I entered a “Best of 2024 wedding photos” contest (Junebug Weddings), didn’t win anything, and I’m genuinely fine about it. What I loved, though, was the excuse to pull together my favorite images from my 2024 season and talk through them like a little show-and-tell—how I found the frame, what the moment felt like, and what I was thinking when I clicked the shutter. Think of this as my not-so-losers gallery: a recap of the photos that didn’t take home awards, but absolutely matter to me. In this video I walk through a handful of shortlist images one by one—film and digital—sharing the camera/lens setups and film stocks when relevant. I talk about everything from Acros black and white aisle moments, to South Asian weddings on CineStill (including a total risk that paid off), to portraits on the Leica M11 in San Francisco. You’ll also hear me nerd out about composition (tilt-shift lines, Wes Anderson symmetry), motion blur prompts, and the “bubble gum flare” I got from my vintage 35mm Summicron. The biggest takeaway: awards are a funny thing in this industry, and I don’t measure my work by them—these images are favorites because they hold real emotion and real story.