Walter Dürst Fotografie

Walter Dürst Fotografie is the business of Walter Dürst, a photographer with a studio at Promenade 60 in Davos Platz. The site's description calls him a photographer for all occasions in Davos and the whole of Switzerland. Weddings are on his list of assignments, but they are one line among many: his offer page names weddings, christenings, family celebrations and company events in the same sentence, and the rest of the site is given over to landscapes, animals, architecture and studio portraits. A couple marrying in Davos who wants a local photographer should read this listing as a generalist based in the town, not as a wedding specialist.

What the offer page says

The offer page ("Angebot") opens by saying his photographic fields are very varied. He writes that he keeps up with the current state of technology, owns two cameras and several fast lenses, and uses them to carry out every assignment to the client's full satisfaction. He adds that he keeps learning new techniques at specialist workshops.

The wedding line is short: "Hochzeit, Taufe, Familien- oder Firmenfeier, ich halte diese einmaligen Momente in ausdruckstarken Bildern fest" (wedding, christening, family or company celebration, I record these unique moments in expressive pictures). Reportage and documentation work are described as assignments he always finds exciting, and architecture, nature and industry are to be shown in the best light.

Two services on the same page are not about photography on the day at all. He offers to redesign a business website with stronger images, and to scan old photos, slides and negatives with a professional scanner so they can be used digitally. The second one could be useful to a couple who wants old family pictures for a slideshow or a table display at the wedding.

The studio in Davos Platz

The studio page announces that the studio has newly moved to Promenade 60, "gleich bei der Budag" (right by the Budag) in Davos Platz, and says visitors will feel at home there at once. It presents the studio as the right setting for relaxed portraits and job application photos. It also suggests sibling pictures as a present for parents, shoots with best friends, and beauty shoots, and lists named studio sessions as examples of the work.

For a wedding couple, the studio could serve for a portrait session away from the day itself, for example a couple portrait before the wedding. The site does not offer this as a wedding product, so it is a question to ask rather than a package to book.

The studio page links to a price list for download. The page itself does not show the prices, and it does not say whether the list covers weddings or only studio sessions.

Cancellation terms

The studio page is frank about one rule. It says that short-notice cancellations have become more frequent, so appointments that are not canceled at least 24 hours in advance, and only by phone, are billed a fee of CHF 100.00. The page asks for understanding. This applies to studio shoots as written. The site links to general terms (AGB), which may say more about other assignments, but the site does not reproduce their content on the offer or studio pages, so a couple should ask how cancellation works for a wedding booking.

The portfolio

The navigation shows where most of the work lies. The portfolio is divided into people (Menschen), fine art animals, landscapes, architecture and reportage, and there are separate sections for selling prints (Bilder-Verkauf) and for publications. The home page is a sequence of nature themes: seasons, horizons, details, stars, water, people and children, under the line "Die Natur ist meine grösste Inspiration" (nature is my greatest inspiration). Other headings read "Alle Jahreszeiten geben ein Ganzes" (all the seasons make a whole) and "Menschen sind Freunde fürs Leben" (people are friends for life). It is a personal, landscape-led site, and the people section and the reportage section are the parts a wedding couple should look at most closely, since they show how he photographs people rather than places. The site's keywords mention weddings and christenings, and also passport photos, the WEF, drone and aerial images and cars. A couple looking for a large gallery of complete weddings will not find one named on the site, so they should ask to see full wedding sets before booking.

Contact and language

The contact details sit at the foot of every page: Walter Dürst, Promenade 60, 7270 Davos Platz, the email address info@wdfotografie.ch and the phone number +41 (0)79 638 11 80. The offer page invites clients to call him without obligation or to send a message.

The site is written entirely in German, and it does not say whether he works in English, French or Italian. A couple from abroad should write in plain language and ask directly which languages he can work in on the day.

What the site does not settle

The site publishes no wedding prices, no wedding packages, no hours of coverage, no number of delivered images and no delivery time. It does not describe how he works at a wedding, whether he offers albums, or whether he travels to venues outside Davos, although its description mentions the whole of Switzerland. It does not mention a second photographer. All of these are questions for the first call.

Who it suits

Walter Dürst Fotografie suits couples holding a small wedding in Davos who want a photographer based in the town, has his own studio on the Promenade, and can also handle a christening, a family portrait or the scanning of old family photos. Much of his portfolio is landscape and nature work around the mountains, though the site shows no wedding gallery to judge his wedding work by.

It suits less well a couple who wants a wedding specialist with a published package, a large portfolio of complete weddings and English confirmed on the site. For those couples, the site gives too little to decide on without a conversation, and it gives no sign of a working language other than German.