ABOUT

Hi!

My name is David Stowe, but everyone calls me Dave.
I’ve been happily married to Amy for over 20 years and we have two wonderful daughters.
I love photographing people!
I also love photographing birds or anything in nature, and I’m incredibly passionate about protecting our environment!

Capturing memories for people is something I’ve loved doing for a long time. Actually since 1994 which is perhaps longer than I would like to admit!

It’s funny; when you tell people you are a wedding photographer, most either ask how many bridezillas you get, or say they couldn’t think of anything more stressful than photographing weddings!
Well the truth is that we really don’t get bridezillas, and whilst there is indeed a lot of pressure,
I actually thrive on the challenge of weddings, and have photographed enough that I don’t feel the pressure.

My journey started back in the film days - my first camera was a gift from my always supportive parents. After completing a Visual Arts degree, I started assisting a couple of great photographers on weekends and realised how much I enjoyed the whole process of being a part of a wedding.

Early on as an assistant to a great photographer I learnt a really valuable lesson. And it was that lesson that really cemented the idea that I really wanted to be a wedding photographer. We were at the brides’s house and the hair and makeup was running really late, which can make life very challenging for a wedding photographer as it means we run out of time for photos! The bride was already feeling pretty anxious about the situation, but the photographer I was working with actually started tapping his watch and tried to get everyone to hurry up, and in the process made everyone even more flustered.

I learnt that day that we are there to document a couples special day, and our job is to calm a nervous bride or groom and make them comfortable, not add to their stress.

That day realised that I had found my calling.

I love being around people and helping them to navigate what can often be a massive rollercoaster of a day.

I love being entrusted with a task that is so important, on a day when you only get one shot at it.

I have not just the technical skills, but also that actual joy of being at a wedding - the people skills to make people comfortable and the ability to cope with the pressure that only a wedding can produce.

After more than 25 years that love is still there. The drive to keep challenging myself to find new angles, climb new trees, create better memories, never stops.

I still smile at the thought that I am still living that dream.

Even after all these years, I still challenge myself creatively and technically with my photography.

I’ve been awarded in a number of competitions and genres including becoming a Double Master of Photography with the AIPP, AIPP NSW Nature Photographer of the Year 3 times, and winning the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

I was the runner up 2019 Epson AIPP NSW Wedding Photographer of the Year, being beaten by our amazing principal photographer Lara!

I am so lucky to have an amazing team working with me who all love capturing stunning images of couples, families and weddings, and having the ability to share all those years of experience with them, helping them to be the best they can be.

I love that I can also share my passion for wildlife and education through Flock Wildlife - my bird and wildlife photography workshops

we love what we do

If you’ve made it this far then thanks so much for reading!
The point is that we simply love what we do.
We love making people, just like you, happy; capturing your memories so that you can relive them forever.

We love being booked by the sister, bridesmaid or best mate of a couple we’ve already photographed, or when the couple we photographed a decade ago come back for their next family portrait session to welcome their fourth child.
That joy is the knowledge that we’ve made someone happy and that they value what we do.
That’s what being a part of a community; a part of society, is all about.

I can’t think of a better job..

Lara

Society wouldn’t be what it is without this amazing person and photographer!

Lara loves nature, travel, music and dogs, and calls the Blue Mountains home.

As well as making the day to day happen at Society headquarters as studio manager, Lara is also my invaluable equal as a principal photographer, with a genuine caring and natural way with people.
She is super reliable and conscientious and an integral part of the Society team.

She’s got some serious creative skills with a camera that’s for sure. 2019 AIPP NSW Wedding Photographer of the Year isn’t a bad accolade! (I only came runner up!)

Oh and she is mad for Dinosaurs!