Fine Art Wedding Photography by DWP

Joan + Greg (and Payton & Dugan) | E-session | Chicago, IL

Joan and Greg are having one of the very first weddings at the brand new Modern Wing of the Art Institute in June. This past week, we got to spend time with them and their adorable shitzus Payton and Dugan during their engagement session. We started off at their condo, and then we headed over to Millennium Park where they play everyday with Dugan and Payton. We had such a great time getting to know them and their dogs - who sadly will not be in attendance at the wedding. We can't wait to photograph their spectacular wedding at the Modern Wing. 

Here are a few of our favorite's from the shoot:

Our wedding | Orvieto, Italy

Exactly a month ago, we were married in Orvieto, Italy. We envisioned our wedding as a time to hang out, eat good food, drink good wine, and celebrate with our friends for as long as possible. We decided the best way to do this was to spend a week Italy with some of our closest friends and family. A good friend who happens to be a talented photographer, was our official wedding photographer.  We couldn't be happier with our wedding pictures and we wanted to share some of them with you below! 

Orvieto is a medieval town that sits atop a cliff.

 

Dave gets Lighting Assistant credit on this shot! This was a scene that repeated itself every night as we walked through the narrow streets of the medieval city.

Pouring wine at Vin Cafe, the wine bar we went to every night to continue the festivities, early into the morning hours. 

 

We were honored to be able to marry in one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Italy - the Duomo in Orvieto built in the 12 century. Dean captured Nancy's entrance exactly as I remembered it. As I stood at the front of the cathedral the sun came through the huge doors bathing everything in gold light as we all squinted to see Nancy and her dad standing and dwarfed by monumental entrance. It is an image we will never forget.

 

 Given that my last name has been misspelled since I can remember giving it out, I shouldn't have been surprised to see it misspelled on the official church registry. 

The shot above was taken by Connie Miller; you can see more of her images from Italy on her blog.

 Two of Dave's closest friends, Mischa Willet, a poet, and Aleksey Tetenov a professor of Economics in Turin. 

After the ceremony, we walked to our reception venue with all of our guests.

 No one expected my brother's incredibly sincere toast that drew tears from everyone. 

 In his inimitable style, Mischa, delivers his toast at our reception venue, a restored monastery originally built in the year 1000. Note Jacob recording audio for the clip that can be heard here.

 

 

The last two images were taken in Rome, two days after our wedding.

Nancy lived in Orvieto for nearly a year, and has many wonderful friends there.  Dave has also spent a great deal of time in Italy, and it is actually because of Italy that we even met.  We thought it fitting to have our wedding celebration there, and to share a place that is so special to us with those that we love most. 

The experience of getting married was both surreal and beautiful, and Dave and I both have thoughts that we want to share with you at a later point about wedding photography from our experience of being a bride and groom.  Today we just wanted to share some of our wedding images with you.

Dave's work shown in "The Night Hope Won" exhibit.

A few months ago Doug McGoldrick, a friend, artist, and fellow wedding photographer saw the pictures I'd shot of Obama's inauguration rally in Grant Park and asked me to submit the work for a book and gallery show exhibit he was curating title "The Night Hope Won". He describes the impetus for the project like this:

"On election night back in November it seemed like the whole city of Chicago was in Grant park to listen the the results live, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The whole city became a community and everyone around you was your best friend. Among the crowd where many many photographers, not shooting for magazines, not shooting for preplanned projects, not shooting for ads, just shooting the event for themselves in order to capture the moment forever so they can show there grandkids they where there." 

After several months, and a lot of work, the exhibit opened at Will Jacks Gallery in Cleveland, MS (Will Jacks also happens to be a photographer who I admire). The show includes images from 15 different photographers who shot that historic evening. I'm grateful and honored to be among them. You can check out images from the gallery opening on Doug's blog,

These are three of my images that are being exhibited. Be sure to check out the work of the other 14 photographers at project's blog "The Night Hope Won." 

DWP places in ISPWP 2009 Spring Wedding Photography Contest

Awhile back we posted about being accepted into the very exclusive International Society of Portrait and Wedding Photographers.  We just learned that three of our images placed in their most recent contest; we are so honored that some of our images were chosen alongside these other very talented photographers from around the world! Below are our images that placed; you can go here to see all of the contest winners' images.

  

This is Orvieto - our wedding in audio.

As many of you know we were married a few weeks ago in Orvieto, Italy. Words fail us to describe how wonderful it was to celebrate there with some of our closest friends and family. We wish we could re-live this, and share it with all of you. 

Our friend Jacob Anderson, an immensely talented audio producer, has made that possible in part, by this gift, and in turn we'd like to share it with you:

Be sure to check out more of his work on the The Audio Photo Document, the blog he and his wife (who is also a very talented wedding photographer) publish.

"DWP: an artists' portrait" video

Check out our new video for a little of our philosophy behind how Nancy and I do wedding photography. You can also view the promo for this video here. Thanks, once again, to Chris Scherf from Second Look Films for his excellent work on this.

Isaac Mizrahi at The Ivy Room

"Have Fun! (That's the most important part!)" is how designer Isaac Mizrahi opened his interview at The Ivy Room and I couldn't help but think how important that concept was to wedding celebrations. I was asked to shoot the private launch party for Mizrahi's newest collection organized by Chicago Social and held at the Ivy Room at Tree Studios, which was cleanly and beautifully decorated by Heffernan Morgan Designs. 

Jake Armerding | Her

Before Dave and I left for our wedding we did a few shoots that we didn't have a chance to post on our blog, so the next few days we'll be posting some shoots from mid-April. 

You may remember our posts about Jennifer and Jake who got married in St. Paul, MN this past October and then came to Chicago for Jennifer's bridal session this past March. Jake is an accomplished musician, and has been working on a new album this year.  His new album is called Her.  Jake asked us to shoot the cover for his new album, so we had the privilege of getting a sneak peek (a live sneak peek!) at some of the songs from this soon to be released album as we were shooting. It is beautiful, fun and inspiring.  You will most likely be hearing some of these songs on our slideshows this year.  Be sure to check out his website to listen to your own sneak peak. Below are some of our favorite images from the shoot.