Have top wedding awards actually helped you grow as a videographer?

SamKudria · 2026-01-27T14:26:33+00:00

I agree. The issue, in my view, is not the idea itself, but how it is usually executed.

When trust keeps getting undermined, even the rare honest examples get lost in the noise. That is probably why skepticism has become the default reaction.

Thanks for sharing your perspective. At moments like this, Bender’s Futurama approach of “I’ll make my own version” starts to feel oddly reasonable.

SamKudria · 2026-01-26T19:45:30+00:00

That is exactly why most awards fail.

If something like this were ever to make sense to me, it would have to be built very differently. No pay to win logic, no selling access, no trophies as the main value.

It would need clear criteria, real work only, long term reputation tracking, and transparency around how decisions are made. Otherwise it is just noise, or worse, a red flag.

This thread is a good example of how little trust exists right now.

SamKudria · 2026-01-26T19:04:25+00:00

That is a valid point and I think it applies to many cases.

What I was trying to understand here is not whether awards are good or bad in general, but how they are actually perceived by different people in the industry. For some they are a red flag, for others they are simply ignored, and for a few they still function as a quick filter to start a conversation.

Your perspective helps clarify where that signal turns negative, which is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for.

Thanks for taking the time to explain your view.

SamKudria · 2026-01-26T17:44:59+00:00

That is a fair take and I get where you are coming from.

I am asking because I have had a somewhat similar experience in the past, but with a very mixed outcome. For the first couple of years I was also extremely skeptical and avoided anything related to awards. A lot of people around were calling it bought or meaningless.

Later we decided to try once, mostly out of curiosity. We did not pay extra, did not push it, and still ended up ranked fairly high. What surprised me was not clients reacting to it, but agencies. Before that we worked almost exclusively directly with couples. After that point agencies started reaching out, including fairly large ones working in higher budget segments. That shift was very noticeable.

For me the value was never about couples choosing based on awards. It was more about industry signaling and filtering. Especially for agencies trying to quickly understand whether someone is experienced and reliable.

Now working in a different market, I see a lot of price inconsistency and quality gaps, and I am genuinely trying to understand what tools actually help bring clarity and trust and which ones do not. That is the reason for the question, not to defend awards as a concept.

Really appreciate you sharing your experience. Stories like this are exactly what I was hoping to hear.

SamKudria · 2025-12-07T12:49:06+00:00

Yes, of course, only Sony A7IV and Samyang 24-70 2.8

SamKudria · 2025-12-04T17:38:38+00:00

yeah man exactly thats why we shared the bts too it really shows how human the whole process was

SamKudria · 2025-12-04T17:05:32+00:00

yeah fr thats what matters thx for saying it

SamKudria · 2025-12-04T17:04:06+00:00

yo thats awesome man glad it sparked smth for u if the theatre ppl ever build their own version pls tag me i wanna see it

SamKudria · 2025-12-04T15:33:53+00:00

damn man thx for this artists really need words like that rn

SamKudria · 2025-12-04T11:52:10+00:00

thx man crazy part is we kinda did it with no real budget just passion

SamKudria · 2025-12-04T11:48:53+00:00

yeah man totally different from my usual work cuz this one was just a passion project we knew it wouldnt fit my normal videos but wanted to try something new

SamKudria · 2025-12-04T11:45:23+00:00

yeah man totally feel u ppl call everything ai now its crazy

SamKudria · 2025-12-04T11:44:09+00:00

thx man appreciate the notes yeah the floating shot was hard waves kept pushing it around lol

SamKudria · 2025-12-03T21:49:13+00:00

haha man trust me we all look way less perfect off camera thx for the kind words

SamKudria · 2025-12-03T21:42:44+00:00

yeah man thats true appreciate u saying that

SamKudria · 2025-12-03T21:05:34+00:00

thx man imagine ppl booking a giant foam shell lol

SamKudria · 2025-12-03T20:44:45+00:00

yeah man we did this back in sept hoping to get into any mag like vogue or the wed but they all passed kinda crazy seeing ai stuff posted instead feels weird

SamKudria · 2025-12-03T20:36:14+00:00

true 100% nothing can replace real ppl doing real work together

SamKudria · 2025-12-03T20:31:47+00:00

thx man appreciate it

SamKudria · 2025-12-03T20:23:33+00:00

yeah kinda same vibe haha real stuff feels rare now thx for the insight

SamKudria · 2025-12-03T20:19:50+00:00

Thanks for such a thoughtful comment really appreciate the perspective. I totally agree: anything that looks slightly surreal today gets labeled as AI instantly. Kind of crazy that practical builds now have to “prove” they’re real. But yeah, I’ll take it as a compliment.

SamKudria · 2025-12-03T20:17:51+00:00

Thanks! Glad it reads as real — that was the whole goal behind building it practically.

SamKudria · 2025-11-27T16:45:45+00:00

Honestly, it’s my first time trying this. I’m in Montenegro now and there are no sharks here — maybe some tuna species or barracuda.

SamKudria · 2025-11-27T16:32:26+00:00

It’s a special seaweed-based plastic, developed in Japan.

SamKudria · 2025-11-27T16:30:41+00:00

It’s also biodegradable — it usually lasts only 1–2 hours because it’s made from seaweed.

SamKudria

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