DWF by Charmaine Beleele
Jeff Caplan & the Digital Wedding Forum

Yervant Zanazanian

They stole your gear, and you need some help! Who ya gonna call? Stress busters!

Ya gonna shoot RAW files or shoot JPEG? Who ya gonna call? Stress busters!

Yer shot’s too dark, and the bride’s distressed! Who ya gonna call? Stress busters!

Yer work is good, but ya just can’t sell it! Who ya gonna call? Stress busters!

	Bruce H. Dorn

It does not matter if you are new to digital photography or a seasoned veteran on the cutting edge of technology—Jeff Caplan has something for you at his stress-busting site, www.digitalweddingforum.com/. Jeff explains, “The DWF is a lifeline, a source of inspiration, and a 24/7 support line, and to more than 1000 photographers, it’s home.”

A five-year New Jersey-based veteran of digital wedding photography, Jeff’s interest in imaging began as a therapy to overcome his grief after his father’s death. Six months after the purchase of his digital camera, he was shooting weddings professionally. He was captivated by digital technology and the allure of immediate feedback. He has never shot film, or f*lm. (“It’s a four letter word to many of the DWF members,” says Jeff.)

He created the DWF partly in self-defense, in the midst of establishing his own business. He says, “The DWF just took off! Because we were all in the same boat, there was a sense of ‘We’re all in this together!’ In the early days of the DWF,” Jeff says, “It was digital pioneers trying to create high-quality images from not-ready-for-prime-time equipment. My hope was that some other folks who were experimenting with digital weddings would want to share tips.” His hope has exploded into an online community that boasts 1200 members from all over the world and handles an average of 6000 posts per week. In my experience online, I’ve “met” photographers from the U.K., Australia, China, and been motivated not only by their postings, but by the online galleries of their work. Judging from the postings of some members, I also found out that perhaps my digital questions were not so stupid after all, but problems other professionals had also experienced and overcome.

Tamara Milliken	Peter Prior

A year ago, the forum had become so large that Jeff and his wife Susie, who are the only paid staff behind the site, had to close free subscriptions. Now, it will cost you $75 for membership to gather the commentary of your fellow photographers and roam their galleries for inspiration. Moderators such as Dave Keiser, Rosalind Van Tuyl, Mark Lutz, Stacey Magnuson, David Guthrie, and Joe Ciarcia guide the discussion, and have freely volunteered their time to the membership. Personally, just the information of my first tour of the members’ gallery and reading the new postings was worth $75—a small price to pay for new friends.

Jeff explains that many members join in order to “figure out the transition to digital… It’s a maze of calibration, Photoshop editing, proofing, etc. Once they’re on a site, they get into all the discussions about business, marketing and promoting. Then they get swept up into the community—members flying off to cover other members in emergency situations, others offering help with a problem bride, or Photoshopping a botched image.”

However, not everyone has the good fortune to meet their spouse through the site, as did Jennifer Dery when she recognized John Mireles as “Juanito” from his postings. “They got married this past spring and a third DWF member, Tony Bisson, shot the wedding.”

Peruse some of the images accompanying this article. These diverse images were shot by different DWF members. You can see some of them as I did when I first went to the DWF site. Tamara Milliken teaches us artistic composition in a frozen moment of children’s innocence: “Flowergirls and Tiptoes” (page 103). Yervant Zanazanian shows us how to “capture interaction and emotion” (pages 102 and 108). We see a god’s eye view of a wedding party descending stairs in Peter Prior’s “Going Down” (this page). It pleases me no end to find all of these unique styles, and to learn from from each of them, by visiting just one site.

The Digital Wedding Forum is not Jeff’s only interest. Like many of us, Jeff has maintained what would be enough of a career for the average person.

Michael Leslie	Ian Wilkinson

“Until five years ago, my entire professional life has been focused on the ear, not the eye! I host a morning radio news program for five hours every morning on WCBS, New York. Our program has two million listeners, so I’ve learned a little about dealing with large groups of people. The experience certainly helped as the DWF grew!”

Jeff believes the qualities of any good digital wedding image should match or exceed those of any good film image. First and foremost, the digital wedding photographer must realize that “clients care most about results, not equipment.” His second requirement is that the photographers command a “flattering use of light.” Last but not least, he believes in focusing on moments in which his clients “look comfortable and natural.” This leads into his ultimate goal of “capturing interaction and emotion.”

A photographer can sharpen all four of these qualities by studying some of the work available for viewing on the site. Within 24 hours of registering, I could enjoy the site free of charge. Now I have 30 days to try it out before buying my membership. For 30 days I can post messages, join the conversation, and peruse the gallery of best images. I can even post my own images in the “Favorite Wedding Images of the Week.” There I can view up to date work from over 100 other photographers who “share their most interesting shots of this past weekend’s wedding.”

Jeff offers this privileged opportunity to any digital wedding photographer willing to register. Jeff explains, “The DWF isn’t for everybody. While a lot of web sites allow you to make up a fake name and sign in, we’re a bit more discerning about whom we admit. As a professional resource, we carefully screen applicants who request trial membership.

Michael Leslie	Yervant Zanazanian

“By offering an environment where no one is anonymous, our members are more comfortable speaking freely about their work and business issues.” By the way, immediately after signing up for that trial membership, you might find the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section very helpful. Those answers helped me navigate the forum while I immensely enjoyed clicking all the buttons.

In addition to the galleries, I greatly enjoyed the friendly competition in which everyone in the membership voted for their favorite 2004 images in such categories as posed, candid, detail and Photoshop-enhanced. I marveled at the posed, but genuine passion in Ian Wilkinson’s first place image of a dramatic kiss (page 103). I was fascinated by the painterly effects of glassy texture in Bruce H. Dorn’s first place digitally enhanced art (page 103). The clarity and selective focus of Michael Leslie’s detail shot of the year awed me: the inscription of words inside wedding bands (page 104). And the statistics revealed by the site, for both these award winners and the aforementioned members’ gallery pieces showed some of them had been perused hundreds of times.

	Peter Prior

If you are not yet persuaded to visit www.digitalweddingforum.com/, or even if you are going to visit it, be prepared for a DWF invasion in Las Vegas. The members of DWF are hosting their convention concurrently with WPPI, so you will be in town anyway! DWF is presenting seminars March 20–23. Jeff adds, “We’re blacking out the DWF convention during WPPI Trade Show hours, because our members consider the trade show a ‘must attend’ event.”

If that doesn’t lure you into attending both conventions at once, imagine this: The entire DWF convention will be bused to the Valley of Fire outside Vegas. Red Rocks… Barbeque… and inspiration from renowned photographer Yervant himself. “The idea was to create something for our members they’ll never forget!”

I should add one warning, which I have only had to issue on a few occasions: Extensive use of the DWF site is extremely addictive, and it is hazardous to the financial health of your competitors. They won’t have a ghost of a chance against you if they do not learn how to call the Stressbusters!

CharMaine Beleele, with an MA in Communication, owns Angel Kissed Photography Studio in Arkansas. She teaches Communication at the University of Arkansas in Fort Smith. She is also a regular correspondent for the Arkansas Catholic newspaper. Email her at photoangels@sbcglobal.com or contact her at her new web site www.angelkissedphotography.com/.