The right click

“I have been a regular reader of the Better Photography magazine and that is where I got to know about the contest. The entries started in October last year and I was declared a winner on March 19,” says Zingade,who works as a marriage photographer along with his brother and runs a commercial photography studio on Sinhagad Road.

With over 8,000 entries received from across the country,this was the first ever wedding photography competition organised by Kodak in India. From 8,000,six photographers were short listed and declared winners in various categories such as emotions,couple portraits,man behind the scenes,family and friends and so on. “I was decred the winner in the category of emotions,” says Zingade adding,“Out of these six,the final winner needed to be selected and for that,we were invited at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai on March 14. There,we were given situations and made to click various moments of models who were acting as couples. 10 photographs were then short listed and I was declared the best wedding photographer of the year 2009.”

Having been associated with photography for the past 15 years,the 30-year-old says,“Marriage is one of the happiest occasions in peoples’ lives. But despite that,marriage photographers do not get the respect they deserve. All these years,while capturing the photographs of brides and grooms,I always hoped to one day change this perception towards marriage photographers. What got me the award in the emotions category was the spark I could capture in the groom’s eyes in one of the photographs. It is the same spark that will become light giving the much needed identity to countless marriage photographers in the country,” he concludes.