Mangalore: Vivek Sequeira Wins Best Wedding Photography Award
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (NM)
Mangalore, Jun 20: Vivek Sequeira of Vivek Studio has bagged the Kodak - Better Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year 2011 Award, which is India’s biggest wedding photography honour. He won the award under `Behind the Scenes' category. The award is conferred in order to identify and celebrate the unsung heroes, who work tirelessly behind the scenes to capture the most crucial moments of the wedding event.
This is Vivek's third national award in a row, and he is the only photographer to have achieved this feat.
Apart from winning in 'Behind the Scenes' category, he was also nominated in 'Bridal Portrait' category this year.
Previous Wins
2009 - Winner in 'Couple Portraiture' category.
2010 - Winner in 'Bridal Portraiture' category
2010 - Overall winner, bagged the prestigious 'Wedding Photographer of the Year 2010' award.
2011 - Winner in 'Behind the Scenes' category.
This year, there were as many as 20,954 entries in six categories - emotions, couple portraiture, bridal portraiture, family and friends, behind the scenes and photo series on a single wedding. Over 300 entries were shortlisted by six of the biggest names in wedding photography.
The winners in each of the categories were:
Vivek Victor Sequeira (Mangalore) - Behind the scenes
S L Anand (Kozhikode) - Bridal portraiture
Arjun Kartha (New Delhi) - Family and friends
Edric Geoge (Margao) - Couple portraiture
Tarun Chawla (New Delhi) - Emotions
Sanika Jahagirdar (Mumbai) - Photo series on a single wedding
For the final face-off, each contestant was given the task of photographing a wedding couple over five days, in nine shooting sessions.
The theme of the face-off was 'Magical Moments with the Wedding Couple' in Malaysia. The finalists took pictures of the couple on beaches, against sunsets, and even during a fabulous island cruise on a beautiful yacht.
An Exciting Finish
After shooting against the beautiful and lush Malaysian backdrops, the contestants had to submit five photographs from each of the nine sessions as well as 20 images that highlighted the couple against the ambience of Malaysia. In Malaysia, the finalists spent photographing the wedding couple in Kuala Lumpur as well as Langkawi. A second part of the face-off involved the finalists creating an aesthetically pleasing photo album using the images they made during the face-off.
Speaking on the occasion, K Madhavan Pillai, editor, Better Photography mentioned how amongst all the genres of photography, none exceeds the strength of wedding photography in its reach across the ages and through generations. He also emphasized on the fact that these photographers make our lives look rich and interesting for our future generations.
The winners of the Kodak - Better Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year 2011 award were felicitated at a grand awards ceremony at the Ballroom of the Westin Garden City hotel, Mumbai in the presence of distinguished guests and eminent of the photographic industry.
All the six finalists received D-Lite lighting kits from Photoquip as well as two photo books from Canvera.com.