This year at Rise + Shine, Rangefinder’s all-day business summit for emerging wedding photographers hosted at WPPI 2020, almost 100 attendees heard from past and current 30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography as they shared their insights during hour-long presentations and in-depth group mentor sessions. Halfway through, something completely unexpected and incredibly exciting took place. Victor Ha, who is the Head of Marketing at Fujifilm’s Electronic Imaging Division, announced ten very lucky attendees, who were then called to the stage and each gifted a brand new Fujifilm GFX 50S camera, along with a new GF 50mm f/3.5 lens. Prior to the summit, Victor and his team had taken the time to look at the registered attendees’ online portfolios, and from them picked 10 wedding photographers they felt told the best stories with their work.

It was exciting to watch, like being mesmerized in front of the TV as the children in Willy Wonka ate candy bar after candy bar in search of a golden ticket. But this was far better—this was real, and these aren’t your average cameras. We’re talking medium-format cameras that retail around $5,500 each.  

The next morning, these lucky storytellers—Shebli Huston, Matteo Innocenti, Marissa Ladera, Courtney Pecorino, Carli Layton, Amanda Monk, Micelle Smith, Amanda Sorensen, Daniela Villarreal and Natalie Watts—along with Ha, his Fujifilm team, and rock star wedding photographers Paul Von Rieter and Taylor Kinzie, all headed out to the ghost town of Nelson to photograph a group of accompanying models. 

Michelle Smith, who’s based in Redlands, California, was beyond shocked when she heard her name called at the summit. “After the dust settled, I was honored and very humbled to have been picked by them for my ability with a camera,” she says. “I first fell in love with shooting weddings because of the emotions. And I’ve never gotten as worked up about anything besides capturing wedding images until hearing my name called by Fujifilm. It was a real adrenaline rush.”   

Images shot new Fujifilm GFX 50S camera during the photo walk at Nelson ghost town.

“I love being around people that are having the best day of their lives,” says Denver photographer Shebli Huston. “And that’s exactly what this experience was like, almost like being at a wedding where everyone is so happy and filled with love and joy. I feed off that energy on weddings days and it helps me to tell their stories.”

Las Vegas native Courtney Pecorino started shooting chapel weddings on the strip, which eventually led her to shooting weddings as her career. “I just love people,” she says. “I love their connections, I love their stories…just seeing two people in love with one another, there’s something about it that’s just so magical that made me want to capture it every day of my life.” 

When asked what inspired him to come up with this idea, Ha responded quickly:  “When we approached Rangefinder and WPPI with the opportunity of wanting to do something meaningful for a small group of photographers investing in their careers, we came upon the idea of sponsoring the Rise + Shine summit. It was such an interesting program to us as a team because here are a group of about 100 photographers who are coming in to the trade show early, spending their own money to learn for an entire day, to sit with mentors, and learn from larger photographers who have made it already and had established careers. And we thought that was a good environment to find some rising stars, who maybe never had the opportunity to make images with some of our cameras.”

Being able to contribute to the creative exploration meant a lot to Ha and the Fujifilm team. “It’s one thing to give away cameras,” he says. “It’s another to create a meaningful experience and a touchpoint out of that moment. We know the cameras, we know photography, and we know the industry.  From top to bottom, we were thrilled to give these photographers these tools and show them the best ways that they can take them and use their talents to go create even more special storytelling images.”

To learn more visit, Fujifilm X | GFX.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

• Caroline Tran’s Tips to Building a Recognizable Photography Brand
• How Wedding Photographers Can Make Money While in Quarantine
• Human Connections