Three Award-Winning Images and One Perfect Score: A Special Moment for My Cork Photography Studio
When I opened the results from the International Newborn Photography Contest & Awards (INPCA), I expected the usual mixture of curiosity, excitement and nerves.
What I wasn’t expecting was a perfect score.
Three of my images were recognised in this year’s competition, including a mother and newborn portrait that received a score of 100, newborn cored 95 and a fine art children’s portrait that scored 90.
As photographers, we spend a lot of time questioning ourselves.
Could the lighting be better?
Should I have chosen a different composition?
Did I capture what I was trying to say?
That’s why recognition from experienced judges can feel so meaningful. Not because it validates you as a person, but because it tells you that the vision you’ve been working towards is being understood by others.
The Mother & Baby Portrait That Scored 100
The image that received a perfect score wasn’t an elaborate setup or a technically complicated photograph.
It was a simple mother and baby portrait.
No distractions.
No gimmicks.
Just the connection between a mother and her newborn child.
In many ways, I think that’s why it resonated with me so much.
The longer I photograph newborns and families, the more I find myself drawn to simplicity. To photographs that don’t need explaining. Images where connection, emotion and expression do all the work.
The judges described the image as “truly exceptional” and praised both its artistry and emotional impact.
For me, that’s one of the greatest compliments a photograph can receive.
Recognition for Fine Art Portraiture
I was equally delighted to see one of my fine art children’s portraits recognised as well.
Many families know me primarily as a newborn photographer in Cork, but fine art portraiture has become an increasingly important part of my work.
I’ve always been drawn to portraits that feel timeless. The kind you might discover years later in a grandparent’s home. Photographs that still feel beautiful decades after they were created.
Seeing both newborn and portrait work recognised in the same competition felt incredibly special.
Why This Means So Much To Me
Awards are wonderful.
They encourage us to grow, refine our craft and continue learning.
But the photographs that matter most aren’t the ones hanging in competition galleries.
They’re the ones hanging in your home.
The portrait above the fireplace.
The album your children will one day look through.
The framed photograph your family walks past every day without realising that one day it will become irreplaceable.
Those are the photographs I’m most proud of creating.
Thank You
Most of all, I’m grateful.
Grateful to the families who trust me with their pregnancies, their newborns, their children and their memories.
And especially grateful to those who allow me to share their photographs.
Without that trust, there would be no images to enter, no portfolio to build, and no opportunity to represent my little studio here in Glanmire, Cork on an international stage.
So thank you.
This recognition belongs to every family who has stepped in front of my camera over the years.
And I can’t wait to create many more photographs together.