DWF – Let’s start off with a little bio, tell us a little bit about yourself.

DAVE - I’m a husband, father, son, brother, friend, teacher, photographer, lover of God and student of life who treasures every day I’m given.

DWF – How did you become a photographer?

DAVE -It’s a common story of a kid finding your Dad’s old manual SLR and falling in love with the process.  Where it became more than a hobby was upon meeting our now good friend Alex Opao, a wedding photographer based in Edmonton, Alberta.    He was very generous with his time and talent, and taught us everything from darkroom skills (yes: we were the photo geeks who developed and printed our B&W’s) to our love of shooting Hasselblads (which we still own).  He took us under his wing and let us second shoot with him on a couple weddings.  I remember being totally freaked us out on the first wedding when he fed us to the wolves by asking us to shoot the girls on our own! LOL!  But when we finished the images and presented them to his clients, their reaction and appreciation had us hooked: We’ve been passionate wedding photographers since.

DWF- Who or what inspires you as an artist?

DAVE – After the beginning stages of emulating and copying work, I truly believe that we, like all artists, create out of who we are.  All our experiences and memories, both good and bad, come through in the images we capture.  So really life itself inspires me: all the amazing people God brings into my life (including my wonderful wife and kids), successes and failures, and my environment help mold and push me to capture and create the images I am blessed to make.

DWF- If we needed a photographer today why would we book you? What makes you unique?

DAVE -We’re well kown for our “epic” DQ work, but we’re really much more than that.  We have the rare ability to capture the in-between and unspoken moments which, we believe, are as important as the beautiful.  We also have an uncommon mastery of both natural and strobe lighting and love to capture both real moments and create dramatic imagery with flash.  Also being a husband/wife team from the start makes us much stronger than 1+1.  There’s definitely a synergy in relationship building with our clients as well as image making which couldn’t be achieved by us hiring and shooting with any other equally talented photographer.

DWF- If you had to pick a favorite “Tool of the Trade” what would it be? and why?

DAVE - QuiKeys hands down!! LOL!  Honestly: it’s the tool which has allows us to do what we do *and* have a life.  We decided long ago to retouch every image we present to a client.  We’re so glad we created QuiKeys for our own needs.  It’s allowed us to finish our images faster than anything else out there all without compromising our high standard of quality.

DWF – Care to share your favorite photographs?

DAVE -

(see the gallery below for larger version)

DWF – How about some final words to live by?

DAVE - Whenever I’d ask Alex why he was helping us out and giving us so much he’d say, “You can’t out-give God.”  :-)

Location – Calgary, Alberta, CANADA!

Business Name – DQ Studios Inc.

Websites - www.dqstudios.com

Blog - blog.dqstudios.com & blog.quikeys.com

January 10-12 2010: Imaging USA – QuiKeys tradeshow booth

March 2010: Vegas – WPPI Master Class & QuiKeys tradeshow booth

Possibly Related Posts:

• Featured Member Susan Stripling
• Featured Member Jaco Fourie
• One-on-One with Tara “Dixie Pixel” Kneiser
• An Interview with Rob & Lauren Photographers
• One on One With Sandy Puc