The Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) is a pretty exclusive organization made up of photographers who have the same kind of photography style as Jes and I do. Members from all over the world participate in the WPJA’s quarterly photo contests, and the level of competition is quite high.

I entered one contest last year and didn’t do so hot. After some feedback from other photographers, it was a no brainer as to why my images didn’t place. This year, I entered several images into various categories for the second quarter contest. I was pretty confident, especially with all my sweet feedback in mind, though was bummed on all accounts to find out that when the results were posted on Wednesday, RTP was NO WHERE to be found… Or so I thought.

Totally bummed out and thinking, “Oh well, life goes on” and then of course humming LeAnn Rimes’ pop tune, “Life Goes On” I went on with life.  The next morning (Thursday), I was up bright and early for a shoot. Running way behind schedule, I rolled out of bed and quickly checked my email to see if I had any notes from any deployed military people ;).  Much to my surpise, I checked my mail to find this out-of-the-norm Google alert:

Stunned and  still VERY groggy, I clicked the link which took me to this screen that nearly took my breath away.  Especially when I saw I placed 12th out of 20! And in the cake cutting category?!  I don’t even remember entering that one… which is exactly why I missed it the day before.

….At least I thought I placed twelfth. Extremely excitedly, I emailed those closest to me and told them the awesome news.  “Twelfth place,” “prestigious organization,” and “big deal” were among some of the phrases I used in my email.  On yeah, and alot of these !! and these :) :).   After hitting the send button, I eagerly did an Apple + Tab to switch back to the winning screen, only to find out that, in my fresh-out-of-bed state of mind, I actually read the line incorrectly.  I placed LAST, twentieth, not twelfth!  haha  I had a good laugh with my cat who was enjoying all the ruckus and quickly sent a retraction.  Honestly, it was no big deal, I was absolutely elated to have even placed in a WPJA contest.  That’s a B.D.  (Big deal, that is. :D)

Wish me luck again as I enter the Q3 contest next month! Definitely make sure you check out WPJA.com and see the other categories and  a m a z i n g  winning images!