Justin Oh Wedding Photography

They say the first is always the best. This certainly held true for me this morning when I checked my email from Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI). I won my first award for my first submission ever!!!

Winning a WPPI award has been a major goal for me since I got into the wedding photography business. As a newcomer to the industry and only a year (almost exactly) since I officially launched my services, I am absolutely ecstatic to say the least!

For those not familiar with WPPI and its competitions, it is often referred to as the Oscars or Grammys of wedding photography! WPPI’s print competitions are perhaps the most highly coveted photography competitions and certainly so in the wedding industry.

I have to admit I was both very nervous and excited before the results were sent out. It was a mad rush job as I decided to give it a go less than a week before the due date. There wasn’t enough time to further touch up the selected photos as I had to send them off to the lab to print and also the matting workmanship was sub par. I was very worried about this and thought going ahead with the submission might have been a mistake… so much so I actually had a bad dream this morning that I didn’t win anything! Apparently judging took longer than expected this time around with over 1900 prints submitted from around the world – which obviously didn’t help with the nerves

On to the image which won me the Accolade of Excellence (Honorable Mention) award:)

Title: Band of Brothers

Category: Wedding Photojournalism

It really must be a day for Firsts as this shot was actually taken at the first wedding I shot!  Thank you Grace & Keiichi for trusting me to photograph your very special day, especially when I had no prior experience whatsoever then!  Thank you for the opportunity and ongoing support. Who knows what I’d be doing now if I didn’t have that opportunity to shoot your wedding?

Also, I have to thank all my friends, both old and new ones! Thanks for all the support, encouragement, inspiration and more importantly, your friendship. You guys know who you are Not to forget, I have to thank Alex for being my loyal friend and assistant since I started this adventure.  It has been one hell of a ride man!

There are so many things on my mind now but I’ll just end this post before it gets too long with the most important one. Having just spent a week with my family when they flew in to Melbourne last week, I’m really missing them a lot after I returned to Sydney. Prior to this it has been over a year since I last I saw them and 1 1/2 years since I last went back to Malaysia. I owe everything to my family and they are the reason where I am today. This first win is dedicated to them! Love you guys!