Welcome back to our blog!

It’s been a while!  We return now with the promise of regular posts which will be chock full of  entertaining and informative content.

I’ll start with the history behind the new graphic at the top of the page.

In June we photographed the wedding of Amber and Michael at The Garrison in Garrison, NY.  They were referred to us by Howie Goodman, an old friend from our days as students in the MFA fine art photography program at RIT.  When Howie married Lisa in 1985, they asked us to photograph the wedding.  In those days wedding photography was synonymous with posed and preconceived: couples superimposed in wine glasses and other silly stuff.  Steve and I were documentary style photographers – black and white film, no flash, no posing.   And that was how we photographed Howie’s and Lisa’s wedding.  It was fun.  We decided to do more.

Amber and Michael live in Astoria, Queens and were eager to meet us for a Getting To Know You photo session.  We hoped to be downstate sometime before their wedding, but it just didn’t happen.   So, we came up with a solution.  On MapQuest I searched  for a town that was half way from Astoria and our home in Rochester and found that  Amsterdam, NY is exactly three hours and eight minutes from both places.  On the weekend before their wedding, we met at one of the few Amsterdam restaurants open on Sunday, a crowded diner filled with hungry churchgoers.  A priest entered just before we did.  Amber and Michael were inside waiting for us.  We spent our first hour together eating, talking and laughing.

I like to call our Getting To Know You sessions “play dates.”  Amber and Michael were the best playmates and Amsterdam was the perfect playground.  We set out to explore the threadbare town.  Having eyed several gems on our way to the diner, I knew where we were headed.

Our first stop:  A large lot filled with chainsaw bears and racoons.  The owner told us we needed to hurry because a man from Ohio had bought every animal on the lot, and was in the process of loading them onto a large flatbed truck.  They left a few creatures on the ground for us to play with.

And with all the bears on their way to Ohio, we moved on to an intriguing complex of barns and storage buildings.  In front was a sign promoting a Saturday Farmers’ Market.  Amongst the buildings was a hugable three sided shed where the photo at the top of the blog was taken.

And the other buildings:

On the other side of the parking lot behind this building complex was a Volunteers of America.  Steve and Amber could go no further until they checked inside.

Amber found a purple knit cap that she loved.  Steve and Michael pitched in a dollar each.

Our next stop: A shop called Michael’s Hair Studio.

In honor of Michael’s former hair.

And finally, before heading back to our respective cities, we noticed one last opportunity parked directly across the street:

A limo for rent.  The owner said he would be quite happy to drive down to Garrison.

The next weekend we photographed their wonderful wedding.  More on that later.

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