When the alarm clock rings at 1:00 a.m., you know a small or big adventure is waiting for you. At that time, my dearest work colleague Luci and I had no idea how exciting our trip to the Association of German Professional Portrait Photographers in Cologne was going to be.
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My photo was with BPP contest in the area of wedding photography, we made it into the top 20 and, curious as we were, we naturally wanted to experience the placement live. So maybe a little spontaneously we decided to go to Cologne. Our mini road trip in Munich started at half past two with the night train at the main train station. After a few hours we were finally allowed to sniff the Cologne air.
The first stop
Of course the cathedral! Some selfies for that Photogenics team later our exploration tour continued, we wanted to make full use of the time until the announcement. So we strolled through Cologne, which was still new to both of us. We tried to count the love locks on the Hohenzollern Bridge, lit candles in Cologne Cathedral, celebrated with street musicians and of course took countless photos. The hours just passed us by and slowly the nervousness grew. We made our way to the hotel where the annual meeting is taking place.
The announcement of places 4 – 10
Really a thriller for me. According to my colleague, with every name that was read that wasn't mine, my face got a little whiter. When I didn't mention my name at number four either, I really felt different. This meant that I was either placed between 10th and 20th place or, for me completely out of the question, in one of the first three places. So now we had to wait. To the gala evening and the second part of the award ceremony.
Now it's getting serious
The only problem, however, was our bus, which was supposed to bring us back to Munich at 00:15. Can we do it all? Do we still have enough time to see the awards ceremony? When the awards ceremony in the wedding category finally began, we could hardly keep our seats. When my name was not mentioned on the third and second place, it was clear to me that I would only find out about my placement the next day. And then something happened that I never expected, my picture was shown, my name was mentioned and I was allowed to accept the Gold Award in the Wedding category. With a huge package from Profoto, a certificate, the gold trophy and a gigantic smile, I stumbled off the stage and was able to hug my companions jubilantly. And so ends our little or big adventure from the BPP.
Once again, a huge thank you to my Photogenika family, who had our backs, the kind congratulations, the warm welcome back in Munich and of course to my models, who really deserved the title "The most beautiful smile"!
Yours, Nikki
PS: We loaded the bus home heavily, a little out of breath but very happy to get it!
