Bay photographer wins top award after one season

Tauranga woman Sarah Beaufoy is New Zealand's Wedding Photographer of the Year.
The announcement was made at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographer's (NZIPP) Gala Awards dinner in Tauranga last night.
It was another award for Ms Beaufoy, who featured in yesterday's Bay of Plenty Times after she won two of only three golds presented in the weddings category of the 2008 Epson / NZIPP Iris Awards.
"It was awesome to be able to just get up there and be from the Bay and win that category," said an elated Ms Beaufoy today.
"This means everything. This is something you always dream of."
After shooting just one season of weddings, the win puts Ms Beaufoy among the best photographers in the country.
"The people I was meeting last night were really the rock stars of photography," she said.
Ms Beaufoy studied at the Otago School of Art before studying to be a teacher at the Auckland College of Education. She taught at both Auckland and Tauranga Girls' College before starting her own photography business in Tauranga two and half years ago.
Ms Beaufoy said wedding photography offered an adrenalin rush, and the challenge of trying to capture the full range of emotions.
"It's as much the little things that happen on that day as the big things," she said.
"I believe in images being simple but using meaningful objects and locations which are special and intimate to the subjects."
She said it was important to always strive for better in her photography, not to to get comfortable but produce fresh ideas for each wedding.
"I feel like what I've done has paid off and I'm getting a lot personal satisfaction," she said.
NZIPP president Chris Parker said Ms Beaufoy's images had that ``extra little x-factor' and showed a lot of quite intense emotion. He said her work captured those special little moments that would live in the minds of a bride and groom.
Always one of the more competitive categories in the awards, Ms Beaufoy's entry was successful over last year's winner Steve Sharp who was runner up, along with New Plymouth photographer Tony Carter.
"We expect all the images to at least be technically correct, but the award winning images stand out from the rest because they are creative, evocative, sometimes emotional, and always thought provoking," said head judge Mike Langford.
Ms Beaufoy said Mr Sharp told her the Wedding Photographer of the Year title had ``done wonders' for his business.
The 2008 Epson/NZIPP Iris Photographer of the Year title was awarded to Queenstown photographer Jackie Ranken.