I’m stoked beyond belief! I finally won an award! No kidding. Me, winning awards…. Who’d'a thought!

On a whim, I submitted an image I shot of Stepahnie’s wedding dress I took on January 5th to the Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association.   From looking at the image in the LCD screen on my camera, the shot instantly struck me as a keeper, due to it’s sterile, simple and clean appeal. Rob and I hung the dress up in a window at Stepanie’s mom house while she was getting ready. I loved how the sun came right through the dress and allowed me to over-exposed the day-time light coming in from the window, leaving only the dress’s fine detail in the shot. With some minor touch-ups, the shot came out so incredibly cool. The image is now being used as part of my promotional branding campaign for my business. From shooting my abandoned series of work, I’ve drawn on my enthusiasm for shooting amazing detail shots and scenes at weddings.

The above image was awarded 6th place in the Winter 2006/2007 {AG}WPJA International Photo Competition. Joseph Victor Stefanchik judged the contest and had the following to say about the photograph.

“Blowing out the background is a great start to this simple yet elegant image. The subtle toning keeps just enough of the detail in dress to make the image feel light but not feel like I’m missing information about the dress.”

I know I’m gloating, but shooting quality images that stand apart from the crowd is what drives me with each and every new wedding I shoot.

I’ve been having some recent problems with my eyes, which until today, has caused me some considerable concern…as you can imagine. About 7 years ago I developed a “floater” in my left eye. Many people have floaters (a small artifact that floats across your vision, that looks like a hair or small dark blurry spot). About one month ago I began to notice this floater again, which is now constantly in my vision. More than anything, it’s very annoying.

So today, I made a trip to the opthalmologist. The exam was, well, interesting. After numbing both eyes with a local anesthetic and dilating my pupils, I couldn’t see a thing. Just one blurry mess! The results were just fine. I have 20/25 vision. Dr. Wage told me that my eyes are very healthy, and that these “floaters” may disappear or move over time. He told me It’s a common problem and that with time, my eyes will adjust to them and my over active brain will learn to live with them. Needless to say, when it comes to eye issues, ya’ll can feel my concerns. So if it looks like I’m frantically looking around at nothing on the next photo shoot, don’t worry. I’m perfectly sane!

CURRENT iPOD SPIN:
Limp Bizkit

I’ve known Derek and Jeanna for a few years now and they have become good friends of mine. They’re getting married on August 3rd in Jeanna’s parents background. They were so excited to work with me and couldn’t wait to go out and shoot some engagement photos. Regardless of the snow storm, we had a blast! They are always such a cool couple to hang out with!

I’ve been on a big He Is Legend kick lately! Such an amazing band.. Check them out over at www.myspace.com/heislegend.

~dave

It’s been well over a week since I last updated ye olde Blog. I’ve missed this place! Aside from being down with the flu for about 5 days, I was able to play with my new lens and snap some photos for a very cool dude by the name of Ethan Cook. Ethan’s a very talented musician in a local folk rock band called American Fiction. Check out his Myspace to listen to some of his tunes. The shoot was cold cold cold and needless to say, I shot it with a 101 degree fever.

The rest can be viewed HERE.

I recently picked up a Russian made lens to use for my abandoned series of work. The lens is a 65mm Hartblei tilt-shift. It’s very complicated to learn, but the results are amazing. I can pretty music manipulate depth of field to give my images that “toy” look and correct out parallel perspectives. Here is some shots I took of the lens on my camera and a demo shot playing around with depth of field.

And a shot of a local abandoned farmhouse, taken from the road..

I can’t wait to get out and seriously play with it. Enjoy!
~dave