The July/August issue of American Photo magazine is hitting the stands, and in it you’ll find a piece I wrote on the winners of the magazine’s first annual “Look of Love” wedding photography competition, sponsored in conjunction with Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazine and the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) organization. The competition’s winners submitted shots in ten categories, and I had the pleasure of speaking with all of them about their work—as well as talking with the wedding-photography luminaries who judged the contest.

If the term wedding photography brings to mind a row of formally posed victims doing their best to grin for the duration, allow me to insist that your perception of the genre is due for an update. In fact, contemporary wedding photography encompasses multiple genres of imagery, from photojournalism to environmental portraiture to editorial.

Not only have photographers from a wide variety of backgrounds entered the field in recent years, but their clients have developed an increasing desire to find in their wedding albums the style, artistry, and insight they see in images shot for media, advertising, and fine art purposes. The results show in the technical mastery, variety, and aesthetic quality of the best wedding photography today.  If you’re feeling skeptical, consider that the shot that won the “Look of Love” grand prize was taken underwater.  Enough said.

You can check out the American Photo article to see the winning images from the “Look of Love” competition, and to read a few insights from my conversations with the people who created and selected them. My congratulations go out to all of the winners.

Check out my profile of photographer Jennifer Emerling in the May/June issue of American Photo magazine. She’s a young photographer working on several interesting long-term documentary projects in the American West. Naturally, you can also see more of her work on her Web site.