I submitted my portfolio to the international  Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) for the consideration of my WPJA membership about one month ago. WPJA is a professional organization composed of photojournalists and wedding photographers from around the world. What sets their members apart in the industry is their candid, documentary approach – a distinctly artistic vision toward wedding photography.

I am grad that I received notification from WPJA today that my application is accepted and I become one of the two photographers in Hong Kong to be awarded the membership!

According to WPJA, only less than 5% of photographers applying the membership is qualified, as the WPJA upholds strict guidelines for membership. All members are expected to adhere to the following requirements:

1. Maintain a professional web site (own URL).
2. Have more than 25 wedding sample images on their web site
3. Have less than 20% of the wedding images on member web sites fall into the following combined categories:

a. Portrait (photographer has control of the posed situation)
b. Set-Up (subjects faking a moment or an action prompted by the photographer)
c. Camera Aware (example: embraced couples dancing looking at the camera)
d. Details (flowers, cakes, rings, tables, gowns, shoes)
e. Manipulated Images (pictures heavily altered with software: hand tinting, soft-focus effects)

The above requirements demostrates the photographer ‘s ability as a true wedding photojournalist.