If you were at the Georgie Awards ceremony at the Vancouver Convention Centre a couple of weeks ago, you might have noticed this cleverly placed notice from the good folks at CHBA-BC in the back of your program brochure. If you weren't (or you were too busy enjoying the excellent food, drink and company) then...aren't you glad we're keeping you in the loop?

We wholeheartedly echo the sentiment: it's definitely not too early to get your awards submission photography done (whether you're submitting for the Georgie Awards, the Ovation Awards, the SAM Awards, the NKBA Awards, or whatever else you're entering).

There's something interesting and somewhat unexpected here: the date! Yep, you read it right: the call for entries will be announced April 2013. If you've been around the Georgie block a few times, you're probably thinking (as we are): "hey, that's really early!". Last year's call and deadline were at least a month later than usual (pushing the deadline into mid-October). What we don't know is when the deadline for entry will be, but we'll let you know as soon as the CHBA announces it.

While we savour the pleasure of helping our clients slide their entries in as "close to the wire" as possible (this past year, we shot our last project two days before the deadline, and were doing the last edits on that project a couple of hours before the deadline!), there are a bunch of reasons why being an early bird works better:

1. Landscapes look fresher. If you're submitting a project that's exterior or landscape-oriented, having us photograph it in late spring makes for better photos. It's better light, flowers and landscape elements look fresher, and we probably won't even have to hose down your walkways because Mother Nature will do the job for us. (Waiting for a sunbreak can often be a challenge, but the wait is almost always worth it!)
2. The light is more interesting. We'll soon be celebrating North Day, one of the unofficial photographer's holidays: the day when you start getting natural sunlight on north-facing buildings. The light in summer (and early fall) is a lot more interesting than in high summer: it comes from a lower angle, which emphasizes interesting textures and building materials.
3. More flexible scheduling and time to work. If you have us photograph your project early, we're much more likely to be able to accommodate special requests and odd scheduling. Everyone will feel less rushed, and we can more easily schedule an extra shooting day to fill in details that aren't quite done yet later in the season--or have the flexibility to delay part of a shoot due to suboptimal weather.
4. Reuse your images on other awards programs and marketing efforts. Many industry awards programs have relatively similar requirements for photographs, and having everything all wrapped up early means it's easier to use the same set of images and writeup for a bunch of purposes. You can also use your images on your website and marketing materials, show them to prospective customers on your iPad, or whatever you need. We're happy to reformat your images for diverse requirements once we produce your project.
5. It's cheaper. Because of increased competition and tighter time requirements closer to the deadline, we charge extra for rush service close to the deadline. This also usually holds for other professionals working on your submission, not to mention having to pay your trades overtime to get things ready for a last-minute shoot.