Canadian photographer Jeff Chang has won the title of International Photographer of the Year Awards, which are now in their third year. His wide-angle shot of a couple in Whistler, Canada, celebrating has won him over $9,000 in prizes.
Jeff works with wife Cat as a destination wedding photographer in Vancouver, Canada. The couple met over 13 years ago in a fine arts class at the University of British Columbia where their mutual love of the creative arts and photography sparked their relationship. Five years later they created The Apartment Photography, named after the place where they meet every couple, work and edit and was their first official home together.
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With multiple category winners, many pictured below, the total prize fund for the competition was over $21,000. Full details of the competition, and all the winners can be seen at iwpoty.com.
"Pia and Julian brought together their families from around the world to celebrate their love in Whistler, BC. Their multi day celebration was the perfect combination of their two backgrounds – bringing so many different cultural aspects together to create a weekend that was so unique and special to them. The crazy weather patterns (sunshine, rain and blustery winds!) didn’t stop these from from having the best time ever – they had smiles painted on their faces all weekend long!" Jeff Chang, Canada
"The photo was taken in the evening before Chris’ and Natalie’s big day. An additional photoshoot right before the wedding day itself might not be the brightest idea. We had no other option as the guys had only arrived in Tallinn just before the wedding.… The shot was taken by my drone from outside the hotel, in order to look into the hotel from “outside-in”. I was standing on the street and giving instructions to the couple via the mobile. I got very lucky with the mirror-like surface of the windows of the hotel, which reflected the lights of the night." Xenia Shabanova, Estonia
"This is only my third picture of fireworks at a wedding, in my three-year career as wedding photographer. We waited until dark and looked for a place without any lights in the background. I asked the guests to stand around the pair of newlyweds, Martyna & Wojtek, with the fireworks lit surrounding them to fill the frame as best as possible… I made sure each person only held one sparkler so that I didn’t overexpose the frame. I took the photo from a low height (I was kneeling), with a full-frame camera and a 35mm prime lens." Rafał Donica, Poland
When the couple booked me, they requested one image for their wedding day in the Namib desert. An image with the night sky of Namibia and the two of them, ideally one with the venue in the background. While setting up for the requested image during the evening reception we noticed that the moon is visible on the horizon and that another shot might work just as well or even better than the one planned. We adjusted, asked the couple to stand perfectly still for 10 seconds and shot the whole scene with only ambient light from the venue." Ruan Redelinghuys, South Africa
"So it was at a beautiful venue here in Derbyshire – an old riding school. It’s gorgeous but it is however just a big square box inside so I had to be a little more creative. During dinner, I noticed the windows and saw that it was casting a nice highlight of light on the floor. I knew that if I stood Lauren in the light, in her dress, she’d look amazing! I LOVE the dusty light highlighting her." Ben Appleby, HBA Photography, United Kingdom
"In this wedding we had some extra time in the guests photoshoot part. So I came up with idea to create some creative group photo. The light was perfect for silhouettes so I asked all the guests to make a circle, then I lifted up a drone and made some corrections to make it look perfectly round – to make it look like a ring which is a symbol of endless love." Marcis Baltskars, Latvia
"For this shot, I had my off camera flash and at the exact moment I took this shot, the light of the DJ illuminated the couple." Gaelle Le Berre, Australia
"This photo was taken outside the doors of the Reception room, during the Hora. I had noticed how well the doors and light fixtures framed the room earlier, and I wanted to try and do something with that at some point. The hora was the perfect opportunity!" Victoria Sprung, United States
"This bride didn’t hesitate when I encouraged them to shake up this oversized bottle of bubbly. I should have packed a poncho and I smelt like champagne the rest of the day! Any regrets though? None!" Angela Ruscheinski, Canada
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