My image is top left.

At the end of March I wrote about my inclusion as a finalist in the PDN Top Knots Wedding contest for 2010. My photo was selected for the Ceremonies category and is reproduced above in the PDN Top Knots Magazine, April 2010 issue.

At the start of April the winners’ of each category where announced. While I didn’t take the grand prize for my category, I am still pretty happy that I made the top selects for such a well respected photo contest.

All the finalist images were published in the PDN Top Knots Magazine Issue and in the online Top Knots 2010 Winners Gallery, at the start of April.

Needless to say, there is some really beautiful imagery in the gallery. Well worth a look if you have some time.

To see me wedding portfolio, please visit My Wedding Photographer Ltd.

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The photo in question was one from a wedding I photographed for the wonderful Katie and Tim up at Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai, Thailand, late last year.

On April the 1st (and no, this isn’t an April Fool’s Day joke), the winners’ of each category will be announced by PDN in an online gallery, as well as in the print edition of the magazine.

The photo at left was just after the Thai ceremony started. I will show the winning image after the final category announcement is made.

Hope I win the Ceremony category!

Thanks too to Katie and Tim for choosing me as their photographer.

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That date came and went some two weeks ago, and let me tell you, the wedding was absolutely amazing. So much so, that I have just updated my wedding portfolio with some true documentary style images of the day.

Below are three of my favourites, but to see more hit the following link: www.myweddingphotographer.co.nz

A big thank you to the wonderful Katie and Tim for choosing me as their photographer.

Beginning of the ceremony.

Releasing one of the many lanterns post reception.

Lighting up at the post reception party.

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Riding in style on the outskirts of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Sometimes, words just don’t describe the things you see in your travels. Woofer travelling in style at Mae Rim, near Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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Early this year I decided to visit the zoo in Bangkok. It was depressing. Having been around wildlife in both Antarctica (penguins, seals and whales) and the Arctic (polar bears, seals, whales and foxes), I find the zoo experience to be anything but about the animal.

Yesterday I spent the morning at Chiang Mai zoo, in northern Thailand. As a photographer you can’t help but observe things and one of the things I realised is that too many people visiting Chiang Mai zoo, think it is an amusement park. People talk loudly in proximity to the animals and too many people tap on the glass, when there are signs saying ‘please do not tap on the glass’.

My favourite was watching an open-air zoo bus pull up at the Asiatic Bear compound. The people on the bus didn’t even bother to get out. They simply pointed their camera in the right direction, took some photos and then they were off. Total visit time: 45-seconds.

Now before you fill my inbox with hate mail and remind me of all the good things zoos do for animals, let me just clarify the point of this post.

In the Arctic, the name of the game with a wildlife encounter is to minimise disturbance to the animal. This over-rides people’s agendas. And this is a good thing. In zoos though, wild animals are locked up in small spaces and put on show to visitors. Some visitors – and I do mean some – just don’t understand or take the time to think or even care that what they are looking at is a wild animal.

That’s a pity. If we are to lock animals up in the name of preservation, then the least we can do is treat them a little bit better.

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This weeks postcard comes from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. A friendly, some what laid back town, Chiang Mai has a thriving tourism industry  - white water rafting, elephant rides, hill tribe trekking, the list goes on – as well as a small river running through the middle of town. The river is the best place to be at the end of the day to watch the sun go down, see the lanterns come on and enjoy an evening meal.

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