New Blog!!!!

Enough with this old blogger site and on with a high tech blog whose main function is to show photos.....large.

robwitzel.com/blog- please bookmark and feel free to start leaving some comments. I know your reading this blog.

I promise to update regularly!!!

Gainesville Magazine- Fashion

Thought I would expand on the blog and add some of the other stuff I do on a day-to-day basis. One of those duties is my roll as senior photographer (and editor) of Gainesville Magazine.

For our October issue we took on the issue of health and healthy living as seen through the eyes of the community. For our fashion piece we decided on "workout wear" and called upon experts in the area to model for us.

Enjoy!

Wedding- Sommer and Henry

I might have found a new favorite setting for weddings, Winter Park. Sommer and Henry were married last week in this picturesque town just outside of Orlando. The hotel, church, park and reception hall were all within blocks of each other. Very upscale with a Florida twist.

The bride and groom were awesome and their wedding party was a mix of happy-go-lucky personalities. I had a great time.

The stained glass in the church was incredible.

Enjoy!

Once a Photographer Always a Photographer

I thought this was just too funny to pass up. Now I am proud of my experience as a wedding photographer but once in a while people look at me a little funny when I say I have been doing this since I was a kid.

Below is a picture of me from today and the next one is me at a wedding back in 1985. I was tagging along with my dad who is also a photographer and as you can see, I was pretty happy to be there.

Some things never change.

Enjoy the laugh!



Me at 34 (just hitting my prime!!)



Me at 11 (wishing for auto-focus)

Wedding- Marisa and Joseph

After six weeks without a wedding, Marian and I were excited for Marisa and Joseph's wedding last weekend. Such a great couple to work with, we had a great time and captured some wonderful moments.

We got to shoot at both of my favorite Gville venues- Baughman Center and Sweetwater Branch. Even though we go there often, it is fun to come up with new and fresh ways to approach these classy and picturesque locations.

We had the pleasure of working with Angela Renick and her talented staff at Avie. Angela is an amazing coordinator and she does not let even the smallest detail go by. What a talent she is!

Mike from Videotronics was there for the video and we had a great time catching up after not working together for some time.

I could go on forever but let's let the pictures speak for themselves.

Congratulations Marisa and Joseph!

Enjoy!!

Contest Winner!!

Finally!

As you may or may not know, I am a member of the Wedding Photojournalists Association. The members are a hand picked group of wedding photographers who specialize in documentary coverage. It was not easy to get in and I have to reapply to renew every year.

OK, so they have a contest four times a year that spans the membership worldwide. Now I have had great success in contests over the years with the Hearst Award being the crown jewel. Well, after entering the WPJA contests for more than a year and only getting a 16th place entry I was starting to sweat it.

Not this time.

I placed 5th overall this recent quarter. That is with international entries in all (10) categories combined. I had a first place entry for humor and a second place in reception. You can see all the latest winners at wpja.com. I am happy to finally do well in this especially difficult contest.

The best part is I will have a gold medallion next to my directory link so when clients search for photographers they associate my name with the very best photojournalists in the group.

Here are the winners.

First Place-



This was actually a former bride, Cara, inspecting the tooling of her sister's dress. I cropped the bride's head off for maximum humor factor.



Second Place-



Just being in the right place at the right time. Quite a party going on!

Take Care!!

Fickle Fay

Been dying to post something as we took August off this year (just too hot!!!). Even though I have not done any weddings or engagement shoots doesn't mean I am not busy. This has been Tropical Storm Fay week.......a very long week.

At the newspaper we were all set on Tuesday for a landfall near Gainesville. Well it is Friday and we just got our dose. It was a whole lot of nothing around here. Regardless, as photographers we were just foaming at the mouth to shoot. Nothing like being in the fury of a storm and seeing how people respond.

After shooting a horrible car accident today I decided to go out and find something fun and indicative of the community. Here it is. Enjoy

Pyle Family

Funerals are never an event you look forward to. Marian and I were called back to West Palm this past weekend for the funeral of my best friend's dad, George Pyle. I considered it more of a celebration for a man that I have some of the fondest memories of while growing up. Rarely in your life will you ever find such a lovable person with a sense of humor that was just amazing. He was one in a million.

At the wake I brought along my camera and snapped a few pictures of the family and made some fun frames. Certainly not the ideal environment for photos but with everyone together and all dressed up I just could not resist. I hope everyone enjoys this selection along with the others that will be coming soon.

RIP George Pyle- Heaven is definitely a more fun place now that you have arrived.