Taking a Picture of Me Taking a Picture

As some of you may know, Val has started learning how to photograph. She picks up the one of the cameras now and then at weddings and just shoots away. She's been getting pretty good too, considering she's just starting out. At our last wedding she shot this photo of me shooting a portrait of Joe, the groom. It's a little strange to see a photo of myself taking a photo, and then seeing the photo that I took. Weird.
I'll have more on Joe and Alicia's wedding soon - stay tuned!

Val's photo of me.



My photo of Joe.

Seeking enlightenment at the genius bar

I know quite a bit about our computers and I'm usually pretty good at
troubleshooting problems. Sometimes though its nice to take our
problems to the experts an let them deal with it!

Great day for a hike!

Too cold out? What are you talking about? It's -1 now, and it only
starts getting good for hiking and camping when we get below 0!
I went for a short hike today and shot a few frames of film on my
Holga camera. One of these days I'll get around to actually processing
and scanning them.
Stay warm and go Packers!

Big Announcement: Wedding Photography Giveaway!

For a while now Valerie and I have been trying to come up with ways to give back to our community. We wanted to do something that would have a positive effect in the life of someone else. We constantly see how important our photography becomes to our clients - it becomes a special part of the couple's history, not to mention their families history for generations to come - so we thought that giving the gift of wedding photography would be a wonderful way to create that positive effect.
So here's the deal. We're looking for brides and grooms who have overcome great odds or obstacles in their life, or perhaps just has a wonderful story to share. 
We need to receive a letter (email) telling your story and why you are deserving. Valerie and I will choose finalists, who's stories and photos will appear on our website and blog. You all will then have a chance to vote for your favorite couple, and your votes will decide who the winner will be! You can nominate yourselves or be nominated by someone else, but we want to find one couple who truly deserves to receive our gift.
All the details are available on my website, so take a look there for all the specifics. The deadline for entries is February 28, 2008.
We need your help to spread the word though, so if you know anyone who should enter, please let them know. We've never done anything like this before, but we hope it will be a real positive experience for everyone.
Thanks for all your help!

It's Alive!!! ... Finally!

At last, after many hours of hard work and way too many cans of Coke Zero, the new Dave Watkins Photography website is live! It's a big change from the previous version of the site. The photos are now front and center, and much of the site has been simplified and restyled. Our goal was to make it a much more vibrant space - clean, quick navigation and lots of photos and galleries that will be updated often.

I built the site myself, with design input from Val. I'm by no means a web design professional, but I'm pretty happy with the results. Learning how to create well-made websites has been a tough road for me, but I love doing it because I'm constantly learning new things, and it's exciting to see the finished product.

Have a great week!

What an awesome wedding!

This past weekend Val and I were in Chicago for Paula and Nil's wedding. It was easily one of the most unique and beautiful weddings I've ever been to. There were a lot of things that made this wedding special. First off Paula and Val met a year or two ago at the UW and since then we all have become very good friends, so it was great for us to be able to witness them formally begin their life together. They are both wonderful people - I feel very fortunate to have them as friends.
Another thing that I thought was great was the unmistakeable blending of cultural flavors throughout the whole wedding. Paula and Nil come from very different cultural backgrounds, but they did an amazing job of mixing elements from both. From the spectacular food, which was completely vegetarian - even the cake was made with no eggs!, to to the mix of the live mariachi band and Indian music from the DJ, they took different elements and combined them to get all sorts of awesome colors, textures, flavors, sounds. It was really wonderful to be a part of that mix.
I could go on and on, but I'll leave it to the photos to tell the rest of the story.

What a foggy mess.

So Val and I were in Chicago this weekend for Nil and Paula's wedding - which was awesome! I'll have more on their wedding later this week.
On your way home though we ran into fog between Janesville and Madison, and we got caught up in the detour of traffic around the pile-up on the interstate. After thinking about it afterward though, I realized how lucky Val and I really were. We stopped for lunch just out side Chicago at a restaurant in a Mall. I partially wanted to go there so that after we ate we could take a stroll around the mall - you know, good for the digestion. Anyway, I realized that if we hadn't taken that walk we would have gotten on the road 45-60 minutes earlier, which likely would have put us right in the middle of that pile-up.
I really makes you stop and think when you realize how such a small choice can have such huge repercussions.

Headed to Chicago

Today Val and I are headed to Chicago for Paula and Nil's Wedding Saturday. Everything is being held at the Garfield Conservatory, which is a beautiful location, but it's also a challenge photographically, especially in the winter. Since conservatories are basically big greenhouses, they rely mostly on natural daylight for lighting in the facility, so they typically only have minimal artificial light sources. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, except that since it gets dark so early this time of year, the ceremony and reception will all be taking place after dark. I shot at "The Domes" in Milwaukee last winter and it turned out to be the most difficult shooting conditions I've ever had to contend with. I made it work, but it wasn't easy. We're going to scout it out this afternoon, so hopefully I'll be fully prepared.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pierre and Anna

Thanks Pierre and Anna for a great new years party!