Wow, how do we even start writing this? If you’re following us you already know we’re not the ones to be so confident about our work. There are times when after a wedding you’ll find both of us in the car chatting about who fucked it up even more this time. Sure, we do know it’s not bad, but is it as good as we want it to be? Are we making our clients happy with what we do? We better are. Cause that’s our main task (besides keeping ourselves happy of course).

So, what are we trying to say? And doing this without sounding arrogant or self-centered or whatsoever? Ok, let’s first introduce this thing called “Rangefinder’s 30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography”:

Every year more than 200 amazing and very talented photographers from around the world are nominated by invitation only to take part in this contest / competition / however you wanna call it. Only 30 will be selected as Rangefinder’s 30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography. (Rangefinder is the official magazine of WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographer International), likely the most important association in the world for wedding photographers.)

Throughout the last years some of our friends and photographers we really admire because of their body of work have been named Rising Stars. Something we would have never expected ourselves to even be nominated for. When we got the email that we have been nominated for this we couldn’t believe it, especially as we’ve nominated by the editor in chief personally! WTF?!?!?! Seriously? Anyway, a few weeks later we finally had to think about which 30 images to send to the judges and believe us, this was the hardest thing to do and while writing this, I, Björn, remember the night before the deadline was about to be running out. I found myself sitting in front of the computer, having culled down to 40 or 50 something images, not knowing which ones are the keepers and already having decided not to send anything at all as I was sure we would never have a chance anyway. I started chatting to our friend Yannick Zurflueh and his girlfriend Martina about it, Yannick was in the same position of having been nominated. They helped us selecting images, telling us which ones they’d keep. By that time our friend Fer Juaristi had also just gotten back to me on my call for help and with the help of these three, I was finally able to send the entry off and on its way.

The day the results were about to be sent out was coming up, and while Jessy was at home, I was in Barcelona to document a cycling race. Ping! There was the sound of the inbox on my phone and I saw the mail was coming from Rangefinder. Would I dare to open the mail? I did, but only after thinking about the what’s and if’s for several minutes. WE MADE IT! We would be one of the 30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography 2017. Can’t believe it (even today I, or I think we, can’t.)

I tried to call Jessy but she wasn’t answering the phone so I sent her voice messages which I will just attach here, sorry non-German speakers.

All this happened back in the end of August and we were not allowed to tell anyone. So, really sorry to those who asked us about it, we had to blatantly lie to you. But now we’re allowed to scream it out loud: We f’in made it!

BUT…

We couldn’t have made it without all our couples trusting us so much, allowing us in on their wedding days, to hang out and meet all the important people in their lives and wanting us not only to capture it, but also to be part of it. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

We also need and want to thank all the people in our lives who believe in us and what we do, our families, partners, friends. This job takes it tolls when it comes to private life sometimes, so we really appreciate all your love and patience and support. Of course we also want to thank the staff of Rangefinder Magazine for honoring our work. We would have never dreamed of this, to be honest. We also want to take the time and congratulate all other 29 photographers / photographer teams who made it this year, especially our friends Danilo and Sharon and the wonderful Naomi Van der Kraan.

Here’s the link to the official article released by Rangefinder Magazine: https://www.rangefinderonline.com/news-features/industry-news/rf-proudly-presents-the-30-rising-stars-of-wedding-photography-2017/

And here’s a link to the full gallery to see who else won and the images they submitted: https://rangefinder.shootproof.com/gallery/30risingstars2017/home

Oh and of course thank you for taking your time and reading this.

This is for the hearts still beating.

Hafenliebe 2018 Bottle4250

Appreciating the time you’ve spent here…

… and if you’re inspired, I’m ready to listen, to click, to capture. Let’s craft the narrative of your love, together.

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