About W. Donald Orkoskey
W. Donald Orkoskey loves to take pictures and is always pushing himself to discover more and define himself. On the rare occasion when he puts his camera down he can be found enjoying time with his wife, Dr. Teresa M. Orkoskey PharmD, dancing Argentine Tango, inline skating, cycling, or serving his community. Don also has co-founded two performance art groups which he actively performs with, writes for, helps manage, and promotes.
He started producing stop motion animation with his business partner David T. English in early 2007. More information about their animation can be found at www.SchmutzCo.com. When not doing stop motion animation they produce puppet theater and work with children to create animations or as performers.
In early 2010 the Schmutz Company completed a residency with the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. This residency pushed their work even farther towards children’s performances and Dave and Don stopped using the Schmutz Company name in their less-child-friendly pieces such as Graveyard John, A Circus In My Drawers, and in their events hosted at the Schmutz Lodge. These performances are darker and contain adult humor and mild amounts of foul language.
Currently working under the name Stanley Onion Productions their more adult themed performances have focused recently on an internet based talk show called The Unemployment Show. This show is shot at Carnegie Mellon’s Waffle Shop in East Liberty. The Unemployment Show, as the title implies, revolves around jobs, unemployment, and similar topics.
W. Donald Orkoskey prefers to be called Don by his friends and clients. He has a great sense of humor and keeps his cool in stressful situations – always remarking that there is no problem that can’t be solved and believing strongly that his job is largely about problem solving.
With a passion for the human condition and a love of the natural world Don does everything in his power to consume less and be as green as can be. He shoots digital nearly 100% of the time, he uses only rechargeable batteries and buys as much of his equipment used as he can.
When he is not photographing people he is often in the wilderness or at one of the many beautiful parks in and around Pittsburgh such as Frick or Schenley taking photos of the plants, animals, and the occasional landscape. Some additional work can be viewed at theWDO Photography Flickr account here.
Personal Time
Don spends a great deal of time with his wife Teresa and their dog Iggy.
They recently moved from the Cork Factory in Pittsburgh’s Strip District into a row house in Lawrenceville. Since then they’ve been working in the garden and together attending to the needs of their new abode.
When not spending time working around the house they can often be found walking Iggy through Frick Park which is an activity that Iggy never seems to get board with.
Photographic Style
The work of W. Donald Orkoskey is unique and modern. He shoots nearly completely digital only using film for occasional medium format or large format assignments and prefers Nikon cameras. A student of off-camera on-location lighting and the Strobist movement he uses small strobes and motivational lighting to provide the appearance of natural or ambient light. His post-processing technique is similar to those of Dave Hill but he has defined his own techniques. His work is very personal and a point of pride. When not photographic events he prefers to photograph lifestyle photos, editorial portraits, and sports.
To get an idea of W. Donald Orkoskey’s style you’re best to view his work through the galleries listed above. His artistic vision has been described as being as close to three dimensional as one can be in a two dimensional medium such as photography.Though he does not shoot in or attempt to mimic high-dynamic-range photographs he techniques do often seem to have a greater range in the mid-tones and shadows often with the appearance of considerable grain intensification but with low noise signal.
W. Donald Orkoskey’s work stands out. It is captivating and modern. Not all potential clients will enjoy his style but many will understand the importance of unique and eye-catching photographs. The ability to stop people and make them look is essential in sales and the work of W. Donald Orkoskey can provide that attention in a way that is not obnoxious but is rather pleasing and surprising.
W. Donald Orkoskey, the owner of and chief photographer for WDO Photography has been providing head-turning photographic work in and around Pittsburgh since 1998.
