CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: First
Photographer: Brooke Mayo, brookemayo.com
Location: Corolla, North Carolina
Judges’ Comments: The scowl and rigid stance of the boy, who’s forced to wear dress-up clothes, speak volumes. Mayo’s eye-level angle sympathizes with the child, who’s clutching a leaf—a makeshift toy perhaps—and whose jacket hangs ominously nearby.
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CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: Second
Photographer: Brooke Mayo, brookemayo.com
Location: North Carolina
Judges’ Comments: Photographers wait at great lengths for these types of moments. This photo has good lighting that emphasizes and supports the image and not the style of lighting. There is also a great contrast between the richness of the pattern against such a simple child.
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CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: Third
Photographer: Kevin Quinlan, kqwedphoto.com
Location: Maryland
Judges’ Comments: One can imagine the boy having been told to dance with the little girl, and now his eyes so surely express his amusement, or maybe frustration, as he does his duty. We can't see the girl's face, but the tilt of her neck suggests that she more than literally looks up to her older dance partner.
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CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: Fourth
Photographer: Heather Hopkins, dolphindancephotography.com
Location: Virginia
Judges’ Comments: An eloquent image of a flower girl's terror. The slight tilt to the frame emphasizes her anxiety, as does the inclusion of the sympathetic adult in the background, which would have been lost in a tighter shot.
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CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: Fifth
Photographer: Nicole Wickens, nicolewickens.com
Location: Oregon
Judges’ Comments: There were numerous images of children sleeping at weddings, but this one rose above the others with good composition and wonderful lighting that accentuated the difficult nature of their predicament.
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CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: Sixth
Photographer: Dominique Cabrelli, studiocabrelli.com
Location: France
Judges’ Comments: Not only are the girls sucking their thumbs, they have removed their gloves to do so. I love that the littlest girl in the background is the only one not sucking her thumb, yet she is the one you would expect to.
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CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: Seventh
Photographer: Marie Labbancz, artoflove.com
Location: New Jersey
Judges’ Comments: The straightforward view of kids asleep captures the innocence of children. Intelligent composition and the sweep of the couch complement the pose of absolute relaxation and the haphazard drape of the kids.
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CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: Eighth
Photographer: Merri Cyr, merriweddings.moonfruit.com
Location: New York
Judges’ Comments: The little girl juxtaposed in an adult moment creates a very funny photo.
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CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: Ninth
Photographer: Mel Barlow, melbarlowdocumentary.com
Location: Southern California
Judges’ Comments: The girl has made the ceremony her playground. She seems to be the only person around and is having so much fun. The photographer used a great shutter speed to freeze the action of the moment.
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CATEGORY: KIDS
Place: Tenth
Photographer: Deborah Elizabeth Watt, elizabeth-and-co.com
Location: Washington
Judges’ Comments: Could there be a more perfect scene of children at a wedding? In a nod to the famous image by renowned photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, the photographer has successfully transcended childhood play into a fairy-tale land.
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