We brought in Christobal Perez as a guest to judge this final round of our quarterly photo contests. That wasn’t a typo – this will be the last round for a while. We’ve had a lot of fun, and we’ve seen a lot of great work in the Exposure and Snap Art Facebook user groups over the last few years. We may bring the contests back sometime in the future. Watch this space for more information!

Here’s a little background about Christobal and his impressive accolades:

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Christobal is a former photojournalist who crossed over to weddings and portraiture in 2004. His journey into photography started early when he joined the school newspaper. “I remember winning my first photography award in high school,” said Perez. “It was a shot from a football game, which placed third in the UIL State photography competition.” It was that award which fueled the drive to become a professional photographer.

While in college, his love for photography deepened. That love later translated into an Award of Excellence in the sports portfolio category in the 1996 College Photographer of the Year competition (CPOY). He also won an Award of Excellence in the sports category that year in CPOY, along with being named Texas’ Student Photographer of the Year through the National Press Photographers Association. Those awards helped him find work with small daily newspapers and allowed him the opportunity of being a freelance photojournalist for The Associated Press while in Houston, Texas.

Over the years as a photojournalist, he has documented multiple Final Fours, the 2004 Olympics in Athens, presidential inaugurations, a Super Bowl, international unrest, hurricanes, the disintegration of the Space Shuttle Columbia over Texas, Michael Jordan’s last All-Star game and many other historic events. During his time as a photojournalist, he worked for several large daily newspapers including The Shreveport Times, The News and Observer in Raleigh, NC and the Houston Chronicle. He is a National Headliners award-winner, a multiple Pulitzer Prize nominated photographer and the recipient of “The Jesse” for visual journalist of the year while working at The Houston Chronicle.

In 2004, Perez moved away from journalism to create Azul Photography in Raleigh, NC, with his wife, to focus on documenting weddings, corporate events and families. As a wedding photographer, he was named the AGWPJA’s 5th ranked wedding photojournalist in the world and the WPJA’s 8th ranked wedding photojournalist in the world in 2007. He also won first place in Brides Magazine International Photo Competition in 2010 and constantly continues to create historic images for his clients.

“Images should have layers of information to give them depth and content,” said Perez. “We are here to be the looking glass to the past. To be the eyes for the ones who are not here yet. To give the future a historic view into the power of moments captured, framed and composed specifically with them in mind. We have a very important job. We are here to create legacy.”

Christobal is also the founder of The Wedding Photographic Society (The WPS), which he started in 2005. The WPS is a grass roots organization composed of like minded members with a goal of giving back to the photographic community. The WPS later changed its name to The Wedding & Portrait Society to embrace the portrait community as well.