11th place in Other Vendors

București, Romania

Aurel Virlan

View Profile

Wedding photographer Aurel Virlan, was awarded 11th place for photo 214691 in the Other Vendors category for the WPJA's 2009 Q3.

The WPJA contest judges presented Aurel Virlan, a București, Romania wedding photographer, with this Master Piece Award as recognition for top wedding photojournalism in the industry.

The leading documentary wedding photographers in the world enter their best photos to the Wedding Photojournalist Association's photography competitions. They want their wedding reportage photographs to be evaluated and selected by some of the most notable and respected working picture editors and photojournalists in the news industry (these are not wedding photographers or other WPJA members judging their work). Winning these competitions is a true accomplishment for a wedding photographer.

Photographer's Comment

It was a foggy morning on the beach in front of the hotel where the wedding took place. Detached from the rush of the previous night, I went out with the bride and groom for a photo session. I invited the groom to sit comfortably on the lounge chair. I asked them to throw their shoes on the sand. The bride came up with the idea to lie down directly on the sand. Feeling the potential of the fog that I wanted to take advantage of, I stepped back a little and lay on the sand to have a better perspective and a lower depth of field. I grabbed my 70-200mm objective and chose an open aperture. From the corner of my eye I saw the waitress bringing them a bottle of Champagne, ordered by one of the groom’s friends, who was following the whole scene from the hotel’s window. I felt there was no time for words and just started shooting frame after frame, crawling on the sand so that I could catch the right composition and framing.

Judges

  • This has a nice timeless feel to it. The scene is natural as the bride and groom relax on the beach to sip champagne.

The best and top wedding photographs from this category