, it means my name is etched in documentary wedding photography folklore but so much more than that it means I’m doing something right!!! That the style of photography I chose is right for me an right for the couples who trust me to capture their day through my eyes how I see the world!!!
Like most (I assume) I have a list of goals on a board in my bedroom and winning a TiR was on the list for this year and I’m so thankful I achieved that goal!!! 2024 has been a yer I believe I’m on my way to being the photographer I know I am and this isn’t the end WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED!!!!
click here to see all the amazing photos from collection 41 . Thank you to everyone for all the message and congratulations I’m blown away by it all. Andy x
