JUDGES: WEDDING

Scott Johnson is an internationally recognised, award-winning photographer based in Essex, U.K, and has photographed weddings all over the globe. Johnson travels the world as a judge, educator, and mentor. He has judged for SWPP and WPPI as well as numerous international competitions including being the only British judge for the 2020 and 2021 Photographic World Cup.

He holds a two Fellowships, with the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) and the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP) in Wedding and Documentary Photography.

In 2018, he was awarded Master Photographer with the SWPP. In 2019, he won the Open and Natural World categories in the SWPP 20x16 print competition, as well as finishing runner-up in the Wedding Classical category having won the category in 2016. He was the only British winner at WPPI in Las Vegas in the 2019 annual awards with first place in the Wedding Contemporary category (Gold distinction) and in 2022 was awarded two Gold and one Gold Distinction awards in the WPPI Annual competition. In 2021, he won Architectural Photographer of the Year at SWPP.

Johnson is a global ambassador for Fundy Software, Studio Ninja, and Graphistudio.

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Cliff Mautner’s photography career spans 38 years. After shooting for 15 years and 6,000 assignments as a photojournalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as shooting for an array of commercial clients ranging from Comcast to Subaru, Mautner launched his wedding photography business. 1,200-plus weddings later, he still brings the same passion and intensity with him to each event.

Mautner is a Nikon Ambassador (USA) and has received recognition from some of the most prestigious organizations in the world. He was named one of the Top 10 wedding photographers in the world by American Photo magazine, received the WPPI Photographer of the Year award, was honoured with the International Photographic Council Leadership medal at the United Nations, presented with the WPPI Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a two-time winner of the Grand Award for Photojournalism in WPPI’s global print competition. 

He is also the founder of the highly acclaimed Lighting and Skillset Bootcamp – a workshop that has drawn students from over 40 countries over the past 15 years, it is dedicated to empowering photographers with the skills needed to develop a signature style of their own. 

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Susan Stripling has been photographing weddings, portraits, and theatre for almost 18 years.

Her work has been published in Inside Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, Modern Bride, Town and Country Weddings, The New York Times, New York Post, Rangerfinder, PDN, and in ads and advertorials for Nikon USA, Epson, and Canon USA.

As a WPPI Grand Master, Stripling has won multiple awards at the prestigious Wedding and Portrait Photographers International 16x20 print competition, including the Grand Award in Wedding Photojournalism and the Grand Award in Weddings. She has been an educator for Photo Plus, WPPI, PPA, Mystic Seminars, Portrait Masters, and Creative Live. Stripling has been named one of the Top 10 wedding photographers in the world by American Photo Magazine.

Stripling is the founder of The Wedding School, which strives to bring real, honest education to wedding photographers worldwide. She is most honoured to be named an Explorer of Light by Canon USA.

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Sara France is an international award-winning photographer based in San Diego with more than 20 years of experience.  She is a renowned and sought-after artist in the world of wedding photography. The only things that rival her passion for image-making are her entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen. Her images are synonymous with luxury and she has grown her business far beyond her individual career. She is the founder of The Copper Collective, an all-female boutique team of talented photographers based in San Diego as well as Shay Studios, which creates a wide range of visual content for businesses, from small brands to large international companies. With an ethos rooted in helping women succeed, France has built an innovative business where professionalism thrives, creativity shines, and the vibrant businesses continue to grow.

France is a Sony Artisan of Imagery and a founding mentor for the Sony Alpha Female program.
Her images were selected by Apple to be shown online and in stores around the world. She’s an accomplished speaker whose engagements allow her to share her passion for capturing the beauty of a couple’s most significant experience and her expertise in entrepreneurship.

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Sanjay Jogia is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning photographer, based in London’s historic Harrow Hill and has been featured as one of the World’s six Best Wedding Photographers by the global Professional Photographer magazine. Jogia is the only Wedding Ambassador for Canon UK representing the EMEA region, as well as a Global Brand Ambassador for X-Rite, Fundy Software, Tether Tools, Loupedeck, Canson Infinity, EIZO Global, Light & Motion, and Spiffy Gear.

Jogia is known for his unconventional creativity in a timeless style and he travels the world as a photographer, educator, mentor, judge, and brand ambassador. His wedding images are a blend of reality and fantasy - a fashion and movie inspired approach using lighting and posing techniques which are balanced with a sensitive portrait-like documentary approach giving his wedding clients the best of both worlds.

He has won over 100 print competition awards and is now privileged to be invited regularly as a Judge and Chair for the largest photography competitions in the world with First Places at both WPPI and SWPP in 2022. Jogia has a Fellowship with the SWPP and BIPP, a WPPI Master, and is also an Associate of The British Photography Awards. Jogia has also represented Team GB in the World Photographic Cup for the past two years with two of his images as Finalists.

Jogia actively represented the British Wedding and Events Industry with his participation in the UK Government Taskforce for Weddings in two of the eight Working Groups to gain government support in the wake of the global pandemic following a year of industry wide neglect.

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British-born Sarah Edmunds specialises in wedding, portrait, and commercial beauty and fashion photography. She has been a self-employed business owner for 29 years during which time she has lived and worked in six cities across three continents. Edmunds is a Fellow of The Societies of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP), Master of Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI), and print competition judge for the UK’s The Societies of Photographers, as well as the US-based WPPI.

Most recently, Edmunds was one of six internationally renowned photographers chosen to judge International Portrait Photographer of the Year and the UK's Professional Photographer of the Year. She has won over 100 silver and gold awards from international competitions, including six 1st place trophies for print competition at WPPI and the Grand Award for the online Creative Division, and four 1st place trophies from The Societies of Wedding and Portrait Photographers. Between 2019 and 2020 she was named Photographer of the Year four times, in Fashion, Avant-Garde, Advertising, and Maternity categories. Her work has been featured online, on billboards, and in print publications around the world, including Professional Photo (front cover), Rangefinder, and Shutter magazine, among others.

Alongside her full-time photography and retouching businesses, Edmunds is a Global Brand Ambassador for Graphistudio, Master Educator for Godox lighting equipment, and passionate Sony user since 2017. Her work is regularly exhibited by Hahnemuhle, for whom she has provided speaking engagements at international photography shows. She also provides private mentoring and teaches photography and advanced retouching techniques online in her popular Facebook group, Love Edits.

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From the islands of the Maldives, to the Serengeti bush, to the rolling hills of the Irish countryside, KT Merry has traversed the globe shooting exclusive destination weddings and fashion editorials. Named a top wedding photographer by Harper's Bazaar, Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue, and BRIDES, KT Merry has photographed weddings and editorials around the world for nearly two decades. Drawing on her decade of experience in fashion and editorial photography, KT’s known for creating natural, ethereal, painterly portraits and capturing fleeting moments that seem to freeze both time and emotion. Her signature style blends her background in fine art and her years of experience assisting some of the world's most celebrated fashion photographers.

Johnson is an official Fujifilm X-Photographer, global ambassador for Fundy Software, Studio Ninja, and Graphistudio.

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There are so many ways to take a photograph, and Joseph Victor Stefanchik, known worldwide as JVS, knows how to do them all. But there are a couple things he knows better than most: how to find the best light and how to capture the most important moments.

Stefanchik’s career as a photographer has stretched from his years as a photojournalist at the Dallas Morning News, to highly technical studio work around the country, to intricate food photography for the most demanding publications. All of these abilities help create the perfect wedding and editorial photographer. Quick enough to see a moment before it’s coming, but methodical enough to capture every detail from start to finish, Joseph blends his perfectionist personality and ability to anticipate to make sure every photograph is taken with a precision not many can duplicate.

Stefanchik was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, but his favourite awards are now his happy clients.

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People often ask Jose Villa how he developed his style, and how he creates images that stand out in today's highly competitive wedding market. A fine art wedding photographer, his approach applies fine art photography to the living, breathing, fast-moving phenomenon that is a wedding. For him, it is all about making something beautiful. Ultimately, his goal is to craft vibrant, energetic, fine art images that are as unique as the people in the photographs. 

Villa’s work has been published in many Magazines around the world, including Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue Bride Australia, Vogue Bride Japan, Elegant Bride, Instyle Weddings, Inside Weddings, BRIDES, Modern Bride, Pacific Weddings, Southern Weddings, Cosmo Bride, PDN, American Photo, and numerous other publications around the world. In 2008, American Photo magazine named Villa one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the world. PDN named him one of the most influential photographers of the decade.

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Sal Cincotta is an international award-winning photographer, educator, author, and the Publisher of Shutter Magazine. He travels the globe documenting his clients’ most cherished life moments, and offers a photographic style that’s been featured in magazines published internationally.

Cincotta is a Canon Explorer of Light, and was named the #1 Wedding Photographer in the World by One Eyeland. He is a Double Master of WPPI and a PPA Photographic Craftsman (Cr.Photog.) and Master of Photography (M.Photog).Profoto also named him a Legend of Lightfor his outstanding skill and contribution to American Photographic Community.

He brings his decade of corporate experience, working for the likes of Procter & Gamble and Microsoft, to the photography business, where he continues to prove himself to be a leader and innovator.

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David and Luke Edmonson are called "Master Photographers to Master Photographers" and with good reason. Together, with over 60+ years as commercial, wedding, and portrait photographers, the Edmonson's signature style is unmistakable.

Recognized by leading institutions globally, both father-and-son are PPA Master Photographers, Craftsman, and multi-Diamond award winners, as well as holding other distinctions.

In WPPI's history, David is the fourth ever recipient to earn the Grand Master of WPPI designation and the only one also to receive their Lifetime Achievement Award. Luke is also a Grand Master of WPPI and one of the co-founders of the industry's first certification for wedding and portrait photographers - WPPI-C. 

For both a father and son to hold these accolades is unique. Still, it's by serving through their roles as Competition Directors, Chairperson, and Judges for the 16 x 20 Annual Print Competition that they find their greatest pleasure.

The Edmonson's are proud to have earned their SWPP Fellowships and honoured to be the only studio in the AIPP's history to win Australia's Overseas Photographer of the Year three years in a row.

As sought-after speakers and print competition judges, their calling is to help others grow beyond craft to rediscover their roots and foundations within art.

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We’re Dylan and Joanna Kitchener and for 10 years we’ve been documenting weddings and elopements in Scotland.

We’re passionate about travelling and meeting new people and it was this passion that led us to find one another in Australia over 10 years ago.

For many years we were both searching for that way to express ourselves creatively and after searching high and low we discovered that photographing people and their stories was what made our hearts race. We’re all about the raw emotion, the honest moments and capturing how it all really felt. For us that’s where it’s at!

Today we live in Edinburgh with our two sons, Bruno and Gustav, working around Scotland, Europe, and abroad.

Some of our recent accolades include being named Europe's Best Wedding Photographer in 2017 and placing in the Top 3 in 2018 and 2019, being included in Rangefinder Magazine’s Top 30 Wedding Photographers, and making it on the list in 2020 of Pro Photo magazine’s Top 50 British Wedding Photographers.

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Sanjay Jogia is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning photographer who has been featured as one of the World’s 6 Best Wedding Photographers by Professional Photographer Magazine. Jogia is the only Wedding Ambassador for Canon UK representing the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa ) region, as well as a Global Brand Ambassador for X-Rite, Fundy Software, Tether Tools, Loupedeck, Canson Infinity, EIZO Global, Spiffy Gear, and Light & Motion.  

Jogia has won over 100 print competition awards and is now regularly invited to judge some of the largest photography competitions in the world, including WPPI in Las Vegas, SWPP in London, SM Fotografi in Sweden, and for the British Photography Awards as an Associate. He has proudly represented Team GB in the World Photographic Cup for the past two years with two of his images named as finalists.

He is a Fellow of the SWPP and the BIPP and is a Master of the WPPI.

Known for his unconventional creativity in a timeless style, Jogia travels the world as a photographer, educator, mentor, judge, and brand and industry ambassador. His wedding images are a blend of reality and fantasy – a fashion and movie inspired approach using beauty lighting and posing techniques which are balanced with a sensitive, observant, and almost portrait-like documentary approach.

Together, Jogia and his wife, Roshni, established Eye Jogia Photography – a luxury destination wedding photography studio based in Harrow on the Hill, UK.

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Cinzia Bruschini is a destination wedding and lifestyle photographer based in London. Over the past decade, Bruschini and her studio artists have been shooting weddings around the globe; from the enchanting Greek islands to the rolling hills of Italy’s countryside, and numerous places in between.

She was raised in the quiet Italian countryside, nurturing a love for family, food, and the feeling togetherness. After a degree in law, she transitioned to a more creative outlet in high fashion, working in accessories production and then as the marketing lead for an Italian shoe designer. Naturally drawn to objects of style, Bruschini had an early fascination with the dynamic art of editorial photography and weddings. 

Bruschini has been recognized as one of the top wedding photographers in the world by Harper’s Bazaar and Brides magazine (USA), and her work has appeared in Vogue (Latin America, Italia, and Australia), Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country USA, Brides magazine (USA), and Tatler magazine, among others.

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Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, India Earl has been a photographer for 12 years, specializing in telling couples’ stories honestly and fully. She loves to capture these love stories for what they are, not what they "should" be in front of a camera. Over the past six years, she also focused on being an educator in the photography industry, empowering creatives to build businesses and work they are proud of, that creates abundance and passion in all they do.

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Jennifer Moher is a deep feeler, dreamer, and do-er and pours her soul into everything she does. Based in Toronto, Ontario, she has spent the past 13 years documenting over 600 weddings and still feels the same excitement and curiosity for her career as she did in her first year.

Her images are cinematic, emotional, and timeless and she has won numerous awards over the years for her work, including Rangefinder magazine’s Rising Stars of Wedding Photography, Junebug Weddings Best of the Best, and SLR Lounge named her one of the Top 100 wedding photographers in North America.

For the past seven years, Jennifer has been teaching others how to develop confidence in their craft through finding their own voice in the industry. She believes that education and learning from different perspectives is one of the most valuable opportunities we can give ourselves as photographers and humans.

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