Fine Art Wedding Photography by DWP

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

Terese + Ed | The Road to June 19, 2010

 

Some of you are probably all ready familiar with Terese's blog: The Road to June 19, 2010, if you aren't then you should stop reading this and go check it out. She has been documenting every step of her experience in planning her wedding, from engagement, to the day of the wedding, and then her honeymoon. Now that it's over (and we've finished editing all her images) she has started a fascinating recap of her wedding day accompanied by our photos. We have to admit that we've now started stalking her blog! It's been a real treat to read in such detail her memories of the day and her reaction to our photos. All that aside, her posts are fun to read, and full of useful information, especially for soon to be brides. Here a few of our favorite more recent posts.  

3 men and a little lady (and a dress)

I saw her standing there

Getting Dressed

Grandpa

David interviewed on Pictage Podcast

I was interviewed recently by Sara France for the weekly Pictage Podcast. This interview will be of more interest to other photographers than our clients. We discuss topics like blog SEO, how my own wedding change my perspective on the products we offer, and a few other things. While you are there, be sure to check out Will Jacks' interview. You can hear the interview here.

Also, we just found out that I'll be featured on the Ron Dawson's very-cool F-stop Beyond Podcast and that should be out sometime in July. Keep an eye out for that, and in the mean time check out some very interesting conversations with Zack Arias, Cliff Mautner, Vincent Lafouret, and Robert Evans. 

"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.

New David Wittig Photography weddings site goes Live!

After months of work, we're very excited to have launched our new wedding photography website. Be sure to click on the "full screen" option for the full effect.

We were fortunate enough to have the site developed by Andrew Hargreaves, an incredible designer, who's work and resume blew us away. Not only has he worked for Apple and Adobe, but he has recently developed the industry's best photographic gallery tool: http://www.fotagraft.com

We wanted a site that let our images speak for themselves, unencumbered by gimmicky animation, yet one that balanced elegance with usability. Andrew did a masterful job at achieving that balance. We wanted a site that was all about our images and the less it looked like a traditional website, the better. 

If the technical details bore you, stop here and go enjoy our new website, otherwise read on to learn what makes this site tick...

A few days ago, I claimed that this would be one of the most innovative wedding photography sites, and I feel that claim needs some explanation as much of what makes it truly innovative is beneath the surface and may not be immediately apparent.  

The first element is that it can operate outside of a browser and full screen, appearing to be like a screen-saver or standalone application. This element of Andrew's development amazed us and fit our vision of a site where the user was so immersed in the photographs they forgot they were viewing them on a website. 

The second element is even further beneath the surface, but no less amazing. We've all been on websites that take so long to load that navigating it becomes a test of one's patience. Andrew has done a remarkable job of optimizing the code and efficiently using bandwidth so that the site moves along with almost no delay. Furthermore, by working closely with Andrew we were also able to optimize the images so that they would load quickly. 

The last innovative element is some excllent scaling technology that allows our photographs to expand to nearly twice their size without suffering the terrible loss of quality that typically accompanies this operation. 

Anyway, enjoy the site!

Dave teaches at 3 Day Intensive Workshop | Elora, Canada

Dave was asked earlier this year to speak at Davide Greene's Intensive 3 Day workshop.  We thought it would be a great opportunity to share and help other photographers, so Dave agreed, and last week we were off to Canada!  We decided to make it a roadtrip up north, and it was so fun to see the progression of fall as we got further north.  There were so many vibrant colors, but the bright red maple leaves from which Canada takes its flag were my favorite.

The workshop took place in Elora, a quaint town about an hour outside of Toronto. A waterfall runs through the middle of Elora, and it looks like an old European town with lots of beautiful stone homes.  We staid at the delightful Elora Mill Inn, which is where the workshop also took place. 

We were only able to be there for day 2 and 3 of the workshop.  On Day 2 Dave gave two sessions; the first on how to think outside the box when it comes to your wedding photography as well as business practices.  The second session was about how to grow and market your business when first starting out.  It was really fun to hear him talk! 

On Day 3 we went to two beautiful locations to shoot.  The first was a gorge under a bridge; there were these great rocks in the middle of the river that the model posed on, and while the river was wonderful to shoot, I was fascinated with all the cool trees on the banks.  The second location was a quarry; it was a unique location, and provided some great challenges for the attendees. 

Dave helped the workshop attendees with exposure in harsh lighting conditions as well as off camera flash techniques.  He demonstrated how he poses his subjects, and then let the students take it from there.  It was fun showing people tricks we use, and seeing how differently everyone shoots. 

Thanks to Davide Greene for having us out there!

Here's a few shots of Dave in action:

-Nancy

The Difference: DWP's new promo video | Orvieto, Italy

A few months ago we traveled to Italy to do a fashion shoot for Alice Padrul (we posted about it here). One of the highlights of the trip was working with a Christopher Scherf, an amazing artist from Second Look Films. He shot a mini-documentary of our work there (which will be finished in the coming weeks), and also made this fantastic little promo piece for us. So check it out:

DWP: The Difference from DWP on Vimeo.

Photographers: Chris travels all over the US to produce these and is fantastic to work with, so if you are interested in working with him, you can contact him here

Dave to speak at Davide Greene's photographer's workshop in Canada

I'm honored and excited to be presenting two sessions at Davide Greene's intensive photographer's workshop. This three day workshop will include sessions by Byron Medina, Kim Machan, Davide Greene, and myself. The workshop will take place at a beautiful old riverside mill in Elora, Ontario on October 7-9, 2008.

I will be discussing:
Thinking Outside the Box: Beyond Photojournalism
This session will help you define and understand what separates you from your competition and how to market that more effectively. With nearly everyone claiming to be a photojournalist, it is all the more important to identify emerging wedding photography trends and your place within them. I’ll discuss how to find your niche, discover new sources of inspiration, and to differentiate yourself from the competition.

$1k to $10K: How to stay profitable while growing your business
This session is focused on how to develop a profitable and low-stress wedding photography business during the first few years of business. Specifically, we’ll discuss where to invest your time and money to grow your business and profits. In addition, we’ll discuss how to avoid many of the pitfalls that hinder the development of new photography studios.

For more information and to sign up, visit Davide's site

-Dave

In Case of Emergency...

Prospective clients sometimes ask us what would happen in the event of an emergency that would prevent us from shooting their wedding. While this has never happened to us in over 9 years of working, one should always have contingency plans. Of course there are two of us, so that is the first level of our backup system. However, one of the cool things about the wedding photography community is that we are a large and surpassingly tight-knit community. Time after time I've seen photographers respond to help out their peers whether it was because of loss of equipment, a sudden illness, delayed flights, or some other severe situation.

This past weekend I had my first chance to help out a good friend and colleague of mine. When he found out that his mother was suddenly hospitalized overseas he was torn between two duties. He put out a call to see if anyone was available to help him out. The calls went out, and within 3 hours myself and another one of Chicago's top wedding photographers had confirmed we could cover the event; the bride and coordinator approved our substitution, and we were briefed on the wedding. It went off without a hitch. We had an absolutely great time with the couple, and shot some fantastic images. It is immensely comforting to know we can count on friends in situations like this.

-Dave