So as Val and I are prone to do sometimes, we decided to take a spur of moment trip to Chicago yesterday. But it wasn't just for no good reason, we went to see Yervant and Joe Buissink's wedding photography workshop. We had already seen both of them at WPPI in March, but we decided that you can't get too much information or inspiration when it comes to what we do. Joe is an especially influential artist for me right now. His work is amazing, but for me it's really his passion, the things that motivate him, and the way that he thinks about the world that I can easily identify with and really inspire me.
It was also great to hang out with some other photographers from around the midwest as well. We caught up with some people we had met in Vegas and with a few of our Madison photographer friends as well. Plus, I won a copy of Aperture 2.0! Woo Hoo! I'm installing as I type and I can't wait to put it to use!
Our first wedding of the season is Thursday, and I can't wait to get out there and shoot!
Part of the day we spent time shooting a model bride in the lobby area of the gorgeous Chicago Hilton.
April is usually a pretty quite month for us, and it's nice to take advantage of the Saturday mornings before the weddings get busy. For me, nothing says Saturday morning in Madison quite like some good coffee and cheese curds from the farmer's market. Today was the first day that it returned to the outdoors on the square, and it's so nice to have it back!
It has definitely been a hectic and busy few days. As soon as we returned from WPPI in Las Vegas we began finalizing plans for THE Wedding Workshop, which was held this past Saturday and Sunday. What an awesome experience that was! This was the first time Pierre or I had put together an educational event of this magnitude, so there were admittedly some kinks in the system and gaps in our planning. I want to thank all of our students for being such a great group to work with. There was a wide range of skill and experience levels, and it was really nice to see the exchanging of ideas and motivation. I wish I would have had more time to talk with each of you, but just because the workshop is over doesn’t mean I’m not available. Shoot me an email and we can grab a cup of coffee sometime!
I want to send a special thank you to Valerie and Pierre’s wife Anna. Anna put on a wonderful party at their studio Saturday night - it was so nice to have some good food and drink and just chat with everyone. Valerie has some very unique skills when it comes to putting together organizational materials and evaluations. I guess that’s the teacher side of her coming out. She did a great job putting together the packets of materials and designing the workshop evaluation form. More than that though she was a great help for me completely behind the scenes. I had never taught anything like this workshop before, so she provided insightful advice and perspective that was invaluable in so many ways. Thank you Val!
Thanks also to our models Ashley, Zach, Oliver and Erica. They braved the windy March conditions for our benefit and did such a great job! Thanks guys!
The workshop was a wonderful experience for me, but it was also exhausting! I imagined Monday being a blissful day of movies, blankets, and possibly frozen pizza, but at the last minute I decided to surprise Valerie with a quick trip to Chicago to see Mitche Graf speak. He’s a bit of a superstar in the photographic industry, speaking all over the world about photography marketing. Not exactly a romantic Chicago getaway, but she REALLY wanted to go, but I had told her before that we wouldn’t be able too.
It was a great time and we learned A LOT! We even stayed after the seminar to have a drink with him before driving back to Madison! Thanks Mitche!
Hey Everyone - Valerie Here, writing my very first BLOG post. Yay!
The day is finally here and we are going to announce the finalists for our Wedding Photography Giveaway. Just to let everyone know we have three finalists - below you will find their picture, names, month of their wedding, city of the wedding and their story about why they are entering our wedding photography giveaway. We randomly picked the order that the finalists are listed on this post...thus they are in no particular order.
After choosing your favorite couple please vote for them using our poll located on the sidebar.
Our Rules: Only one vote per person please - cheating will not be tolerated and it could end up disqualifying a couple if it happens .
Voting ends at 11:59 pm on March 16, 2008. We will be announcing the winner on St. Patrick's Day.
Good luck to all our finalists! And thanks for taking the time to vote in our giveaway!
And the finalists are ...
Susan & Dan - October 2008 - Madison, Wisconsin
Susan and I met about two and a half years ago on the first day of graduate school. We both came to UW-Madison to earn our Ph.D.s in physical chemistry. I decided to leave the comforts of family and friends in Maryland to come out West, and Susan moved from Minnesota.
By a very happy accident, we both joined the same research group and quickly became friends in and out of the lab. She’s beautiful, smart, sweet and can make me laugh like no one else. Of course, I fell in love with her! But what was I to do? Susan was completely oblivious to my feelings for her, and was very against the idea of dating anyone from the department—let alone her own group. I had to devise a plan to get her to go on a date with me.
When Susan and I went out to dinner with a group of friends, I “accidentally” left my wallet at home. About halfway through the meal, I let everyone know my “mistake.” Susan, being the wonderful woman she is, offered to pay for my meal. I accepted on the condition that I could take her out to dinner sometime.
The rest, as they say, is history. A little more than a year after our first date, I surprised Susan with a ring in a hollowed out chocolate truffle. We’re to be married Oct. 26, 2008 at the Mansion Hill Inn here in Madison surrounded by our immediate families and closest friends.
The wedding is going to be very special not only for the promise and commitment we will make to each other, but also because this will be the first time our families have ever met. It is the one time in our lives where the people most important to us will be in the same state (and amazingly in the same room) and we would be so happy to have wonderful photos to remember it by.
These moments are so important to us and the pictures will be treasured forever. Unfortunately, because a graduate student’s salary is only enough for rent and food, we simply cannot afford the photographer this wonderful day deserves. Dave and Valerie Watkins were kind enough to give us this opportunity, and we can’t thank them enough!
Avin & Dave - July 2008 - Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Everyone hopes for a fairytale romance, but sometimes it doesn’t unfold the way you expected it. This is one such story. The love Dave and Avin share overcame obstacles and persevered through tough times and hard decisions and now they look forward to July 12th, 2008 when they will share their marriage vows and begin a new life together.
This not-so-common fairytale begins when Dave shattered his cell phone one summer day in 2005. As he walked into the Fargo, North Dakota Radio Shack, he was furious and frustrated, but his frustrations soon turned into excitement when he left with a new phone and the phone number of his future wife. After only a couple dates they knew their relationship was something special, and soon after they meet they realized they wanted to share their life together. That realization came with fear, like it does for most couples, but for Avin this was different. Avin came from a different world, with different rules and different customs and was expected to follow these rules and customs even if they contradicted what her heart was telling her. Dave and Avin’s love became stronger than either could imagine, but Avin was still expected to follow the rules, not her heart. Avin’s family did not support Avin falling in love with anyone other than someone who was both their nationality and religion. Being from north Iraq, Avin had few options, but she did not want options. She knew she wanted Dave and Dave knew he wanted Avin. Their hearts were in line, but their cultural differences proved to be a major obstacle when Avin’s parents forbid her to see Dave.
It quickly became the summer of 2006 and Dave and Avin were in love, but things were difficult. Along with the lack of support for their relationship from Avin’s family, the couple had found themselves living in different cities. Avin moved to western North Dakota for an internship, and Dave moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota for a new job. This left almost a ten hour drive between them. Despite these hard times for this young love, Dave proposed to Avin. They both knew this is what they wanted, but Avin knew she would have to say goodbye to her family, possibly forever, due to the conflict. Although it was the most painful decision of her life, Avin had no doubts that this love was the one thing she could not live without. Avin parted with her family, who she had lived with for over 21 years, to be with Dave, who she would spend the rest of her life with.
Relocating to Madison together to get away from the controversy added to the difficulty; they were distancing themselves from their remaining support system and starting a new life. This is when Avin and Dave leaned on each other a little more and both were there to hold each other up. As Dave and Avin plan their wedding, experience new highs and help each other get through the lows, their love grows. It has become more and more obvious that all of their sacrifice has been worth it. Their fairytale continues on July 12, 2008 when they will proclaim their love for one another in front of their family and friends and begin their life together as husband and wife.
Betsy & Mike - August 2008 - Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Once upon a time a girl met a boy... Mike and I have over come many obstacles in the eight (8) years we have been together. We met in college. It amuses us greatly that both of us being from Illinois had to go to Indiana to find each other. Mike graduated a year before I did putting our relationship to its first of many tests. A long distant relationship. Once I graduated I accepted a job in Wisconsin. After many miles on our cars we realized something needed to change. I moved back to Illinois and within a few months, Mike asked me the question I had longed to hear from him for seven years at the time. He proposed. Of course with tears of joy I accepted. Love was never a question in our relationship but timing, location, and cost were. We've been saving now for months to have a beautiful wedding. We would love nothing more than to have help finding a photographer. We know marriage is hard and we have more challenges a head of ourselves. Our parents are helping us as much as they can but it doesn't seem to be enough. We would love our wedding to be captured for all its beauty and what it represents. A girl who fell in love with a boy and had their wish come true. A life together.
You may have expected to see some info and results regarding our big wedding photography giveaway, but we've decided to extend the deadline for a few more days to March 11. Rest assured though that will be the final deadline.
If you didn't find out about the contest until it was too late to get your info in, then this is your lucky break! We have a few really good entries, and we would love to hear some more stories! It's not too late! Check out the details here.
March 1 is the deadline for entries into the 2007 Best of Bride contest! If you haven't filled out your entry yet there's no time like now!
I've been blessed enough to be nominated for the past two years, and I'm hoping to achieve that again and WIN this year. But I need your help! I would be honored to have your vote, but don't wait any longer. Thanks!
If you don't already know, Val and I really enjoy the outdoors in the winter, winter camping especially. For Christmas I got her a pair of snowshoes, and my parents bought both of us really nice anoraks, which is like a oversized wind breaker. We're headed to the UP in a couple weeks to do some camping and shooting there for a few days with my dad and some other friends, so we thought we had better take our snowshoes for a test drive to make sure everything works like it should. We were going to go to a park or the arboretum or something, but with all the snow today all we needed to do was step outside and we found ourselves in four foot drifts of snow! Hopefully we'll get out this weekend to an area park to put the tent and toboggan though it's paces. We'll keep you posted!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Val and I hung out at Pierre and Anna's house tonight along with some other friends eating and playing poker ad eating and drinking and eating ... Well you get the idea. Happy new year everyone!!
My buddy Pierre and I will be teaching a workshop on wedding photography together this spring, but we wanted to make it more than just your ordinary workshop. So we thought, what better way to teach wedding photography than to have students actually observe Pierre and I photograph a wedding ... a REAL wedding. So here's the deal:
If your wedding is March 29th or 30th, 2008 we are offering, absolutely free, 9 Hours of multi-photographer coverage valued at more than $3200. Qualifications and restrictions apply. This is not a sales gimmick or marketing ploy.
Pierre and Dave Watkins will be teaching a two day master class on cutting edge wedding photography that weekend, and are looking for the right couple to showcase their wedding. Up to 20 students would attend the wedding and reception as quiet observers and shadow us on location.
If you are interested or know someone who may be, please contact us right away to discuss the details. Don’t wait - this offer is not going to repeat itself and is available for a limited time only.
So Val and I made the drive home from the Quad Cities Sunday morning/afternoon, and man it was a frightful one. I've driven in some bad weather before, but I don't think I've ever made such a long drive in such terrible conditions before. The road was basically ice covered for the most part, and in some parts there were snow drifts covering the roadway that would appear suddenly. The wind was whipping up the snow so much that for most of the drive we could only see about 50 yards ahead, and occasionally we literally couldn't see the front of the car - everything was white! The wind was strong enough that there were a few times when a gust would hit the car and I could feel the everything start to slide, like the road was just slipping out from underneath us. And to top it off there were still drivers who were passing everybody like the road was just fine! Not only were they endangering themselves and their car, but everyone else's on the road. I'm a pretty confident driver, but my nerves were pretty tattered by the time we got to Madison. Luckily we made it just fine. Have a safe and fun holiday everybody!
I think the term best that describes me is visual storyteller. That’s what I love about photography: it’s ability to tell stories about who we are and to communicate how it felt to be in a certain place and time.
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