David Simm Photography

David Simm Rescues Couple Jilted by their Wedding Studio

2011-07-31T17:26:00.018-05:00

Early on the morning of his wedding to Jennifer Anderson, Matthew Hancock discovered that the high volume studio, he and his bride to be,had retained to photograph their wedding, had just jilted them, left them in the lurch with no photographer for that afternoon.

I received a call from a clearly distressed Matt as my buddy and I were just arriving in Waukanda for a day out, he explained his situation to me and at 10.30am I set off for the 45 min drive home, leaving my buddy Tom alone in the little lakeside community. I had to check my equipment and batteries, freshen up and change clothes then set of for the 20 mile trip to get into Chicago for 12.30pm. To cover all that ground in such a short time I really could've done with a cape and a pair of red knickers but I made in good time and started work before anyone could suspect anything was amiss.

At this juncture, the bride, Jenny, was blissfully unaware that their studio had walked out on them and when I arrived at the hotel, I didn't say anything that might alert her that there was a problem, however before long she was asking questions I just couldn't answer, questions about the studio they had hired.

It was all I could do to avert a panic in the bride and it took all my years of professionalism to reassure her that she was in good hands, with a few light hearted comments at a good number of camera post view images of candids that I had captured up to that point, I quickly had her relaxed and comfortable with me. Little did she know how difficult my job was, I hadn't been involved in any of the briefing sessions, never met either of them up to that moment, knew absolutely nothing about their taste all I had to go off was Matt's comments about the shots on my website that he loved.

Bear in mind too, that it was a 90°F plus day and we were out during the highest part of the day shooting pictures out of doors near the hotel, then of the trolley ride to the church, the nuptial mass ceremony at St. Joseph's Chicago, off around the city for shots by the Wrigley Building and Shedd Aquarium and finally to the reception at Galleria Marchetti.

Middle Eastern Men's Wear - Fashion Shoot

2011-07-03T18:07:00.009-05:00

The last thing most people would think of as the subject of a fashion shoot, is perhaps Middle Eastern Men's Wear, more likely you would think of Versace or Armani, but then EmQue Thobes have aspirations on being the designer brand for the classic Muslim garb.
So the owners of EmQue Thobes, with three of their family members to stand in as models, and I, all set off for Evanston to find a location to shoot a set of fashion images.

All the Thobes photographed will be modeled this weekend at the ICNA conference here in Chicagoland and three of the images were produced as 80" x 32" banners for display on the EmQueThobes.com exhibit booth at the event.
The shoot took place by the campus of Northwestern University, images were proofed out the same day and post produced to the pop up banner size within 24 hours, much to the delight of the EmQue directors. This is just the kind of challenge I can really rise to and I'm grateful to EmQue for considering me to produce these images.

More Pictures Past: The First Portrait I Ever Shot in USA

2011-04-20T07:34:00.004-05:00

It was 1988 my family and I had just arrived in the country, we were staying temporarily in a New Braunfels, TX., hotel, as I showed my work around the local community and made friends at the town's Ice Cream Parlour, I booked an outdoor portrait session for a 13 year old young lady.

Looking for a suitable spot we followed the Guadalupe River as it meandered through New Braufels toward the village of Gruene, until we found an accommodating opening with huge boulders in mid stream.

The reason we had to drive so far was that most of the river in New Braunfels ran through privately owned lands and of course the famous Schlitterbahn water park and we wanted a stretch of water that was freely open to the public and, since much of the river is white water, I had to find a safe stretch for the child.

Oddly enough; as I was carrying the little girl out to the boulder, where she was to sit for the portrait, my own two year old son had jumped straight into the raging rapid, so I had to run back and fish him out before the river swallowed him. As his mother dried him of and changed his clothes I went back to my portrait session.

For the techy types this shot was taken on a Mamiya C330, twin lens reflex camera, with the 110mm lenses, film was processed at San Antonio Photo Lab and I made a 30" x 40" display print for my "future" studio. Of course at that stage it was going to be quite some time before the first studio was set, we left New Braunfels for Los Angeles, CA., a few weeks later.

More Images from the distant past

2011-04-15T11:17:00.005-05:00

As I continue to look back on the past fifty years that I have been a professional photographer, I manage to keep finding images that I created along the way. This portrait of the little ballet girl was captured close to fifty years ago, I was just a teenager and the little girl (Gillian Foy, I think) was about six.

Importantly this was the first time I portrayed anyone nor had I any instruction in correct posing of ballet dancers, I kind of imagined a scene of the dying swan and then struggled to get a newbie six year old into a realistic pose. If nothing else the parents were delighted with the image and the 20" x 16" that went in my window display brought lots more work in so I suppose I got away with it. The picture was created in my studio at 194 Ormskirk Rd., Newtown, Wigan in the north west of England, the camera was a Yashica Mat loaded with Ilford FP3 and the scene was lit with a single RRB 100 w Fresnel spot in an attempt to emulate a stage shot.

Bear in mind tat in my teens I was completely self taught, I hadn't begun attending seminars or shown any interest in the Societies, Associations or Institutions and wouldn't do for several more years.

Another Blast From My Distant Past

2011-03-02T10:45:00.007-06:00

The year was 1960, I had just left school with my "O"Levels and landed a job at the local freelance news firm, McConnell News Service, in Addison Chambers, Walgate, Wigan. At sixteen years old, I was the junior photographer.

In my first week I arrived at work a little early one morning to find the partners and reporters sitting round discussing the calls from the day before. I heard my name mentioned and up went my ears. I had just been assigned to go out on the job that no one else wanted.

J. Lawrence Isherwood, a publicity seeking artist had phoned in to say he had just completed his rendition of "Lady Chatterly's Lover", D. H. Lawrence's extremely controversial novel of the day. Of course all the seasoned reporters and photographers were convinced that nothing would come of the job and saw it as an experience building opportunity for me.

At sixteen and too young for a driver's license I took a bus up Wigan Lane to the Infirmary, Jimmy Isherwood and his mother Lil lived in the end house just across the street. Let me just clarify one point here, he was known to the art world, the general public and the media people as J. Lawrence Isherwood, but to his mother Lily, his brother Gordon (and his family), ex wife Pat and yours truly his name was Jimmy.

The day we met was the start of a lifelong friendship, but a bit of a challenge at the beginning, the house had paintings, paintings and even more paintings from floor to ceiling everywhere. Lil invited me in to their sitting room at the back of the house and there was the picture of Lady C on Jimmy's work easel.

As we chatted I was quietly trying to figure out how I could make this appeal to a news/picture editor so that it would appear in print. The painting was an impressionist image of a couple on a bed and the juicy parts were to say the least, a very vague blur of skillful painting that wouldn't even appeal to the provincial evening papers.

In a flash of inspiration I decided to have Jimmy tuck the 20" x 16" painting under his left arm, and pretend to be sneaking it across the way to a van. So there was the crouched artist by the back doors of a van, right arm reaching to open the doors, left sleeve conveniently obscuring the middle of the painting, with just the couple's heads protruding, Jimmy was surreptitiously glancing over his left shoulder because of the controversial nature of the Lady C story and I caught what turned out to be the image that defined and launched his career.

This was much bigger than anyone at the time could have imagined, my picture made it across four columns in The News of The World, it was hard to imagine, my first big hit at the age of 16, Isherwood was now so famous an hotel in Southport named a suite after him, he spent several months in Spain working on assignments and his work was selling for real money, no longer being traded for groceries.

I bumped into his brother, Gordon, whose shoe store was on the street level below our offices, while on my way into work one day, Gordon couldn't thank me enough for launching "Our Jimmy" and insisted that as long as I had feet, I would never pay for a pair of shoes again, actually as a teenager I did shop at his store, so true to his word Gordon took very good care of me during those years.

On his return from Spain we went on meeting, Lily, Jimmy and I, at the Cherry Gardens on Wigan Lane, sadly the success and the money had lead to problems all of their own, the marriage to Pat was very short lived and my friend had started drinking rather heavily.

I remember visiting him at Billinge Hospital where he had been admitted for some supervised R & R.

Flat broke and wanting to mount a come back exhibition of his work, I lent him a handful of 20 x 16" frames to display the work in, well the exhibition paid off and he sold his work.... in the frames.... Not to worry he promised that I could help myself to as many paintings as I wanted to cover the cost. Now bear in mind some of this man's work was outstanding, depending on when it was painted.

I only took one, for sentimental reasons, a ghostly depiction the early 1900's Maypole Pit Disaster in Wigan and it was painted at the time Jimmy was living on a liquid diet, so while the painting is all black and grey, there is one uncharacteristic blob of pale blue, right where it shouldn't be. Although I said uncharacteristic, blue was always one of Jimmy's favourite colours. However that, for me, defined the time it was painted and while Isherwood paintings are currently fetching any where between two and ten thousand dollars apiece, for me mine is priceless. You can see more about the works of J.Lawrence Isherwood 1917-1989 at http://www.artbyisherwood.co.uk/

More Pictures From The Past

2011-02-19T22:46:00.004-06:00

As I look back on the past fifty years in the industry, I occasionally come across some of the more amusing moments for me. Back in the 1970s I was quite a ferocious industry activist, a very prolific author of stinging controversial articles and my pet hates in the late seventies/early eighties were product delivered in yellow boxes, or more to the point anything at all to do with the great yellow father.
Our EP2 colour prints had an anticipated display life of somewhere between two and ten years and for me that was appalling, there was I beavering away to make award winning images that could conceivably fade into obscurity in less than a decade. Could you imagine a Rembrandt fading before the eyes of gallery visitors, my ego was getting dented.
I had many professional colleagues who'd had to reprint portraits for the clients because of serious fading, believe me it was getting to me.
I was not about to be complacent about it, I had a plan. I embarked on a project to create "Permanent Portrayals" and so far as I know I am the only photographer in history to attempt to take on this issue.

I wanted to replace negative film, that had to be printed onto the flawed EP2 materials and capture all my portraits on transparency film. After several tests I settled on FUJI RDP 120 size film, which I had already decided would be printed onto Cibachrome archivally permanent print material.

The other salient that contributed to my problems with the project was that, singularly, the most popular medium for wall size portraits was canvas and in those days we had to strip the emulsion off the prints to bond it onto the substrate, how was I to achieve that with polyester based Cibachrome. My research led me to the Pearl surface, which was the only Ciba product of resin coated on fibres, this could work.
Rachael Anders was the first subject for one of my permanent portrayals, so Hasselblad loaded with Fuji RDP, I conducted the sitting at her parent's home, in Appley Bridge, Lancashire. I was also well into available light and soft focus portraits in those days and this session was going to be no exception.
We tried a couple of locations around the house, starting with the front door and finishing up in the little girl's bedroom, here are two of those portraits from the session, I saw these two framed images still hanging on the wall of Rachael's parent's home in 2006 when I went back to UK to photograph Rachael's wedding.
These are the two Cibachrome Canvas Portraits as they hung on the wall in 2006 twenty four years after they were created, remember colour prints from that period were normally fading in less than ten years. The images were as good as the day they were printed and I have every confidence they'll still be hanging in another quarter century, boy that makes me feel good. Above all I think it justifies my, eccentric, desire to create the permanent portrayals series, at least I can grow old in the knowledge that my 1980's portraits beat the odds.

Web site overhaul

2011-02-17T06:58:00.003-06:00

Thankfully I've almost completed the website overhaul I started a couple of weeks ago, but one thing I noticed, I suspect this is going to become an ongoing exercise with frequent updates almost becoming necessary on a weekly basis.
So watch this space I will be posting more frequent comments than in the past, I will also from time to time add images from recent weddings and events, where agreeable to the client, I photograph quite a few Muslim weddings and many families don't appreciate their daughter's images going on the internet, so that might make for some gaps in the project.
However when possible I will try to show "images of the week" so drop by often to see the changes.

The Blizzard of 2011

2011-02-06T11:00:00.010-06:00

There's not an awful lot anyone would want to say about being caught in a blizzard, I am quite happy to say that I was at home when it started, and was fortunate enough to have the whole family with along with sufficient provisions to last more than a few days.

Thankfully it only lasted a day and while we're still under several inches of snow, our family all pulled together to keep the driveway and footpath clear.

I shot a few images from the dining room window, the bathroom window and the front door to record the event. And then as we started to clean up I took pictures as we worked so take a look at our perspective of the blizzard of 2011,

Taken through the bathroom window of the upstairs deck, showing five foot long icicles hanging from the gutter.

Through the front door and even though we had shoveled several times the path to the driveway is still knee deep.

The view through the dining room window, towards the forest, i't absolutely overwhelming with 2 feet of snow covering everything and with the blizzard it was even higher by the back door and walls of the house.

Every few hours I would try to cut a path through to the drive, so that eventually we would be able to dig out.

Once the snow stopped, I cut a path through to the street, so that we could start to free the cards and what a monumental task that was.

Here I am down at the street and starting to dig my way back to the cars, it's still kind of academic at this stage since the street hasn't been cleared, but we will be ready when it is. Way in the background is the house and that is how far we have to shovel and as you can see right in the foreground, the depth is more than two feet.

We piled the snow up on either side of the drive, eventually shifting more than 600 cu ft and building 5 feet high mountains of snow. We were done with shoveling our driveway a good 24 hours before the street was cleaned. Now all we had to do was sit inside and wait.

Fifty Years Behind The Lens

2011-01-31T12:36:00.016-06:00

It doesn't quite seem so long to me; perhaps because I had such a great time getting here, but I have just discovered that I have passed a major landmark in my career.

Yes; I have spent the last fifty years behind the lens, now I know that must make me seem ancient to the Nintendo Generation, but I can assure you all, that thanks to the advent of digital imaging ten years ago, it seems like I have only been at this for about ten years.

The good thing is that the previous forty built up a huge bank of experience and knowledge that I couldn't have managed without, especially during the transition

During the coming days I will be looking up some pictures past, particularly those that highlight some of the progress and changes that took place in the industry during my career.

Just as a little retrospective, when I began as a junior press photographer back in 1960, I was sent out with a huge 5" x 4" plate camera and glass plates, very soon after we moved onto medium format cameras, the purpose was to increase our speed and creativity without losing any of the quality associated with the much larger plate camera.

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Shot in 1960, when I was just 16 years old, this is probably the first image I created as an apprentice at McConnell New Service in Wigan. Camera 5" x 4" Micropress.

It was in the late 1960's that I was one of the pioneers of colour wedding photography and in house processing / printing, while more that 98% of the industry were still predominantly black and white.

As I got involved with colour photography, in the very early days, there where only a few very specialized colour processing labs., and they were very expensive. in order make the new medium take off it had to be affordable, do I brought the process in house,learning how to colour correct and all about the chemistry of the day.

I continued with medium format all the way into the 21st century and in early 2001, I started to experiment with digital capture and post production.

My workflow has been 100% digital since February 2002 making me one of the pioneers of Digital wedding photography.

I had to learn about digital capture as I went along, but I didn't introduce it to clients until I was absolutely certain of the quality. I took digital cameras with me along side the film cameras and made a few extra shots to practice on when I got home.

In 2001 I was the first wedding Photographer in USA to offer GraphiStudio Italian designer albums and still to this day I am on the look out for new and more innovative wedding products.

After 50 years with a camera in my hand, is anything going to change for the foreseeable future?heck no, I still love what I do every bit as much as the day I started, the only difference is; I don't have to bite my nails waiting for the film to be processed, these days I know precisely what will be captured even before I press the shutter button.

Nowadays, of course it's all captured digitally and the quality and creativity are unlimited, whether its portraiture, events, wedding or commercial photography, the sky is the limit and I'm so glad I have been around through all these fantastic developments.

Society of Wedding & Portrait Photographers Conference

2011-01-06T11:51:00.002-06:00

On Wednesday of next week, I fly to London, UK, where I will be presenting three seminars.
The first will be Classical lighting and posing for portraitists and wedding Photographers and is designed to help newer photographers master the basic skills required to earn professional qualifications. We will explore a variety of techniques for off camera lighting set ups for studio and location applications. I will demonstrate how to make great look pictures of hands, hands are the most feared appendages for most photographers who just don't understand the art of fixing them properly.
Second in the series will be Creating Designer Albums in PhotoShop, when photographers are able to bring their own album design in house, it separates them from those who use generic designs from the album makers and bookbinders who use the same old templates for all their customers, this 2 hour Master Class will elevate the delegate's work to designer level.
Finally I will do a presentation on Multi Cultural Wedding Photography for photographers who aspire to cover weddings outside of their own cultural, religious or ethnic group.
There are customs and etiquette in many religions and cultures that westerners are ignorant of, "Where and when should we cover our heads? aught we to take our shoes off before entering here? whom may we touch and who should we not touch when setting up groups and portraits?" these are all questions I have been asked in the past; by photographers who are straying out of their comfort zone. Moreover they all subjects that I have taught before to professionals on both sides of the Atlantic.

New Year New Hope for our industry

2011-01-02T12:48:00.005-06:00

I have no doubt there are many among us who are happy to see the end of 2010 and I have to say I share your emotions on that. Now we have seen the back of the old year and we're heralding in he new, let's eagerly look forward to a renewal of all that we had become once used to here in America,

Some of the sights I saw last year, particularly on the wedding scene, were things I had never witnessed in Chicagoland ever before. I really felt for some of the lovely couples I photographed, who in some cases had sacrificed greatly just to afford a decent set of photographs.

All the pundits are saying nowadays that the recession is over and employment is on the rise, I sincerely hope that is true, with so many qualified and talented young people graduating from colleges and universities, it is so important that they find rewarding careers before their enthusiasm dries up.

Well in spite of meandering off a bit to rant about the economy; I started this post with the best of intentions, to wish each and every one of you a very happy, healthy, prosperous new year, with all the success you deserve. May 2011 be the best year yet, for all of us and as I am putting the finishing touches to the tutorials I will be presenting at the annual convention of The Society of Wedding & Portrait Photographers, in London, UK from the 12th to 19th of this month, I too am hoping that an upturn in the economy will be much kinder to all of us than the year we have just left behind.

Happy New Year.

Photo Greeting Cards

2010-11-13T09:08:00.011-06:00

Holiday Portraits & Greeting Cards
As we approach Thanksgiving, days are getting shorter and we very quickly seem to run out of time for all the things we want to accomplish before the holidays. I can't tell you how many times people have said to me that they want to book a portrait sitting to have greeting cards ready for Christmas, only to leave it to the last minute and then realize that there isn't even time to address the envelopes and get the cards into mail in time for the holiday delivery.

If family portraits are on your mind and it is a consideration to give portraits as gifts or send out greeting cards, the time to act is now, at least get the session out of the way during the coming days or evenings and it will give you more time to peruse your preview images and decide what to give parents, aunts and uncles or even your children.

The sitting may be conducted in the comfort of your own home at a time that is convenient for you and your family, previews are usually ready for viewing later the same day.

Greetings cards take approximately two weeks including shipping from the lab. The cards we offer are the fabulous Stylart range of Hallmark quality cards and the astonishingly affordable price includes the printing of photos, for all but a small number, the inclusion of imprinting your names and a foil lined envelope.

If you'd like to take a look and some of the exquisite Stylart card designs here is a link to their website http://www.demo.stylartstore.com/ then click your browser's back button to return here.

You can also send greeting cards from your wedding photos and even your own family snaps, the picture does not need to have been created by David Simm Photography, just so long as you have a good high resolution digital file or a film negative, we can complete the job for you.

So for as little as $2.00 per card, all inclusive, you could be sending out the most fantastic personalized greetings cards to your family and friends.

You can write your own verse or choose from several professional composed verses that are in the Stylart catalogue.

Here are some examples of holidays for which custom greeting are available: Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter, Eid, Diwali, Kwanza and many more. You can also send pictures of your pets.

We can also create beautiful cards for birth announcements and wedding invitations. For more information call us today on 847 803 9450 or e-mail info@davidsimmphotography.com

Abby & Josh

2010-09-08T22:03:00.021-05:00

This last weekend I photographed three weddings, it was the busiest weekend I have had in years, normally I am reluctant to cover more than one event in a weekend. Two of the contracts were to help professional colleagues in other studios, so they won't be making an appearance on here for obvious reasons.Friday, however, was the wedding of Abby & Josh, which I covered for my joint venture wedding studio Just Married Photo/Video, at the Lincolnshire Resort by Marriott and I had a great time in the company of a really lively group. The wedding was officiated on the deck of the Lakeside Pavilion and while the weather kept threatening rain, it just never happened.

You can see

more of my work, along with the work of our developing team of wedding photographers at http://www.justmarriedpv.com .

Meanwhile here are more shots from Abby and Josh's lakeside wedding.

It was an early evening affair, with formals being taken before the ceremony. There is something about outdoor ceremonies that really appeals to me, I'm not absolutely sure why, but I just seem to get so much pleasure out shooting in the natural element.

Kim Kieskowki & Brian Wheeler

2010-08-05T10:47:00.014-05:00

The day got off to a pretty unimpressive start, pretty grey with the threat of rain, which thankfully never happened, then a garden swing broke and the branch that held it came crashing down, but once we were all over that and on our way, the wedding was a fantastic family affair.
Kim and Brian are two of the most easy going people I ever had the pleasure to work with, their families are energetic and fun loving, all in all the formula for a most enjoyable day. They opted to do the formal, posed pictures before the ceremony, leaving more time for enjoyment the rest of the day.
Kim supported by her bridesmaids, flower girl and Man of Honour, her former school friend and long time buddy Jason who graciously agreed to take on the role.
Next a special moment for daughter, Kylie, the little flower girl as she and her Mom exchange a little love.

Torrential downpour can't spoil couple's day

2010-06-28T09:08:00.005-05:00

What do you do when it rains? You get wet of course as this intimate wedding group did at the Merrick Rose Garden in Evanston, IL., on Friday 11th June. It started out overcast, but just as the couple started to exchange vows, the heavens opened, with no shelter at hand.

In Spite of the monsoon like rain storm Mike & Joellen stood their ground and exchanged their vows and I kept shooting to capture as much as I could of those very special moments.

Huddled under umbrellas the happy couple didn't let the torrential downpour spoil their day as the lady minister pronounces the Benediction, the whole party is saturated.

Congratulations and best wishes, above all thank you for allowing me to share these beautiful memories.

Team Banners for Sports Photography

2010-06-28T08:34:00.006-05:00

The economic conditions of the past twelve months have had a very serious impact on the photography profession, many studios around Chicagoland, some that were household names, have been decimated, I was shocked as I drove down Milwaukee Ave., the other day, to see one of USA's oldest established studios had closed it's doors. They weren't in the same market as I, except that they did photograph weddings, they were the high volume while I specialized in much lower volume, higher quality capture, with designer albums and very personalized service.
None the less; in order to beat the recession, even photographers like me have had to look carefully at the services they offer and in many cases expand the range into other markets.
During the past few months on quieter weekends, I have filled the days by shooting sports and other disciplines that I never thought I would do.
I have to admit that many of the different events I worked on have been a lot of fun, as has the planning and looking for products and services that are different from the run of the mill.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was asked by a professional colleague to look at baseball teams and to see if we could come up with an idea for a team banner. The team: The Oswego Cobras Under Nines, and this is the result. I photographed the boys, each in an individual pose, looking as menacing as they could, and in a straight line. Then we removed the background and built up this low key look with two cobras in relief, a lightening bolt above an oversize ball and the collegiate lettering. I think it works, the parents loved it and my colleague received very positive feedback from other teams.
Visitor comments would be appreciated so if you'd like to leave a comment, please feel free.

Complimentary Portraits for our wedding couple's first born.

2010-05-25T15:03:00.007-05:00

Some weeks ago I mentioned my long standing offer to brides and grooms, to come back to me for a complimentary portrait sitting with their first born.. It's so funny really that so few couples ever take me up on it, yet in the past I have published some delightful baby pictures, and today's is no exception.

This is little Jordan Mend the baby daughter of Jennifer Rifis-Meng and Mark Meng and what a little cutie she is. I really would love to see more of our past couples coming back with their first born, after all the portrait sitting is completely free of charge

The Changing Wedding Scene

2010-05-25T09:31:00.018-05:00

It's pretty fair to say that the wedding market has changed almost beyond recognition for old school photographers, but is it really better for the client?
Almost every couple shopping for wedding photography these days, asks about the Hi Res image files and say they want to make up their own album. In the modern age, I suppose they have the right, but are they well advised, well there are scrap booking franchise stores all over USA and internet self publishing (Indigo Presses) companies, but neither of those options can ever come close to the sophisticated look and feel of a custom factory bound album like the ones illustrated here. So maybe it's the option to have their prints made at a one hour lab, Wallmart or drug store, indeed that should be a possibility, getting high quality camera files from a professional photographer and making your own prints, but stop and think for a moment, do you expect them to be as good as if the photographer had printed them?

I have news for you, the prints from a one hour lab, straight from camera files can never look like a professional portrait and here’s an analogy that will make it clearer for you.

Think of a cake, a delicious cake, coming straight out of the oven, does it have any eye appeal? You know it will be yummy, but how does it look?

Well at this stage it’s unfinished and until it is decorated it has absolutely no eye appeal. The same applies to a portrait, the digital master file, straight from the camera has not been enhanced with the care and skill of the artist, it’s just like the undecorated cake. Until the professional photographer has retouched and enhanced the image in his/her “digital darkroom”, the computer, that camera file can only turn out a very ordinary, but high quality, snap.

This is a jpeg straight from the camera and as you can see it is a lovely shot, the bride looks radiant, beautifully posed, and even straight from the camera will yield a perfect print, but until it is enhanced and turned into a portrait it is vin ordinaire. Next look at the same portrait , the way I set it up for an exhibition, and while that is not quite the way I would deliver to the client, with my logo all across it, it nicely illustrates the enhancement that a little professional expertise can add to a camera file.

So if you’re really thinking about making your own prints and albums, first ask to see the difference, between a straight print, straight from the camera, and a beautifully enhanced portrait print. You’ll be amazed at the difference. Then compare the scrap booking material and do it yourself albums with the superb quality custom bound books that are only available through your professional photographer and ask yourself, “Is second best really what I want for my wedding pictures?”

I know times are difficult, they’re difficult for all of us, some just don’t want to admit it, but in the scheme of things it won’t affect your overall budget that much to do it properly, it may mean a little tweak of how much you spend on flowers, linens and other less permanent products or services, but only you can make that choice.

At David Simm Photography, just like almost every other studio in the wedding market today, we do let you keep your Digital Master Files, (sometimes wrongly called "digital negatives"), but we do want you to appreciate the difference between an award winning work of art and a one hour photolab print and I hope this has cleared up some of the mystery.

I know that most people believe that photographers are just trying to hang on to their files to make more money, in some cases that may be true, photographers are just like anyone else who has made a huge investment in education, equipment and infrastructure, but that is not the whole story. The images above should, once and for all, put that myth to rest, it is the genuine concern to deliver the highest possible aesthetic and technical quality that drives the majority of qualified professional photographers, by that I mean professional photographers, who mostly work for themselves and not necessarily the ultra high volume studios or franchise operations. My advice, Trust your local Professional.

I can't cover every wedding in Chicagoland, there is only one Saturday in each week and only one of me, I am deliberately low volume, so my clients can expect the very best in personal attention, quality, value and service. If you wish to know more about my wedding photography, please call me on 847 803 9450 I'd be happy to answer your questions.

Society of Wedding & Portrait Photographers 2011 Conference

2010-04-05T09:25:00.006-05:00

On Friday I received my official invitation to present three programmes at the UK conference of SWPP. Two will be 2 hour Master Classes and one will be a four hour Super Class. The Super Class "Back to Basics" is a posing and lighting 101 type presentation designed for professional photographers, aspiring to reach Licentiateship standard in portraiture and wedding photography, and will build from a basic studio lighting set up and progress to cover more complex multi-light studio and location sets.
I first taught this course at Wigan Technical College in 1979 and later at The Master Photographers Association Conference in 1984, over the years I have refined the content to include lighting for digital capture, not only is it popular with younger less experienced professionals but it has also attracted many seasoned professionals as well. This first image demonstrates the basic wrap round lighting set up.
The second of the three seminars will be Creating designer album pages from digital files, a subject about which I receive many e-mails and phone calls. I started creating designer albums long before the advent of digital imaging and had a head start on the industry and was the first photographer in USA to offer Italian Designer Albums. Nowadays I continue the tradition by personally designing albums for all the weddings I photograph.

I will cover the basic design process in a two hour Master Class starting with the emulation of matted books on a simulated matte page and then go more deeply into freestyle designs of two page panoramic spreads similar to the one illustrated here.
The are many ways to design album pages and many softwares and plug ins on the market that will do the hob with varying degrees of efficiency, my method has always be to construct page templates in PhotoShop and to customize them to my own needs and or my client's taste.
Finally a subject very close to my heart, Muli-Cultural weddings, I hear many photographers saying that they would love to cover the colourful weddings like I do, but when I ask them what they know of the culture they're discussing, they say they know nothing. Well in order to be a success photographing in cultures other than one's own it is paramount to have an understanding of the religions, traditions and expectations of the clients, it's important to know when to put your hat on or take your shoes off so as to show respect for where you are. In two hours we can only touch briefly on the kind of behaviour that will be expected of a photographer but it will be more than enough to get them into the right frame of mind for discussing and asking the right questions of couples who's culture and traditions may be very different from our own.

2010-01-24T19:42:00.004-06:00

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it is a great time to be thinking of a stunning portrait for someone you love, or perhaps you and the person you adore.

If you're out weding shopping, getting an engagment portrait take is fantastic and inexpensive way to meet with a photographer to find out if he/she could work comfortably with you. It is an opportunity for you and the photographer, so much so that I will refund the session fee for you, when you book your wedding photography.

That has to be a good deal, book a portrait session, have the pictures ready in time for Valentine's Day and if the session inspires you to book your wedding, you get the session fee back. Call for an appointment today.

Thanksgiving at Wilmette Seniors Club

2009-12-01T21:53:00.006-06:00

When my wife, two children, and I first settled here in Chicagoland, we really didn't know much about American holidays, particularly Thanksgiving, so we were really at a loose end, anyway the kids and I went off to help Wilmette Rotary club and the Seniors by serving Thanksgiving Dinner. Eighteen years later we're still doing it, I have to say it has been one of the most rewarding projects we've ever undertaken.

Even though our two eldest kids couldn't be here this year, one because of a military deployment the other away at college, the two younger ones helped me continue the tradition.

Eighteen years old Amal Simm assists Rotarians Joe Goldstein and Gayle Inbinder, passing out fresh baked bread rolls to the seniors, meanwhile eleven years old Raza is working in the coat room, collecting donations of canned foods and dry goods for distribution to the food pantry.

The was a fantastic turnout of seniors at the Meskill Center in Wilmette and thanks to center manager Ruthie Brew, for the first time in the eighteen years history of the seniors Thanksgiving Dinner, invocations were recited in each of several religious traditions that represented the various cultures and religions attending.

There were of course tinges of sadness intermingled in the joy of this fabulous event, since we started eighteen years ago, we made many friends whom we look forward to seeing year after year, but as life is being as it is, many of the lovely people we met years ago are no longer with us, but with each succeeding year we do manage to make a bunch of new friends and live in hope that we will go on seeing them as the years roll on.

Just as the event was getting under way, my phone rang and son Ahmed was calling from Camp Lejeune, where he had just arrived back from Afghanistan, he called to say he would work the event with us next year. All in all Thanksgiving 09 was a great success, as soon as we had finished with cleaning up we had to dash home to collect my wife and set off for Thanksgiving with a group of close friends from our own community center.

Holiday Greeting Cards

2009-10-21T17:11:00.005-05:00

Beat the rush, most people wait until early December to think about Christmas cards, by then the rush in on, delivery times are strecthed, the risk of errors is increased, though thankfully in previous years, these have been relatively few. However the single most important reason for ordering early is the discount, there is quite a substantial saving by ordering before the 31st October. So if Hallmark Quality Photo Christmas Cards are in your plans, now is the time to call.

These are just a small selection of this years designs from Stylart™ Holiday Greeting Cards. Once you have selected a portrait or any photo you want and would like to share with friends and family as your Christmas, or holiday greeting card, check our catalogue and place your order. The cards, including photograph, foil lined envelope and personalised printing range

from just a little over $2 each.

Autumn Leaves Portraits

2009-10-21T15:35:00.003-05:00

The beautiful Fall Colours seem to have taken us all by surprise this year, a couple of cold nights early in October brought about a very sudden change in the landscape, for those of us who want to take advantage of this for our annual fall colour portraits, time is very precious, we need to act very swiftly before the leave have all fallen to the ground. Fall Portraits also make superb greeting cards for the holidays, this year the Stylart™ Book of All Occasion Greeting Cards has some spectacular new designs, so if you're thinking about photographic or portrait Christmas Cards call to view the samples today.

There are several great spots for fall portraits around Glenview, even the forest behind my home looks outstanding at the moment, but if you fancy somewhere different this year, take a look at Harms Woods, The Grove, Skokie Lagoon or one of the other north shore beauty spot, which ever you choose, book quickly so as not to miss the best of the autumn hues for your family portrait.

Catching up on the summer's work

2009-10-21T07:16:00.021-05:00

It doesn't seem like so long since I was last updating my blog, but time has just flown by. I spent much of the summer with out door portraits, wedding work a fabulous birthday party in one of the distant south suburbs and designing albums for some of last year's weddings. So here are a few images from some of the events.
Lets begin with the Rand Family, these portraits were produced to celebrate the wedding anniversary of the Matriarch and Patriarch with their children, extended family and grand children.
I enjoy working in the natural environment, here we see a set of images produced in the family's back yard. In spite of sun light filtering through the trees, the addition of a studio portrait light has balance the illumination quite nicely. The full family group was broken down into individual families, children were photographed and finally one fun shot of all the cousins. All in all a very enjoyable portrait session.

The Grove, National Monument park in Glenview, IL., is one of my favourite outdoor locations for family portraits, there are so many natural and unspoiled backgrounds, the grounds staff don't try to over landscape the place, so it always looks just like we're out among nature at it's best. This was the setting the Purpura-Lorenzo Family Portraits, the logs are from my own backyard, whenever I need to take care of the trees on my property I keep the longs for occasions such as this.

Industrial Competion Win

2009-06-10T16:22:00.005-05:00

It has been a while since I last entered a competition with an industrial or commercial image; so when I sent in my photograph of a ship bunkering in Jeddah Harbour, Saudi Arabia, to BPPA forum, winning was the last thing I had in mind. I think I was more interested to see how my work would hold up against the modern generation. Well I am happy to say that it took the first place and oddly enough it was actually my second choice that I submitted, originally I had

intended to submit the rocket science picture from IIT but it completely slipped my mind on the day.
Still I do like the image of the massive tanker framed above the crude oil pipeline in the still waters of the harbour and the floating bunker hoses, it has long been one of my favourite industrial photographs, with all that wonderful depth of field from my trusty old Hasslblad SWC. The Rocket science picture, in contrast, was taken on my Fuji S2 Pro Digital camera and that was the reason I wanted to enter that, now that I so seldom use film. None the less it is easy to see

from this comparison, that photographers like me didn't really loose anything by switching to digital, the super quality of the machined metal with cyan and magenta illumination looks every bit as good as the output from the great Hasselblad. I think I am being inspired to rekindle some of my old industrial and commercial accounts, I rather fancy another trip to the middle east, it such a fabulous place and the people are just wonderful. So if there are any industrialists out there, looking in on my blog, please note DS is ready, willing and very clearly able to tackle your next assignment or annual report.

2009-05-02T10:47:00.005-05:00

One of my greatest delights about being a photographer is the diversity of subject matter I am asked to photograph. When I got a call from Mr. Tracy Powell, editor of Automobile Quarterly, one of my regular clients, I knew I was in for an interesting assignment.
In the past AQ have sent me out to shoot some fascinating vehicles, including the only ever Marmon V12 ever built, a 1932 engineering masterpiece and once auto builder, Howard Marmon's personal wheels, The National Corvette Museum, needs no explanation, except perhaps to say that it is in Bowling Green, Kentucky, just across the road from the GM plant that builds America's legendary sports car. Two years ago I shot a collection of one of a kind concept cars, here on the north shore, none of these vehicles ever went into production, but many of them had features that we're all familiar with, since they showed up on a number of household names.

My latest AQ assignment the private collection of Ed and Judy Schoenthaler, is the home of some of the most unbelievably beautiful automobiles that history has ever seen.

Cole Tippery

2009-05-02T10:34:00.008-05:00

Cole Tippery is the first born son of Christine and Mark Tippery, one of my wedding couples from early last year. Every couple who use my services for their wedding is told that I will happily do a complimentary portrait of their first born, sadly only a handful ever seem to take me up on that offer, perhaps it is because I photograph so many wedding for out of state couples, who seldom make it back to Chicago.
I would like this to serve as reminder to all my past wedding couples, who have not yet taken advantage of the offer, believe me, I meant it and you are still entitled to your complimentary portrait of your first born, even if he/she has already started school. When you think about it I have been around long enough for some cllients to come back with adult offspring, that could be amusing, maybe not quite as cute as a cuddly infant, but I will honour my offer, since didn't put a time limit on it anyway.

Truthfully there's nothing I like better than seeing my past clients and how they're getting on with life long after the album have been delivered. Oh; I know that sadly some are no longer still together, I have actually photographed second and third marriages for some past clients, sad the first one didn't work, but really glad they like me enough to come back again.

2009-05-02T10:04:00.008-05:00

Little did I realise when I started to blog just how much time it might consume. Looking back I can see I have neglected updating entries and yet there is much to talk about.
Early in March was the beautiful wedding of a wonderful couple Asiya and Irshad, my daughter Amal went to the Mehndi Ki Raat and managed to get some interesting shots, but as they're of the ladies, regrettably I can't share them on here.
The Picture on the right is from the day of the Nikkah, which I shot at Islamic Foundation Mosque in Villa Park with a reception to follow in Lincolnwood. The Walima took place in Chicago and was quite a lovely affair. The ladies had their own entertainment and the men did their thing, much to the enjoyment of everyone. Asiya and Irshad had a liking for portraits so we went outside to produce a selection.
As this selection shows we worked pretty quickly, just before the sun set, with very little time to spare. The images were very pleasing for me and I know Asiya and Irshad both loved them. So it really did go towards making the whole event so very enjoyable, moreover, when it comes time to design the album/coffee table book we will now have so much more to work with, by adding romantic portraits to all the usual fast paced photojournalistic capture.
Indeed I am very much looking forward to the design stage, which can only start after the bride and groom have made their selctions from the hudreds of images captured.
Although this is not a first, to have the opportunity to make great romantic portraits at a Muslim wedding, but it is one that doesn't happen all the time, so for me it adds to the pleasure, when I am able to create a handful of memorable compositions as well as the story telling candids and PJ shots. Congratulations Asiya & Irshad I am looking forward now to creating your book.

Dulhania Bazaar a huge success

2009-02-24T22:38:00.016-06:00

Sunday the 22nd February saw the arrival of Chicago's first ever Dulhania Bazaar, a vibrant and exotic south Asian Bridal show and what a tremendous success it was. More than one thousand visitors arrived at The Mid West Conference Center, at convergence of Lake, North Avenue and the I-294 to be entertained by two stunning fashions shows and surrounded by exhibitors of Chicagoland's leading service providers of Indian and Pakistani products and services.

It was an honour and a pleasure to be the official photographer for the event and to have my services on display. I had the privilege of networking with with some outstanding companies and individuals service this buoyant market.

Special appearances of Miss Pakistan, Local vocal duo Qissmet and one of America's top South Asian Radio personalities to the delight of the huge audience.

There was a steady stream of young couples and their parents, to view the latest and greatest in must have Wedding Services and products, at my own booth several hundred business cards, price list and fliers were given out and enquiries came in for a large number of dates. Above all came the opportunity to partner with the best of the best and to set up networking facilities which will benefit clients and service providers alike. I am committed to offering the best photographic coverage, coupled with the most outstanding designer albums available and to that end it was paramount to team up with other like minded professionals in this highly sophisticated market.

Not only was the day a business success, but I am happy to report that as a result of all the effort, energy and cooperation we will all benefit from the lasting friendships that were forged by being a part of Dulhania Bazaar.
Moreover the day light rear projection screen and video projection combination that I used to present the images within minutes of taking them, was such a success that I decided to buy the screen and to offer it as a new add on service for all the other types of work that I do, including weddings.
The screen and projector will be available as stand alone rental units for customer's own use, or as part of a package deal with photography and on site projection. Strangely enough, I have only owned the former rental screen for one day and have already had an enquiry, that could turn into the first rental use of the combination.

Images to be featured on TV Show

2009-02-18T10:31:00.006-06:00

It was a very pleasant surprise to receive an e-mail requesting images of a recent wedding at Michigan Avenue's Allerton Hotel, the photos are going to be featured in a forthcoming episode of "Get Married" that airs on the Lifetime Chanel.The Wedding of Amy and Zac in 2008 was the first to be perfomed in the facility after the Allerton had undergone a major renovation. The ballrooms were in absolute pristine condition and loooked gorgious on the pictures, many of the shots made great page backround in our own Designer album pages, for Amy's fabulous GraphiStudio book.

The Allerton is just one of many downtown Hotels that I really enjoy working at, staff at the hotel are so friendly and helpful, which makes my job so much easier. I am looking forward to many more events there in the coming months.

2009-02-15T11:25:00.005-06:00

With just seven days left, I now have everything in place for what will be my biggest show of the year, Dhulania Bazaar, will also be the first ever Chigagoland Bridal Expo specifically for the south Asian Community, I am delighted, not only to exhibit at the show, but to be the event's official photographer. I will be photographing all the exhibitors and presenting, in real time, a multi media presentation of events as they unfold.
On my own both I will have a 37" flat screen TV, again, playing a multi media presentation of my own Indian and Pakistani wedding photography. Over the years I have had the distinct pleasure of creating designer wedding albums for many cultural groups from the Indian sub continent, including Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian and I have to say after a lifetime of being a wedding photographer, it is the multi cultural nature of my business that I love the most.
Perhaps it's my sports/news photography background that helps me keep abreast of the pace of south Asian weddings and the training I received from my old news editors, that has me keeping my eyes peeled all the time to capture for those little moments of joy that help me bring the images to life. You can register to attend the expo at http://www.dulhaniabazaar.com/ remember the images you see on the Dhulania Bazaar website are all from weddings I have photographed in the recent past.

2nd February

2009-02-10T20:56:00.000-06:00

It was a beautiful warm Sunday and a terrific turn out for the first of our Bridal shows, a controlled and intimate open house at The Grove in Glenview, interest in our newly introduced service was high as couples sampled excellent morsels by the chefs at Cork Catering. During the four hour show, several couples came forward to learn more about the service, where we will now deliver high resolution, printable, files within 48 hours of the reception। This recession beater service gives brides and grooms the option to have their wedding photographs self printed or they can return for high quality printing, or our beautiful designer, print and bind coffee table book service. Overwhelmingly the people who expressed interest said that they liked the idea, because it gave them time to think and save before commiting to purchase an album, this, it seems, may very well be the way of the future.

2009-01-31T21:43:00.005-06:00

January 2009

10th I had the pleasure of working at the Grove, less than half a mile from my home/office, to cover the wedding of Marylou and Mark.
It was a lovely wintertime wedding with several inches of snow on the ground and frigid temperatures out of doors, but the ambiance inside gave us all a warm glow as both priest and Rabbi worked in unison to join the happy couple in holy matrimony.

14th~19th Five days I spent in England’s great capital city, London, at the huge Novotel conference centre.
I had been invited to present two master classes for the International Society Representing Professional Image Makers, the delegates in my first Master Class, on classical posing and lighting, hailed from as far a field as Cyprus, Wales, Scotland, USA and many parts of the United Kingdom.
The second of my Master Classes on Saturday Morning covered the subject of Multi Cultural Weddings, a topic very close to my heart.
I had planned to leave after the final lecture, but was invited to stay for the Awards dinner that Sunday Evening. Little did I know what the Society had in store for me. I was presented with a an Award of Recognition “For Many Years of Service to The Photographic Industry”.
During this fabulous weekend I had the opportunity to exchange conversations with some of the most talented people in the industry, including an Isle of Man TT photographer, Dave Silvester, five incredibly talented wedding/portrait photographers from Cyprus, the remarkable Joe Photo, wedding photographer from California, who told me he grew up here in Illinois, John Ratchford, an outstanding portraitist from Nova Scotia, The Dynamic Welsh Duo of Jon (Jinx) Jenkins and Richy Walton, along with a score of my own fellow Brits who were there on home turf for Europe’s largest photography Convention. During the Saturday evening winding down
party, I was kept in stitches laughing at the antics of three British colleagues John Rose, Paul Shergy and Phillipe Brevet, above all I must say a special thanks to my good friend Tim Hoy from Willesden, London, for his boundless hospitality and generosity. If all that isn’t enough, I even got to shake hands with one of the
stars of “The Eastenders”, Adam Woodyatt, from the long running TV show, himself an award winning photographer.
I know for sure I must have missed someone, but when you realize that more than twelve thousand photographers passed through the doors of the convention, I trust I can be forgiven.

The biggest surprise of the conference came at the Sunday evening Awards Dinner, completely out of the blue I was taken aback when I heard my name called out and saw my head shot appear on screen. I had been singled out to receive a special presentation, in recognition of many years of service to the Photographic Industry. The picture shows Phil Jones (left) CEO of the Society Representing International Image Makers presenting me with The Lifetime Achievement Award. This is possibly the only time in my working life that I have been left speechless.

24th It seems like I had hardly got my internal clock up and running from the two way jet lag of O’Hare to London and back again within five days and it was time to check my camera equipment again for the wedding of Rhiannon and Daniel and, believe it or not, I was back at the Grove in Glenview. That really has to be a first for me, twice in one month at the same venue. Because of the multi cultural nature of my business, I seem to be dashing about here and there never getting back to the same place in several months, let alone three weeks.

25th After processing and posting on line, the images from Saturday’s wedding, I spent the rest of the week finding images and creating two very different slide shows for up coming Bridal Shows. The first on the 8th of February will be at….. The Grove, I couldn’t be happier to get this invitation from the tasting caterer,
Cork Catering, the opportunity to work so close to home, these days is always welcome, but this one came out of the blue while I was in UK, I’m so glad it was still open to me when I got back here.
The Second will be a South Asian Bridal Show called Dhulania Bazaar, to be held at The MidWest Convention Center at North Ave., and the 294. I am really looking forward to that too I just know it is going to be spectacular, the organizers have already used a number of my images on their advertising material, so I’m feeling quite honoured to be a part it.

30th. January ended with a blast, today I heard the news that a wonderful young couple whose wedding I photographed recently were headed straight to the pinnacle of society, Former Valedictorian of Glenbrook South High School, Isra Bhatty and her Husband Rashad Hussein are off to Washington DC. Isra is currently on a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford, while her husband, Rashad, has just been appointed to the role of Deputy Assistant Counsel to White House to serve the Obama administration. Congratulation to both of them.