David Stanley

About me and how DC Stanley Photography came to be:

Joining the Navy straight out of highschool and armed with a very special hand-me-down Nikon FE2 is where my love for photography began. I had always taken the film classes in highschool but those teachers where volunteers who were not inspiring at all and so therefore never was able to expand on my creativity. Later in life, I was always the guy that everyone came to and said - hey do you have the pictures from such and such. I didn't realize it at the time but I was that guy!

Fast-forward ten years to 2006 and a very good friend of mine was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. Her daughter's four year old birthday was upcoming and my wife suggested I take them out and document them together playing in a park. Prior to this point, I had never worked with subjects who knew I was taking their photo. I decided at that moment I would make it something that could really be special for them both. Long story short - one of the images I took from that session caught the eye of a friend of theirs who was getting married. They approached and begged for me to shoot their wedding. Not having the equipment to do such a thing I kindly said no. When they asked why and I told them they laughed and asked me how much I would need for the proper equipment. They obliged and the rest is history.

Fast forward to present - we (my DC team of three) are shooting 35 weddings a year plus a ton of commerical work mixed with the seasonal high school senior stuff. I have a passion for all of these assignements and feel extremely blessed that this my life. My work has been featured in magazine prints, newspaper articles, blogs and even a book! As well I was recently awarded for album design on the world’s largest wedding and portrait photography stage WPPI in Engagement Album Division. I am going to be competing at this level for the rest of my life in order to push myself and to hone my craft so stay tuned for great things from DC!

Thanks for reading and hope to meet you!