The snow is gone (finally) and spring is returning to the Hudson Valley! We have been pretty busy around here getting ready for the 2009 wedding season and a myriad of other projects. One of the things we like to do at Quinnco Photography is to work with other businesses who provide services our clients may need. When it comes to weddings there are a whole host of vendors that prospective brides will meet with to discuss their special day. One of the ways for brides to find out more is to attend bridal shows and expos like the one we participated in last night at Colden Manor at Spruce Lodge in Coldenham. There was a great turnout and we had the pleasure of meeting a lot of bride-to-be’s and answer a lot of questions about wedding photography. We loved it! And we look forward to photographing our free mini-session winner Lenora! Thanks to everyone who came out last night, we look forward to speaking with you again soon!

From time to time we also have the opportunity to meet and work with other vendors, which we did just a few weeks ago. I had met with Bill from The Inn at Stony Creek a while back to discuss some trends that are happening in our industry with the recent downward slide of the economy. During our meeting we decided to try something that would make good use of both of our winter down times. In this industry it is essential to have a great working relationship with the vendors in our area, so we invited a few local people to collaborate and work on a bridal shoot at the inn. It’s always great to be able to get a chance to meet and work with other vendors in the area, and in turn help our clients find wonderful businesses to meet their wedding needs. We got a lot of work done, and had a great time working together.
Bill graciously allowed us to shoot at the Inn, and Nicole, a wonderful hair and make-up artist, worked her magic on our beautiful model to complete the look.
No bride would be complete without a beautiful bouquet and two of our local area florists, Floral Cottage of Chester and Antiques and Flowers in Warwick offered their talents for the shoot. All of the floral designs were very different from one another and truly illustrated themes ranging from traditional to contemporary. Working at the Inn at Stony Creek was fantastic! Bill gave us complete run of the place, and we took full advantage of the beautiful setting. Talk about a place with character! If you are looking for a great venue for your upcoming event, please check them out! The Inn is a perfect spot for an intimate wedding or just a nice weekend get away. Tell Bill I sent you!

So here are some shots from the day, I hope you like them! Feel free to drop a note!

And also a fun little video
We also had a great portrait session with Anna over in Newburgh. We had been trying to set something up for a while but the weather kept conspiring against us. But on Friday Anna braved the 35 degree cold (previous day was like 55 degrees) and we hit the waterfront some some fun stuff. Thanks Anna!

And here is a quick little video for Anna as well!

Wow, where does the time go? We are in March already and the summer is coming quick! I wanted to take a minute here to catch you up on what has been happening here at Quinnco Photography. The phones have been ringing and it seems there are still many brides still looking for photographers and venues for 2009. If you know someone who is getting married this year, let them know to get things locked up quickly as dates are getting booked quickly. And for those of you who have inquired about 2010, good for you! You will find that this is a great time to get ahead of the game and you stand a better chance of getting the vendors you want on the date you wanted.

And speaking of wedding vendors, I want to take a minute to mention a great venue that I visited the other day. I was going over to Warwick and I had promised myself to stop in at The Inn at Stony Creek so I gave Bill a call at the Inn and he said to come on by. Boy was I glad I did! What a great place and one that you owe it to yourself to check out, even if it is just for a weekend get-away. Bill was telling me about the weddings they have done there and that they are doing some construction that will allow them to even better serve their wedding and event clients. Very cool stuff! Well worth a call if you are looking for something a little different from the big hall type venue. Stay tuned for more on The Inn at Stony Creek…

As I said, it has been a busy couple of weeks and I want to thank Jessica and Paul and Kate and Joe. These are my latest couples who have selected me to photograph their weddings and I cannot tell you how honored I am. Keep an eye on the blog because as soon as this winter weather leaves for good, who ordered today’s snow by the way, we are going to get out and start getting engagement sessions going. Those are always so much fun and a great way to build rapport between photographers and our couples. We have a few new things were are going to try this year because we are always looking for new ideas and how to give our clients the best value so check back often!

I can’t leave you without some kind of pictures!?!?! Let’s see, what else do we have? Oh yes! Say hello to Sam. Sam was another participant in the Pineapple Day Spa event and we just had a blast shooting together. Keep your eye out, I think you will be seeing more of Sam in the future…

Oh, you might want to turn down the volume a little…

Just a quick thanks to everyone who came out for the promotion that Pineapple Day Spa in Pine Bush had put together and we at Quinnco Photography got to take part in. During the cold winter months the wedding photography kind of slows down and things like this give us a chance to get out and meet more people and give something back to the local businesses and vendors who support us.

We met some wonderful new people and had a great time doing it. Lisette was kind enough to let us post some shots from her session so we put together a quick little music video. Thanks Lisette!

~Pete

One of the things that I enjoy most about being a photographer is all the interesting people you get to meet. Whether it is a wedding, portrait session or editorial work I get the chance to meet new people and learn about them as I listen to their stories. I am always amazed at the diversity of the people here in the Hudson Valley and even right here in my own back yard of Pine Bush!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet up with a local author, Michelle Zink, who knows a little something about stories because that is exactly what she does. Michelle writes books, primarily aimed at teens, and is getting ready to head out on her book tour so she asked me if I could come by as she needed some images for the tour. So of course I was happy to help and I met up with Michelle to do some shooting. It was fun to work with Michelle and I learned about her writing and some of the process behind the scenes with getting a book out to the readers. Very cool stuff and I am excited for her and can’t wait to hear about her tour! If you want to find out more about Michelle you can check out her MySpace page.

Thanks Michelle!

I also had the pleasure of meeting Michelle’s daughter, Rebekah, who was a great help, pulling double duty as lighting assistant and model stand-in. No need to have the client walk through the deep snow when you can get their daughter/my impromptu assistant to do it! And with that I’d like to also say thanks to Rebekah, you were a huge help!

Happy New Year everyone!

Ok, who stayed awake to watch the ball drop? I actually did this year, which was better than I did last year. I think for 2007 I was asleep by about 10:30 or so. Alright, with the new year comes new hopes, new dreams and new resolutions. Did you make any? Better yet, are you going to keep them? Yeah, me too….

I’d like to kick off the new year with a couple of quick shots from the close of 2007. I was again up in Boston, and this time I was meeting up with a photographer friend of mine from Houston who happened to be visiting New England. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to get out and do some shooting, I touched base with a couple of models I know up there and asked if they would mind braving the cold for a little while. Both Natalia and Eric were gracious enough to oblige. Thanks you, guys!

And my last image is one I took while photographing a great military couple who are back in NY visiting family. Malika and Peter reside in California where Peter is stationed with the US Marine Corps. As a fomer Marine myself, these military familes hold a special place in my heart for everything they do. The person who serves and the one who stays behind to take care of the home, family and everything else. It is truly a team effort. Thanks to all of you out there and a special thanks to Malika and Peter for giving me the opportunity to work with you.

Alright, that’s it for today! I truly hope that everyone has a fantastic 2008!

Nikki from Minisink High School and I got together today to discuss some senior portraits (No it’s not too late!) and after we finished chatting we took a few minutes to snap a couple of quick pictures. She was a great sport and I look forward to our full session.

Well this is certainly one of those times of the year where NY shines. The leaves are turning and the weather is beautiful! To top that off I met with Alyssa and her mother and we had a great little shooting session today. A big thanks to Jane for pulling double duty as parent and helper. That’s what happens when sometimes, I put the spectators to work! But seriously, thanks ladies, it was a great session. Here’s a couple of quick peeks….

Yesterday started off about as any other day. You know, trying to get things caught up, wondering if that iPod of yours is really dead or if it can be salvaged. It’s dead, but more on that later.

Meanwhile, you phone starts ringing. For some strange coincidence yesterday was the day that four of my old friends decided to call out of the blue. Now the conspiracy theorist in me started to nag, but what the heck, maybe it’s just that time of year. After juggling some schedules and pushing some errands to the wayside I was able to meet up with one of those friends and tentatively block a lunch date with two others! So anyway, I drove over to Connecticut where I met up with one of the girls I used to work with a few years back. I caught up with Stacey and her daughter at the new farm where they are boarding their horse. Take a minute to reach out to your old friends, you’ll be glad you did. Terry, Zita, Joe… Let’s make it happen!

A big thanks to Stacey for allowing me to post a picture of her daughter Kristen. Kristen, good luck with Romeo and thanks for hanging in there for the impromptu picture session.

Yes, Romeo is the name of the horse….

Now about that iPod… I can’t believe it finally bit the dust. It has hung in there for over five years and countless drops and smashes in the suitcase, a battery change or two and now it’s gone. So now the dilemma. New iPod or just jump to the iPhone? Do I want to lose my music or lose everything when I misplace it? Yes, I’m a Macintosh guy, I use Macs for all my photography work and it would be nice to finally have a phone that really does sync up with my address book and stuff. For years it’s been a challenge to tweak some third party software to make everything play nice. But the price!!! Yeow! Maybe it can wait a bit….

Playing some catch up around here with all sorts of things as autumn starts to roll in. After all, getting ready for winter in New York is a bit different than in Texas. I have to get hay for the horses, figure out how the heck I’m going to get them water in the middle of a snowstorm, etc. etc. That and about a thousand other little things that I had forgotten about when I moved away. Yeah, that’s about enough about that…

Anyway, I’d like to say thanks to Kati. She’s a young woman from the area who I met the other day and she agreed to sit for a few shots in the afternoon sun. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to work together more very soon. Thanks Kati!

Well, that’s about it for right now. I am looking forward to seeing the wonderful New England fall foliage as those leaves start to turn. Already you can see some tress starting and it won’t be long until the hills are bursting with color!

Oh, one last thing. Now is the time to start planning for your Christmas and holiday greeting cards. Before you know it it will be time to start mailing these out to friends and family. Contact us now to find out about setting up a photo session and getting your greeting cards done by us here at Quinnco Photography. It’s more reasonable than you imagine and your satisfaction is guaranteed. We’ll come to you so that your cards reflect who you are as a family. Your house or favorite location… No problem! Dogs, cats, horses… No problem! Try that at one of the big box photo booths.

Sorry for the month long lapse. Since I last updated I have been busy with a trip to Montana and another trip to New Orleans and Biloxi. As some of you know, one of the things I love about photography is that it is constantly changing and evolving. There are always new techniques to try and old ones to refine. With that in mind I recently attended a great workshop given by Mike Fulton of Tri Coast Photography. Mike is an incredible photographer and an excellent instructor. With Mike behind the podium we learned some new tricks about an old friend, flash photography. Using flash with with your camera can sometime be a bit of a challenge, no matter who you are. Well, Mike and his partner Cody are two of the best in the business when it comes to using flash so who better to learn from? And learn we did. As a matter of fact, we had a blast!

Here’s a few shots from the workshop. I hope you enjoy them, I sure had fun making them.