Ethan W Photography · Washington DC · New York

About

Portrait of Ethan Wong
by Ethan Wong

Long before any of these photographs, I was just a kid learning to look.

The valley kept going past anything I could hold, with Jill's dog Kampi steady on the rock beside me. I don't cry at views. I did at this one.

78°11'35.2"N, 15°35'20.0"E · Outside Longyearbyen, Svalbard
01

How I see

We remember our own lives more vividly than we give ourselves credit for. I shoot for that version of the memory: punchy, a little nostalgic, closer to how the day felt than how it merely looked. The influences are old photographs and modern art, minimalism with an avant-garde streak. The work is strong on purpose.

Svalbard
Longyearbyen · 78.2382° N, 15.4472° E
Away · 01 / 05

I came to Svalbard to support a friend, and I left a changed person. A week above 78 degrees north, on the edge of the inhabited world, where only a couple thousand people live and almost no one ever gets to visit: the most remote place I have ever stood, and a once in a lifetime one. There were firsts everywhere. My first time snowmobiling, my first time dog sledding, a hand on the door of the Global Seed Vault, wildlife you will not find anywhere else, the northernmost yoga of my life with Soul Peak Studio. What I remember most is the people. My friend's partner, Anoop, was our guide, and there is nothing like being shown the far edge of the world by someone who loves you, pushed past what you thought you could do in the kindest way. Jill from Snow Fox became a friend on sight, Dutch, with just enough spice, one of the sweetest people I have ever met. The beauty was so constant that all of us quietly let go of our regular lives. It was not a time for scrolling. No northern lights, which stung, but I would trade almost none of it.

The Global Seed Vault after dark. Nowhere I have stood feels more remote.
The Global Seed Vault after dark. Nowhere I have stood feels more remote.
The old coal works, left to the cold.
The old coal works, left to the cold.
Anoop, our guide and my friend's partner, up to one of Longyearbyen's old mine portals.
Anoop, our guide and my friend's partner, up to one of Longyearbyen's old mine portals.
Ancient blue ice, clear enough to read straight down into.
Ancient blue ice, clear enough to read straight down into.
The Seed Vault's light, caught as a reflection. I got to put a hand on its door.
The Seed Vault's light, caught as a reflection. I got to put a hand on its door.
A frozen waterfall, climbers on it, watched over a hot lunch.
A frozen waterfall, climbers on it, watched over a hot lunch.
Ahyeong of Soul Peak Studio, inside the glacier.
Ahyeong of Soul Peak Studio, inside the glacier.
The people this week brought together, out on the glacier.
The people this week brought together, out on the glacier.
Crossing the ice in a whiteout, trusting the person ahead.
Crossing the ice in a whiteout, trusting the person ahead.
Snow Fox Studio, home base for the retreat.
Snow Fox Studio, home base for the retreat.
The same windows, last light coming off the mountain.
The same windows, last light coming off the mountain.
The long walk back, shown the far edge of the world by someone who loves you.
The long walk back, shown the far edge of the world by someone who loves you.
Jill from Snow Fox, catching a frame. One of the sweetest people I have ever met.
Jill from Snow Fox, catching a frame. One of the sweetest people I have ever met.
Ice, doing what ice does.
Ice, doing what ice does.
02

With Maddie

Most weddings I work alone by design, and Maddie joins for the full-scale days: multiple locations, larger guest counts, timelines that need four hands. But she is far more than a second shooter. She runs most of the experience off camera, the planning and the back and forth that give couples and clients the best possible day. When the site says we, this is who we means.

Away · 02 / 05 California
California, frame 1
California, frame 2
California, frame 3
California, frame 4
California, frame 5
California, frame 6
California, frame 7
03

Written and Directed

Part of what you are hiring is this: I photograph and I write software, so one person shaped every piece of it, the photographs and the site that carries them. That is why no two sections here look quite alike; each one is built for whoever came looking for that particular thing. Some of what this industry treats as normal, the hidden prices, the slow replies, the friction that never had to be there, I would rather remove than explain, which is what the pricing page is for. Tools helped me lay the bricks, but they did not choose the house, and that quote tool worked well enough to become Tali, which other photographers now use. If it leaves you wanting more from work like this, whether or not you ever book me, it did what I hoped.

Away · 03 / 05 UK · Vienna · Budapest
UK · Vienna · Budapest, frame 1
UK · Vienna · Budapest, frame 2
UK · Vienna · Budapest, frame 3
UK · Vienna · Budapest, frame 4
UK · Vienna · Budapest, frame 5
UK · Vienna · Budapest, frame 6
UK · Vienna · Budapest, frame 7
04

The call

The consultation call matters more than people expect. I read energy for a living, and you should get to read mine, because your photographer is beside you for more of the day than almost anyone you hire. We can talk about the wedding. We don't have to only talk about the wedding.

Away · 04 / 05 Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico, frame 1
Puerto Rico, frame 2
Puerto Rico, frame 3
Puerto Rico, frame 4
Puerto Rico, frame 5
Puerto Rico, frame 6
Puerto Rico, frame 7
Puerto Rico, frame 8
Puerto Rico, frame 9
Puerto Rico, frame 10
Puerto Rico, frame 11
Puerto Rico, frame 12
Puerto Rico, frame 13
Puerto Rico, frame 14
Puerto Rico, frame 15
Puerto Rico, frame 16
Puerto Rico, frame 17
Puerto Rico, frame 18
Puerto Rico, frame 19
Puerto Rico, frame 20
Puerto Rico, frame 21
Puerto Rico, frame 22
Puerto Rico, frame 23
Puerto Rico, frame 24
Puerto Rico, frame 25
Puerto Rico, frame 26
05

The first camera

Now the longer story. The first camera was cheap, secondhand, and mine at ten years old. The photos were terrible. I kept taking them anyway, constantly, which turned out to be the whole lesson.

Everyone starts somewhere. Mine was food, LEGO, and anything that would hold still.

06

The detour

Art was never the plan in my house, so I became a software engineer. I was good at it, and I learned things I still use every day. But somewhere between the org charts and the quarterly math, I knew I wanted something of my own, built around the thing I actually loved. In 2017 I started shooting weddings on the side, quietly, while doing life.

They give you a pillow to hold against your chest when you cough. Mine came covered in signatures. That's my husband Joel beside me.

May 2024
07

The turn

In May of 2024 I went in for heart surgery, and the layoff came while I was still in it. A bad month, a simple decision. I stopped calling photography the side thing. Plenty of people believed I could do it, and I wasn't always one of them, but I went anyway. Since then this work has introduced me to some of the greatest people in my life. I plan to keep meeting them.

An old friend's table
Meal Mate DC · Washington, DC
The first job back

The first job I took after the surgery: a dinner Meal Mate DC, Jamie Clare's company, put on for a family who had won it. Some work you take because of who's asking.

A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 1
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 2
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 3
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 4
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 5
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 6
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 7
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 8
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 9
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 10
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 11
A Meal Mate DC dinner, frame 12
Away · 05 / 05 Colorado
Colorado, frame 1
Colorado, frame 2
Colorado, frame 3
Colorado, frame 4
Colorado, frame 5
Colorado, frame 6
Colorado, frame 7
Colorado, frame 8
Where to next
Site and quote tool, hand-coded by Ethan · Washington DC · New York Instagram  ·  Terms  ·  Privacy