2018 Rangefinders 30 Rising Stars

2018 Rangefinders 30 Rising Stars by Los Angeles Wedding Photographer Brandi Potter

First of all, I’m beyond honored to be listed among so many other amazing photographers. It feels almost surreal that my name is listed among so many of the Worlds Best Wedding Photographers, and I almost can’t believe that this is real life right now.

When I first started shooting weddings I set goals for myself, and one of those goals was just to be nominated for Rangefinder. It’s such a huge honor to even receive a nomination out of the thousands and thousands of people out there. To think that someone out there saw something in me and threw my name into the hat, is beyond my comprehension. Getting the nomination itself made me want to throw a party and scream at the sky that maybe, just maybe I had achieved something great.

So when I received the nomination I never expected to win. I never expected to be able to do anything more than congratulate those that did, and I was fine with that. I would have just been happy to lift the winners up and support them, which is probably why I didn’t stress over my submission at all.

I looked through the past submissions one night to see what the winners had done to catch the eyes of the judges and just decided that if nothing else I wanted my gallery to be as cohesive as possible. I wanted it to represent my clients and my work, and that’s it. I didn’t add any super amazing double exposures or really difficult shots. I think comparatively my gallery was a bit on the tamer side than what I normally would post on my social accounts. I honestly just wanted it to tell a story, because after all, thats what we all get paid to do.

For my submission it was important I showed a complete story. I wanted to show different types of lighting situations and moments. I wanted to show the judges that I can shoot in bright light, cloud coverage and no light at all, and that I’m not just decent at portraits. I wanted to show them that I can be inconspicuous and capture moments that were happening without interrupting and staging them for a better angle. I wanted it to reflect my beliefs as a wedding photographer as a whole.

And I did.

I believe I conveyed that weddings, no matter the size, are important. Big weddings. Small Weddings. Weddings in small spaces. Weddings in dark places. Weddings outside and in. Church Weddings. Backyard weddings. Old Historic House weddings. Resort Weddings. And even Elopements.

There’s no wrong way to get married, and if you can photograph a wedding in ANY situation beautifully then that’s what I think makes a Great Wedding Photographer. I’m not saying I don’t struggle, because honestly some of the photos in my submission were harder than I would have liked to take, but it’s so worth it to keep pushing yourself and show that you can do it. I hope that the winners can encourage people to keep shooting ALL types of weddings to better their skills and to make our couples dreams come true. It’s all about them, and the winners wouldn’t be here without them.

Enough of my rambling, here’s my submission in order. Huge thank you to all of my clients for even making this possible, and for pushing me to just be better with each and every wedding.

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