I won't win the VOWS this year :(

With the announcement of the VOWS awards nominees having been made since my last blog I thought I’d take the opportunity to say a big Thank You to all the newly weds whose weddings I had the pleasure of photographing this year and who gave me a vote. In the photography category to reach the final shortlist of eight each company required 15 votes and sadly I just missed out with 25 (scratches head confusededly).

If you read my blog regularly you will know that I have been thrilled to pick up a remarkable number of awards for my photography so far this year. As the year progressed and I photographed more and more weddings I received some lovely Thank You cards and gifts from my newly married couples. Although I have never actively promoted the VOWS many of these couples mentioned in their cards that they had voted for me in the VOWS awards and when the number reached 16 I began to think it might be a good idea to write to some of my other couples asking if they would consider giving me a vote too. So at the beginning of September (closing date for VOWS votes was Sept 20th) I did this and nine couples replied that they would indeed send in their votes for me.

I was rather chuffed about this. I target 30-35 weddings a year (as most of my couples usually add on a Storybook album to their packages this allows me to dedicate enough time for their album design as well as to fit in some portrait sessions and magazine assignments, etc) so I thought 25 votes was a pretty good percentage. However, when the short listed finalists were announced I was not among them (breaks out the violin, lol). To be honest I wasn’t unduly concerned as I’m an Edinburgh wedding photographer who runs a small family company and I do not employ other photographers so obviously I don’t photograph as many weddings as the larger companies. But I was interested to know how my votes compared against the finalists so I emailed the VOWS organisers for the stats and figures. They kindly sent back the following information...

In the photography category they received a total of 1,059 entries. For a company to reach the eight short listed places as finalists they needed 15 votes. Philip Hawkins Photography fell short having only 11 votes. Pooo! (Please note the organisers didn't actually say 'Pooo', that was me!)

I certainly cannot see 16 couples, totally unprompted, sending me Thank You cards which say they have voted for me making it up. I hadn't even mentioned anything about the VOWS to them. And even if none of the other 9 remembered to vote if my maths is right I'm still above the 15. Oh, well, I guess next year I’ll have to ask the counting officers to check under their desks and chairs, lol.

Although it does sound rather confusing (btw, I hope you spotted this weeks new word earlier) I didn’t dwell on it for long as the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers results for the September monthly contest were published beginning of October and I managed to pick up no fewer than four awards in the categories of 'Weddings Contemporary', 'Weddings Photojournalism', 'Weddings Traditional' and 'Bridal Portraiture'. All from the same wedding! So I was a very happy photographer! (Grrr, I meant to say wedding photographer Edinburgh as it’s good for my SEO, lol) So the four images are the ones you see here.

It’s a big day for lots of people tomorrow (Friday) especially Diane and Stephen who were the Radio Forth winners of the Win Your Wedding 2011 contest. I’m charging up all the batteries and stuff as we speak in readiness to do their photography for their Norton House Hotel wedding in the afternoon. I’m then at Ocean Terminal shopping centre Saturday and Sunday for the Debenhams Wedding Weekend followed by the Edinburgh wedding fair at the Hilton Hotel the next again weekend.

I am already receiving great interest in our first photography course in Edinburgh for 2012 (details are now up on my website). Date is January 7th at the Edinburgh Hilton Hotel. It’s an all day course Getting to grips with digital photography. So if you know anyone who has perhaps recently taken up an interest in photography or maybe receives a new digital camera as a Christmas present or anyone who simply wants to understand their camera more or improve their photography level please pass on the details to them. Places are limited so its first come first served. We also have several other classes and courses coming up too so you may like to bookmark the link.

Once again may I say thanks to those of you for all the Thank You cards, emails and presents. I’ve popped a selection of them up on the Testimonials page on my website and I’ll also be using others in various promotional and marketing materials. I know that last week I was talking about news and rumours so I’ll finish up today with the rumour that one of my weddings will be a feature article in the next issue of Best Scottish Weddings magazine and another one will feature in Hitched Real Life Weddings!