A jealous flower girl stares down her sister in a pink room
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October 2024 Image of the month – The Pink Wall

October 2024 – Image of the month ~ The success of any photograph depends on three things: composition, light, and storytelling, but the storytelling aspect gives a picture its real power. My aim in wedding photography is to use the medium’s unique ability to captivate and narrate a compelling story within a single frame. This…

Panel Discussion 2024 02
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‘Live’ Panel Discussion – “To Reach Success, Define What You Want”

Honored to be on a ‘live’ panel discussion this Monday @ 6:30 pm CST. We’re going to discuss “To Reach Success, Define What You Want” I hope to see you there! To join go here at 6:30 pm https://www.facebook.com/PortraitProfits

Rain pours down South Congress Hotel Austin Wedding Ceremony and reception L1050013
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2022 favorite wedding images of the year

It’s that time again. And yes, I’m a little late getting this gallery up, but I have kids, and that’s the story I’m sticking to. Here’s a selection of my favorite wedding images from 2022. I’m so thankful to all the beautiful couples for their trust in capturing their special day. You won’t see posed…

Father and daughter backstage before ceremony at South Congress Hotel Austin Wedding Ceremony and reception L1008704
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Father and daughter – December’s Photo of the Month

As we come to the end of 2022, I reflect on the year, like most of us. So, I’m restarting a new series of images. This photograph is very dear to me. I’m always drawn to these two subjects: Fathers and their daughters. Because I’m a dad, too, I cannot believe my girls have grown…

Shadow on wall shows clinking of glasses and the couples at The Houstonian during cake cutting - a WPJA award winning images
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image-of-the-week-4 – play with shadows and silhouettes

In this week’s image of the week, I love shooting indoor weddings. I use available light, working with shadow and light. It’s always a rewarding challenge to use whatever light is spilling onto the dance floor, be it the DJ’s LED’s where I have to shoot into them to avoid the odd colors cast on…

A proud mother of the bride observes her daughter getting ready on her wedding day St Anthony Hotel
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This weeks favorite 6 images – February 10, 2021

Starting today and just for the sheer love of the craft, a new weekly blog post, a favorite selection of six photos and what I like about them. My style is mostly as a wedding photojournalist and what I love is to capture a wedding day as authentically as possible. I want to also ‘demetricate’ myself from the slave…

Modern documentary wedding photographer Philip Thomas serves San Antonio and beyond - WPJA 2020 v1 winner
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Favorite wedding images from 2020

2020 favorite wedding images. Every wedding I photograph is precious and distinctive in so many different ways. Here are some of my favorite pictures from my couple’s beautiful wedding days. To view my Top Ten Places for Engagement Pictures in San Antonio, click here. All photos are clickable for larger versions. Enjoy!  

WPJA 2020 v1 winner
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WPJA 2020 Photo Competition | Philip Thomas

The latest WPJA 2020 results are in and I’m so fortunate to win three award winning images. I’m thrilled to share these with you. You can see more on my award winning gallery. From the WPJA site: “The Wedding Photojournalist Association is proud to present the winners of Best Wedding Photographers in the 2020 v01 Photography Competition. WPJA…

Loran and bridesmaids in a decisive moment at St Anthony Hotel San Antonio Texas -0386-L1003507
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Decisive moment – Image of the week 11 – Philip Thomas

I love what I do for a living. For over 25 years, I’ve been fascinated with the ‘Decisive Moment.’ My style of photography is primarily based on this concept and what I look for to tell a story in one image. The ‘Decisive Moment’ is the idea that Henri Cartier-Bresson spoke of when all the…

I love images that look seemingly simple, and yet this shot was challenging to capture. The focus is on Alison, our beautiful bride, and her father during their joyous first dance. But I’m always looking for more, and I love multi-layering my images and tell the story in the most profound way possible. The challenge is to capture these moments in real-time with interactions from the photographer. If I can do this in one shot, then this is a good example. My back was up against the reception wall when capturing these. At first, the flower girls noticed me but eventually placed their attention back toward the subjects.
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Layering images – Image of the week 10

This weeks it’s all about layering! Stuck inside during COVID-19 lockdown, I thought I would have so much time to shoot mini-projects. But in reality, I’ve been busier juggling kids, online school, cooking, and everyday household chores; time is getting away from me. Plus, um, making those homemade Old Fashioned’s. Yum! Actually, no, I don’t…

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Image Of The Week 9 -Finding Reflections – Philip Thomas Photography

This week’s picture of the week shows the reflection of the couple’s first dance through the Skyroom’s glass and downtown San Antonio’s. What’s great about editing images for a couple, like this week for Loran and Andrew, is coming across a picture I missed kinda the first time. Perhaps I didn’t’ recognize why I liked…

San Antonio bride drinking gin on bus after tying the knot on a winter's day
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Image of the Week 8 – What is wedding photojournalism?

I missed the last week with my postings due a crazy one of editing, but now I can get back to posting my thoughts about my work and why I think specific images work. Weddings are full of emotion. There’s excitement, tears, laughter. There’s highs, lows, and humor! All in one day. My work is…

Photographing kids at weddings - Little girl at wedding reception breathes smoked ice at a bar station at Bridal Oaks Weddings and Events Houston Texas
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Image of the week 7 – Kids at weddings and shenanigans – Philip Thomas

This photo is one of my favorites, and features in a year-end blog post. Working with kids at weddings is fun, but the last thing I want is for them to be aware of my camera. Of course, this is often impossible, and once noticed, I’ll spin the other way, pretending to photograph something else,…

Bride gets ready in reflection of a room mirror at La Cantera Resort San Antonio Wedding Photography Philip Thomas
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Image Of The Week 6 – Working with shapes in photography

Here’s an image captured a few years ago for Alex and Kristina. As the bride dressed, I noticed these beautiful photographs of cowboys riding horses and couldn’t help myself using the shapes to frame her in the reflection. In this instance, the composition works. Weddings are very fluid, and if a composed scene doesn’t, I move…

Crystal-Ballroom-at-the-Rice-Wedding-at-Texas-Avenue-Houston-gorgrous-winter-wedding-Leica-photographer-Philip-Thomas-Photography
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Image Of The Week 5 – ‘What do we have here?’ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Today’s Thursday, which means it’s time for a picture of the week. I try to give myself a couple of weeks before blogging a wedding to desensitize from the wedding day. As a photographer, you can not help carry the emotion with you on and after a shoot, and it’s easy to let emotion interfere with…

An interesting juxtaposition as the wedded couple practice first dance and chairs are pushed out of the ceremony to the reception ballroom
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Image of the week 3 – Juxtapositions

I love winter weddings for their low light. Thankfully, here in south Texas, we have a few weeks of cold weather, sometimes we will get ice and every ten years, maybe some snow. Nevertheless, many weddings are inside at this time of the year, which forces me to push harder to find exciting juxtapositions and…

Wedding photojournalism - Father of the brides gets emotional The JW Marriott Downtown Houston bride and groom get ready -Philip Thomas Photography
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Image of the week 2 – what is wedding photojournalism?

This week’s picture of the week features the father of the bride as he sees his daughter for the first time in her wedding dress. Captured at the JW in Houston, I live for moments like these. For more on my thoughts about wedding photojournalism or reportage go here. Weddings are, of course, highly charged…

Joyous reaction as bride is surrounded by family and friends
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Image of the week 1 – The wonderful world of the Leica Rangefinder

First, I’d like to write a very Happy New Year to all my readers of this blog. Today’s the day, 15 years ago, I arrived in the U.S.A to join my wife and live in San Antonio, Texas. So, in celebration of that and new for 2020, I’ll be posting a favorite image each week…

Mother and grandmother of the bride help bride with her veil at The Westin Riverwalk in San Antonio Texas - WPJA Award winning image
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Next Presentation: Capturing Dynamic Images using Geometry

When- April 11, 2019 at 6pm – Go here to book your place on the Meetup site. $10 at the door. What’s is about? I’ll discuss design/geometry in my images, my influencers, and present and analyze examples of how you can apply learnings from the masters of the 20th century to the genre of documentary wedding and street photography….