P!nk Photography

Wedding photography is not just big business these days—it’s also a wellspring of creativity. For the third year in a row, American Photo set out to find the most inventive and accomplished wedding photographers working today. We’re happy to report that this year’s Top Ten list shows boundary-breaking innovations.

Nominations for this year’s list came from a variety of experts (listed below), including wedding planners, website directors, and photography editors. We also invited a number of wedding photographers who were featured on our Top Ten lists in 2007 and 2008 to name colleagues whose work they particularly admire. The editors of American Photo winnowed the dozens of nominees to the ten finalists.

This year’s winners come from throughout North America, but you could hardly call these photographers regional. Almost all rely on the web for much of their business, which comes from all over the world. Many of the names on the list have backgrounds (and side businesses) in other areas of photography, such as photojournalism, fine art, and travel work. While each is firmly established in the field, no less than half of them started their wedding-photo businesses within the past four or five years—about the time it takes to complete a rigorous course of higher education.

As you can see from their portfolio slideshows, they all share a blend of technical skill and aesthetic innovation. A few specialize in the kind of “wedding photojournalism” that has been a popular staple in recent years; others create iwork with the look of sleek fashion and travel photography. These days, it seems, more and more brides want to look like they just stepped out of the pages of a magazine.