Fine Art Wedding Photography by DWP

A wedding at Thorpewood Retreat Center | Thurmont, Maryland | Kimberly + Mark

On rare occasion we get to document (and attend!) good friends' weddings. Mark and I were both art majors together in college and we spent many a long day in the dark room agonizing over our photography. We took every photo class together, and have been great friends ever since. Everything Mark and Kimberly do is intentional and carefully thought out, so when they got engaged I knew their wedding would be no exception. During the ceremony they planted a tree with soils from both of their families homes (perhaps my most favorite incarnation of the unity candle). I could go on and on, but it was beautiful to not only witness but also document the wedding of a long time good friend. Kimberly looked stunning and despite a little rain during the ceremony, I think the day could not have been more perfect. Congratulations to my dear friends!

Here a few of my favorite images from the day.

Venue: Thorpewod Retreat Center
Catering: CanapesMusic: The Speakeasy Boys 

April 20, 2009

Dave and I are celebrating 2 years of marriage today! I've been looking through our photos and reliving some of my favorite moments from that day, and I thought I would share two of them.

Walking down the aisle in the Duomo of Orvieto with my Dad.

Listening to Dave's brother's emotional toast.

Looking through our own wedding photos reminds how special our job is, and makes me excited for the very special memories we'll be capturing this year. 

We're back: aerial landscapes and a Space Shuttle launch

It's been almost 6 weeks of radio blog silence from DWP. (For that we apologize). Wedding season ended, and we hibernated for a bit. Winter is a time for us to focus on our personal art projects, seek out new inspiration, and further hone our skills - and that's what we've been doing. Before we kick off the season with the first e-session of 2011, we wanted to share a peak at what we've been working on for the past few weeks.

Some of you may have noticed our love of aerial shots from our wedding images. Dave took it to whole new level (literally) and rented a helicopter so he could shoot some aerial landscapes. He did this right after the big blizzard here in Chicago (otherwise known as snowmageddon) and the images he produced are quiet, haunting, and quite breathtaking. You can see them on his art blog: Icarus Also Flew.

Tired of the snow and cold in Chicago, we retreated to Florida where (in addition to enjoying the beach) we watched the last space shuttle launch of the Discovery. We worked together to produce images from the Shuttle launch, and are now regretting that we waited until one of the last launches to do this. It was an incredible experience, and something I'll always be glad that we did. Dave wrote more about this experience and posted the images in a three part post which you can also view on his art blog: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. 




Of course, we've also been working on several other projects, including a collaborative book project, a limited-edition fine-art print program, and the continuation of several other photographic series. I think I'm most excited about something we've been working on extensively this winter: Polaroids and other instant films on several different new formats. While we aren't quite ready to show you that work yet, look for it in the coming weeks. We will also be launching several additions to our wedding coverage that incorporate Polaroid film. 

We are now starting up the season and have an amazing set of clients for 2011 that we can't wait to share with you. It's going to be an amazing year.

Lastly, thank you to all of you loyally (or casually) read our blog. We do this work for you and we're grateful for the time you spend with us (if only through this somewhat removed means). We also love hearing from you (really!), so if you ever feel like it please leave a comment or drop us an email.

Nancy (+ Dave) 

Speaking in Seattle

Dave is headed to Seattle for a bit to work on a project with a small grant he received from Rebirth Workshops. While there, he's been asked to speak at the Seattle Pictage User Group. On Wednesday, Dave is going to be giving the talk he gave at PartnerCon 2010 in New Orleans titled "My 13 Biggest Mistakes." I am terrified of public speaking, so I was not a part of this, but I did attend in loving support, and even though I already knew everything he was going to say, I laughed and even learned a lot. Dave managed to be hilarious while also giving sound business advice and inspiring a room full of people. If you are in the area, and interested in it, feel free to stop by. 

                                                                                                                 photo by Chris Williams

(this is DWP)

A few months ago we commissioned Emily and Jacob Anderson, to produce a piece that will hopefully give you a better sense of who we are as photographers, artists, and people. Instead of showing you how you are most likely to see us anyway (behind the camera) we invited Emily and Jacob to show you a little of our lives during the rest of the week. They produced three pieces; one about me, one about Nancy and one about us as team. We hope you enjoy them and please share your thoughts about them in the comments section below. 

 

 

 

You might recall hearing Jacob's audio piece about our wedding in Italy that we posted here last year. If not you can check it out here: This is Orvieto. You can also hear more of his work on his website. 

You can also see some more of Emily Johnston Anderson's photography on her website.

 

At the Berlin Film Festival | Berlin

Cinema is one of Nancy and my principal sources of inspiration for our work. As such we're prepaing for this wedding season by attending the 60th Berlinale. Held annually in Berlin, it is the world's largest film festival. We've chosen about 20 films to view over the next 5 days that should provide rich inspiration for both our image making and our lives.

The White Knot - for same-sex marriage equality

We recently saw a little detail at a wedding we'd never seen before. Lizzie and Mangesh, who celebrated their wedding at Salvage One, wore a white ribbon tied in a knot and pinned to their wedding attire. This led us to the White Knot for Equality organization which was formed to show support for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. It was founded shortly after the passing of Proposition 8 in California which discontinued same-sex marriage and equal rights for LGBT couples in California. 

I had the privilege of shooting a same-sex wedding in San Francisco just a week before Prop. 8 passed and it gave me an overwhelming desire to share those images with everyone. My hope is that our work as photographers can help people understand that two people choosing to join their lives in marriage is beautiful, regardless of their sexual orientation. 

For more information you can visit WhiteKnot.org

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." 

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.