Providing quality wedding and lifestyle photography to Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs

Philadelphia Pa – Wedding, portrait and lifestyle Photographer – Siousca Photography bio picture

So here's a little background about us and our business.

My name is Dave and I handle all the photography related parts of this company...I shoot, I edit, I design...etc. I've been playing with cameras since 9th grade when I took a photography class and ultimately fell in love with creating images. I also LOVE music and try to make it out to as many shows and festivals as possible. I play guitar and a little mandolin, snowboard in the winter, kayak in the summer and enjoy a good beer, bourbon or dry red wine every now and then.

My wife's name is Shauna and she helps out with the business related side of things. Handling contracts, paperwork, receipts, schedules...etc. She will also occasionally help me out at weddings and shoots when I need an extra hand. We both went to high school together but didn't start dating until after we graduated and ended up at the same college. We've been together for 8 years and were just married in October of 2012. We have an awesome two year old diva of a newfoundland who thinks she's is the queen of the house...but we love her immensely.

As for the name of the business...I know you've probably been stumbling over it and wondering how it is pronounced/what it means since you came to the site. So here's the brief story.

Growing up I lived in an old rambling house along the west branch of the Brandywine River...so close to the water that I could have fished out my bedroom window. It was an absolutely beautiful setting...a truly magical place for a boy to grow up. My father had a deep rooted fascination with native americans, especially the local tribes and I can remember him always telling me that our house was in an area that the Lenni Lenape named "Siousca."

Fast forward a few years to when I first picked up a camera in high school. I found that I was drawn to the beauty around our home, the Brandywine River, it's surrounding forests and ultimately the area known as Siousca. Thus, when I started this business it only made sense to name it after what inspired my photography in the first place. Despite its difficult spelling and pronunciation I stuck with it and just in case you are wondering... it is pronounced "sigh-you-sca" but I won't hold it against you if you butcher it. :)

Thanks for stopping by and getting to know us a little better. Hopefully we can continue this conversation in person sometime soon.

-Dave

Photo credit. Mike Smith of Ash Imagery.

Lake Tahoe

Monday, April 8, 2013

Last month to close out the snowboard season, I decided to take a trip out to Lake Tahoe to visit a good friend, do a little snowboarding and to shoot a few photos. I’ve always heard from so many about how gorgeous the Lake Tahoe region is…and it did not disappoint. I spent two days snowboarding Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows and then took another day and a half to shoot around Donner Lake and Lake Tahoe.

On my third day I decided to day trip it around Lake Tahoe. I started out in Truckee and made my first stop at Sand Harbor on the northeast shore and then spent the day driving the full 60 mile loop stopping occasionally to snap a few shots. I kicked around in South Lake Tahoe and grabbed lunch before heading up to Emerald Bay and hiking down to Vikingsholm, which is a 38 room mansion on the shore of Emerald Bay built in 1929. It was an amazing trip…and now I am itching to go back in the summer…the locals say it is even better than the winter.

As always, if you have some empty walls these photos are available for purchase here.

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The Create Project: CF Martin Guitar Factory

Friday, March 29, 2013

As far back as I can remember the creative process has always been an incredibly fascinating thing for me. I love hearing the story behind how a certain song was written, or learning that a painter used a fork to develop a unique paint texture. I feel we are so often pre-occupied with the finished product itself that we end up ignoring (or at least vastly underrating) the steps and processes that went into its actual creation.

It is this idea that moved me to start a personal project I’ve decided to call Create. I am currently planning to work with local glassblowers, painters, sculptors, designers and even less traditional artists like carpenters, stone masons, boat builders and teachers. All of which are aiming to achieve a finished product of some sort by way of a creative path. It is in the unseen, quiet moments of the artistic process that I hope to find art itself.

So I decided to start the project off with a trip to the CF Martin Guitar Factory in Nazareth Pennsylvania. It is a slight embarrassment that I have been playing guitar for some 15 years and have never made the two hour trip up to what is probably one of the most historically famous guitar companies in the world. So my good friend Vince and I made the drive up to Nazareth and spent a few hours touring the factory. In a world where technology has infiltrated almost every aspect of our lives I think it is amazing that a company the size of Martin continues to do a large portion of their work by hand. There are some automated machine processes…but much more is done the old fashioned way. Documenting the skill and precision required in crafting one of my favorite instruments seemed like a good way to kill a couple birds with one stone…and thus…I give you the first post of the Create Project; CF Martin Guitar Factory.

Technical details for the photo nerds: Mamiya 6 ~ Kodak Tri-x and Ilford Delta 3200. Processed and scanned by the FindLab.