I’ve had many discussions with other photographers about the use of textures in photographs. Nearly every newly rising photography at some point institutes the latest trends in photo editing into their work, or to some degree tries to emulate other photographer’s work. Which for some, translates very well given their unique style. But as trends go, is the use of textures the next selective colored bouquet or red rose in a black and white photograph? Who knows. Typically though, I have never bought into the latest photo editing trends.

From my standpoint though, I think my friend Jon Canlas recently hit it on the head by saying, “I can’t see past what I see in the view finder.” I think that a photograph needs to be of straight forward approach. My opinion. Sure I have developed my own editing style and have built a foundation in my work from those who have inspired me along the way. But I still feel that my work truly needs to speak for itself, otherwise I’ll be the just like everyone else.

With that being said, I recently experimented with a few textures during the editing process of the below engagement shoot. Having tried it, I can now say that it’s not for me. Some would disagree, but I’ll stick to the style I’ve spent the last few years developing.

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Mike & Kristina

This shoot was very exciting for me. Adam and I had an absolute blast shooting with them. The thing I look for when working with my clients, is a very laid back approach. Much the same as me. They were truly open to my ideas and knew from the onset that they would be happy with my work. Once we got away from any apprehensions, Mike, Kristina, Adam and I had an amazing time shooting. I think one of the biggest things that my clients take from an engagement session, is the time getting to know each other and a solid feel for how I like to work. It’s a vtial component to building our relationship and providing a complete experience, beginning to end.

~dave

Jamie and Eric. They are getting married this August. This I know, will be one crazy wedding. We had a blast shooting these!

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Katie. These are a few from her senior photos. We shot for maybe 20 minutes, as the weather was AWFUL! We plan to shoot some more in the spring, when mother nature elects to cooperate with me.

~dave

I’m all about networking with local photographers. I’ve made some amazing photo-nerd friends over the past few years and have even learned a lot from them as well. It’s a process that I hope, never ends.  Heck, I screw stuff up everyday. But I always have those folks to fall back on and share my business woes.

This past week, I had the chance to sit down with a very talented photographer by the name of Amy Gaerthofner of Ardent Photography. She has been visiting my blog for a short time and took it upon herself to introduce herself to me, just after I left my full-time cop job to simply say “congratulations.” That tiny message said 10,000 words in six sentences.

I was drawn to her impressive work, after viewing her blog. She has a style very similar to mine. I found her work to be an inspiration, just the same as the other photographers I know and work with from time to time. And she too, looks to me the same way. We hit it off immediately. I hope to work with her more in the coming year!

You can see more of her recent work and a good write-up on wedding photography trends at her BLOG.

Bestest,
~dave

I took my good friend Keith out downtown to shoot some portraits for his website last week. For those interested, you can check out his site here. Due to the ridiculous cold weather we’ve been rocking here in the “W.I.”, we got far less shots than I planned on shooting. Such is life in good ‘ol northeast Wisconsin…

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I’ve been meaning to post some of my work from the past year. This last fall and winter, I’ve shot some awesome engagement sessions! So, I decided to dig back into the “archives” and show some of these.

This one stood out, due to the fall colors and overall vibe! Tracy and Chris drove up from Madison for the shoot. The weather was perfect for the shoot, but it was so wet outside from all the recent rain we had. I just loved this shoot and I know their wedding is going to be amazing!!!

Enjoy.
~dave

Well, after talking about it for a long time, I have finally launched SIMPLE+DIRTY!

www.simpledirty.com

For those who have been wondering, SIMPLE+DIRTY is my left brain way of photography thinking. It showcases my series of abandonment (or modern ruins/decay) work spanning the last three years. It is still somewhat under development and I plan to add new galleries in the coming months. I also expect to launch a less-than-often update blog, to post news on shoot locations, ramblings about music and art… and oddities I tend to dig up from time to time. I’ll keep ya’ll posted right here about new developments with the site.

Enjoy!

~dave