We’re delighted to announce our judges for Round One of the Keeping it Real Awards 2023 – now open for submissions!

For the first time ever we have opened the judging and we are using photographers who are not previous PKIR winners (although two are). We wanted to keep pushing the high standards of the awards and believe opening the judging pool will help. I am very excited and very grateful to all the judges who agreed to give up their time to help with this round. I personally love each of these photographers and believe they will bring a lot to the judging for this round.

Our super affordable memberships start from as little as £100 per year, and if you choose our Lifetime Membership you’ll never pay a penny more than the price listed today.

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we have some wonderful partners who are offering amazing prizes!!!

Enter now to not only be in with a chance of winning a much coveted Keeping it Real award, but also the amazing prizes below!

1st place -£350 credit for any QT Albums product
+ 12 months All-App-Bundle from Pixellu, including the wonderful SmartAlbums & SmartSlides + 3 jobs edited by Oodio up to 600 images value $540

2nd place – £200 credit for any QT Albums product + 2 jobs edited by Oodio up to 600 images value $360

3rd place – £100 credit for any QT Albums product + 1 job edited by Oodio up to 600 images value $180

A HUGE thank you to QT Albums, Pixellu & Oodio for kindly donating such amazing prizes!!!

Deadline for submissions is Monday 6th February at 11:59pm (UK time).

The best wedding photographers are KEEPING IT REAL – Click HERE to sign up now!

Tyler Wirken

Tyler doesn’t consider himself as just a wedding and family photographer but more a family historian.
Starting out as a photojournalist, he discovered a passion for documentary photography early in his career and never looked back.
After over 20 years in the wedding and family business, Tyler found himself questioning a lot of conventional ideas about weddings and family portraits. That’s when he asked himself– why am I doing this? 
He believes those why questions help him create more meaningful photographs and tell deeper stories. That’s why he’s on a mission to help other photographers ask those same tough questions.
Teaching photographers – pushing them to answer their own “why” questions – is a passion that started over 18 years ago at The Foundation Workshop and led Tyler to teach at various workshops worldwide including Creative Live. He now spends most of his time as a personal mentor to photographers worldwide as part of his Wirkshop Series.
Voted one of the “Top Ten Wedding Photographers in the World” by American Photo in 2013, Tyler’s best “accolades” are actually his wife and two boys, who have his heart and remind him why he’s dedicated to documenting family history. That’s why he’s often overheard saying, “At my funeral, if you all say I was a good photographer, then I’ve failed miserably at life.”
You can check out Tyler’s wedding and family work at http://www.wirkenphoto.com/
Tyler’s corporate storytelling work at www.kcstorytellers.com
For all things educational including mentor programs and downloadable resources on Tyler’s “Wirkshops” visit-  https://wirkshopseries.teachable.com
Additionally Tyler is now the director of the world renowned Foundation Workshops where he got his start in teaching. For more info on Foundation Workshops visit- https://www.foundationworkshops.com/

Web / Insta / Facebook

Chelsea Cannar

Hey, I’m Chelsea. A tall-ish ginger woman with a big smile and a love of all things creative.

My background is in graphic design. I worked in various agency roles and as a freelancer before I started my journey into weddings as a second shooter for a local photographer (pretty much by accident). In my designer role, I struggled with written information and maintaining interest in a project after the initial buzz of generating new ideas wore off. With weddings, I discovered this sort of treasure hunt element that made work fun and varied for how my mind works. It brought together all the favourite aspects of my design job; creative problem-solving, fast-paced idea generation, and playing with compositions. I’ve been hooked ever since.

My approach to photographing weddings is documentary in style. I don’t direct things, but I also don’t try to pretend I’m invisible. I can’t fight against my naturally outgoing personality type. I truly enjoy being IN the wedding as an unseen character, narrating but not directing. This approach shows through in my images, or so I’m told. People often comment that when they look at them, they feel like they were there, right inside the moment. I want to create images that feel lived in and can transport anyone looking at them to the moment.

Web / Insta

Andrew Billington

My professional career has been between theatre and photography. Telling stories has been at the heart of everything I’ve done.

I started photographing weddings in 2006 and coming from a documentary photography background I’ve always worked in that way. 

I now photograph both weddings and theatre (with a little editorial on the side) and find that’s a great balance…. And to keep my creative side ticking over I started an MA in Contemporary Pantomime Practice last year, just for fun!

It’s a great honour to be asked back to judge these awards. Great documentary images are some of the hardest to achieve in the maelstrom of a wedding day and I always enjoy seeing the great images on PKIR.

Marianne Chua 

Marianne Chua is a London based wedding photographer who has spent over a decade capturing weddings in a fun and honest style.

Her work has won many awards including Fearless Photographers, TIR and she was Rangefinder Magazines 30 Rising Stars as well as an official Fujifilm X-Photographer until 2022. She loves colour, big emotions and symmetry and aims to get the most joy out of every couple she works with.

Web / Insta / Facebook

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