Los Angeles children and baby photographer Jennifer Wilson Photography, modern lifestyle kids portraits » photography blog of Jennifer Wilson, Los Angeles children and baby photographer

wow. just wow. i was SO honored this past week to be a part of the state convention in pasadena – and SO SO SO excited to have received such amazing awards! I was very fortunate this year to have one of my photographs chosen for THREE different awards! I was awarded (insert drum roll here…)

*Best of Show* (ummmm- YAY!)

*Kodak Gallery Award* (given to only 5 prints in the entire state – AND I will be eligible to win a Kodak Gallery Elite award in Nashville at the national convention!!!)

and lastly

*Children’s Photographer of the Year*!!! (for the second time – I won in 2006 also!) It was fun to have my husband and children there – and even more amazing to have Alex’s (my award-winning subject!) family there. Her mom told me that while they were walking around the print exhibit, people kept recognizing Alex and coming up to her telling her how beautiful she is -she felt like a movie star!! Isn’t that the BEST? That makes my heart happy :) Awards and recognition are great, but hearing that story??? THAT is why I am a photographer….

…and of course, being a photographer, one would ASSUME I would have a CAMERA at the convention!?!? well…. you would be wrong :) i had to make do with the iPhone to take this first shot of my photo hanging!! many thanks to Art Suwansang of Wedding 64 in Santa Barbara for the photo of me with my kiddos! (Jake loved holding the crystal Kodak Gallery award because he said it looks like a “Star Wars trophy”!)

One last thing…

The convention festivities were made a little more challenging by the fact that I am still hobbling around on crutches! I am ALMOST ready to go back to work – I can’t wait to start shooting again! I have been putting my *down time* to good use, though…so STAY TUNED for some exciting WORKSHOP announcements in the near future!!

tagged: California Children’s Photographer, award-winning photographer, children’s photography workshop, children’s photography seminar, baby photography workshop, Kodak Gallery Award winning photographer, Best of Show, photographer of the year

I won!!!!

So, what did I win, you ask? (do you think it is weird that i always fill in *your* part of the conversation?)

I won (insert drum roll here please……..)

Children’s Photographer of the Year 2009!!!

This is my second time in four years to win this title!! I can’t believe it – I was *thisclose* to not even entering – I got a ticket on the drive down, my kids were monsters and I *almost* blew it off….WHEW…I am so glad I didn’t! I watched the competition judging all day and was on pins and needles until the end – they have changed the rules this year and they bring out the 5 highest scoring prints in each category….so we had to wait until the bitter end to find out the winners….

In the end, it came down to my print and the print of my good friend the lovely Amy Fink. I would have been excited for her if she had won (but bummed for me!) and I know she felt the same way……but the judges deliberated and deliberated and then decided to award TWO titles this year! It couldn’t have turned out better! WE were so excited for each other :) The awards will be handed out at the state convention in Pasadena on March 22nd….and I just *might* have more exciting news to share then also…..

Meanwhile – please meet the stunningly beautiful Miss Alex….the *instant* I took this photo I turned to her mom and said “i think that might be the most gorgeous photo I have ever taken”…..so nice to have others agree with me! Her eyes are just so amazingly beautiful – if *eyes are the windows to the soul* then she surely has one fantastic soul! Alex has alopecia – a condition where you lose your hair – but doesn’t she have the cutest head ever??!!

Alex’s photo scored an 87! In PPA competitions, anything over an 80 is considered *worthy of a merit* – i had two other photos that also merited – both scored an 81, and both happen to be my own children, so that was kind of cool! (i am displaying these images digitally here – but *in real life* they were all matted with fine art mattes and looked lovely – the mattes really added to the presentation, so you’ll have to use your imagination a little bit!)

You’ve probably seen this one before, but if not, here is Jake….

…and this is my little bug-bug, otherwise known as Alabama Grace…

filed under: california children’s photographer, california kids photographer, california baby photographer, modern lifestyle photography, kids lifestyle photography,