1.) Working for friends-I love that I have clients who are like friends but the other direction friends who are clients is not a good course of action. You should never work for someone who knows your most embarrassing stories and moments in life. My personal advice is to create one degree of separation from the friend so I would say perhaps do a shoot for a friend of friend. At the end of the day if you must shoot for a friend make sure they pay full price, sign a contract and no freebies. Make it as much like a working relationship as possible!

2.) Trying to hard to be a rockstar- Full confession: I am a nerd. When I first started in photography I wanted to be just like all the rockstar photographers that I met. I tried to be one I really did by quoting current song lyrics, overusing the words awesome and rockin’ and talking about how amazing I was but this caused me to realize that I am not like that as a writer or a person. I think being a rockstar is too hard so I am just going to be myself. Here in no particular order are things I love that will never contribute to my being a rockstar photographer: my love of hypermiling in my hybrid, my a cappella music obsession, the fact that I constantly attempt to give myself a cool nickname, and the way I can wax poetic about fried chicken and sweet tea for hours. So there is definitely no chance anyone will ever think I am cool enough to mistake me for a rockstar but that is alright because my clients and friends think I am pretty cool the way I am!

3.) Trying to make everyone like me-I have a need to please in a big way. I want everyone to like me and I mean everyone. At consults I tried to fit the mold of what couples would want, at networking events I tried to make other vendors like me but here is the honest, hard truth that I learned: everyone will not like you and that is ok. I am who I am and if people don’t like me there is nothing wrong with that is ok and it is no reflection of me personally.

4.) Not asking for what I needed – When I went to weddings I was afraid to ask for what I needed no matter what it was – more time, more cooperation or a change in schedule. I think this ties into number three where I want everyone to like to me but I had to reconfigure how I viewed my job as a photographer. My job is pretty awesome but first and foremost it is a job and has requirements and I have realized it has needs such as time. It has taken some time but I have gained the confidence to say to people that I need more time to get them the pictures they desire rather than running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything without enough time to do my job properly. I have realized that as the professional, people are counting on you to tell them what you need, so state it loud and state it often. Another thing that I had difficulty with was asking for cooperation from people at the weddings during group picture times. Trying to get everyone to focus and pay attention to the photographer on the wedding day is difficult so I have started to ask them to help me so I can get my job. You know what? The world did not end because I asked for help and that was a big lesson I needed to learn.

5.) Not giving myself a break – For many years Scott and I worked like gangbusters for 60 hours a week in an attempt to set land speed records for finishing projects. In the meantime though we lost a little bit of us. Date night went by the wayside when we had a client meeting, we sat on our computers answering emails and working not actually watching TV, and honestly for a while we could have written off our dinners out because we talked so much about the business. It only took a little while for us to realize that this was affecting not only our relationship but our clients as well. We were getting tired and burned out very quickly with the schedule we were working. It didn’t take long before we had to re-evaluate what was not working about this system and it was the schedule for sure. We need to set boundaries, have time off and give ourselves a break. So now we always have one date night (sometimes two) a week, we make sure to take time for friends and sometimes we turn everything off, give ourselves a break and take time to be us-Scott and Lisa (or L.K. as I am calling myself this week), a husband and wife.

Photo courtesy of Becker

Once we were done in Central Park we took a cab to Times Square. I am not sure how but even on a Wednesday night in November it was really busy. NYC always manages to live up to its reputation as the city that never sleeps. After a quick outfit change we headed out to brave the cold and get some cute night shots in the center of Times Square. It was a little crowded and crazy but I think the pictures were so worth it.

We hope you are enjoying the last of the 2011 sessions. Check back next year for pictures of Kim and John’s beautiful wedding at Canfield Casino. Canfield is definitely one of our favorite locations in Saratoga Springs and we are so excited to be a part of their wedding day!

Yeah, we had killer awesome light the whole day. Loved it!

The cute couple didn’t hurt things either!

John obviously makes Kim really happy, and we LOVED capturing that.

Gonna get a little dark and moody on this one. I love spots like this in Central Park.

This one is my favorite, and lisa’s favorite too!

Golden awesomeness.

All the leaved had changed, but most hadn’t fallen off yet. Absolute perfection.

This next one was our Facebook teaser. Make sure you like our page if you haven’t already so you can be the first to see their wedding pics! This is the famous Mall in central park. It’s ALWAYS swarming with people. Isn’t it amazing to see it empty? Wonder how we did it? Well, I’m not saying we jumped over any barriers or gates to get this shot, because that would be wrong…

Off to our favorite little spot in Times Square to finish off the night.

So romantic…

Gotta show off the bling to finish it off with our signature shot.

We hope everyone enjoyed these and that you’re all as excited as we are for their Canfield Casino wedding next year! This will also be the last new stuff you’ll see on the blog till after the holidays, so we wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays!

Liz and Scott met at the St. Patrick’s day parade in Albany and have spent almost every day together since then. It was only natural that they would consider getting engaged but they had a ten year plan. So, of course, Liz was completely surprised when one day at the waterfall in Thacher Park,  Scott got on one knee and proposed. I think we can all guess what her answer was! Naturally, when it came time for their engagement session we had to go back to the place where it all began!

Obviously, since it is a Scott Kretschmann Photography engagement session, there is a gorgeous couple, some pretty light, sprinkle in a little bit of Lipstick n’ Lashes magic and BOOM! One engagement session served up hot (on a very cold day). We hope you enjoy these photos as much as we enjoyed taking them and keep checking back for more to come! Also don’t forget to show your favorite photo some love by clicking the button below the photo!

You just have to get this shot when shooting at Thacher. Love the look Liz is giving Scott!

Albany making a guest appearance in the background.

You’re about to see some serious hotness in some AMAZING light!

I love this one, feels like we’re spying on them a little bit!

Oh yeah, this is how we roll.

Sometimes we really love a classic black and white.

The Facebook teaser, and our favorite picture. Make sure to like our Facebook page if you haven’t already to be the first to see their wedding photos!

These two are so cute together!

The leaves may have been gone already, but these two brought some gorgeousness to the scenery anyway!

Liz rocking the model look.

Oh yeah, there’s that killer light.

Had to try another killer black and white – it just looked awesome with the light.

Seriously, how cute are these two?

Off to Downtown Albany to bring the Scott Kretschmann Photography signature After Dark Session to an engagement session! It was so cold down there, but so worth it to get these awesome shots!

The lights, the cobblestone, the impending kiss….perfection.

We had to finish it off with the signature shot to show off the bling!

Liz and Scott, thanks so much for hanging out with us, braving the elements, and rocking it out for these photos. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do! We can’t wait for your wedding at the Canoe Island Lodge in Lake George this coming September!

Kate and Kevin are very in sync as a couple, which is something that just kind of happens when you have been dating since high school. Their first kiss story has to be the best one we’ve had yet. It was their one month anniversary, and Kevin said he really wanted to give her a kiss, so he opened her hand and placed a Hershey’s Kiss in it. Smooth huh? Suffice it to say he got his kiss shortly thereafter. That definitely tops the list of best first kiss stories! Like all good romance stories they kept in touch through the time and distance of college with Kevin making the long 5 hour trips from Rochester to White Plains every few weeks to see Kate.

After Kate graduated law school and passed the bar (this apparently a test and not a place to drink) they moved to Cortland. After living together for two years Kevin decided that it was time to seal the deal with a ring!  It started with a trip to a bed and breakfast in Ithaca where little did Kate know he was a man with a plan.  After asking for her parents for permission and having her mom try on the ring (how cute is that?) his plans were in place.  Kevin actually texted Kate’s parents throughout the proposal so they could be involved.  After a trip to the spa he took her to a great restaurant complete with roses and after getting back to the bed and breakfast, he got down on one knee and asked her if she would do him the honor of being his wife. I think you can guess what she said!

Which brings us to their engagement session in Albany. After much brainstorming and discussion we decided on a trip to downtown Albany and then a super secret spot where we love to shoot. Kate made a stop by Lipstick and Lashes (ladies, for your wedding hair and makeup, you want to use them, trust us!) to get her hair and makeup done then we were ready for an unforgettable engagement session. It was a little chilly, but the light was perfect and we still had a blast and got some awesome photos. Check them out and be sure to vote for your favorites by showing them a little “love”

Gentlemen, if you don’t know how to properly dip your brides and brides to be, you need to take lessons from Kevin. He rocked it. So smooth.

Oh yeah, there’s the light I was talking about.

We love reflections just a little bit.

How hot is this one? Seriously! That’s a model look right there.

Late fall in Albany, you HAVE to play in the leaves!

A little dancing…can you tell we were having fun?

These two were so goofy. We loved it.

In this next one, Kevin is practicing for his GQ cover shoot.

Kate wanted to be dipped again. Kevin obliged. The light was perfect. Need we say more?

Here are a couple of shots with the Cathedral of All Saints in the background. It’s a GORGEOUS church, and in case we forgot to mention it, it’s also where they will be getting married in July!

Golden awesomeness

Off to one of our favorite spots to shoot in Albany. The sunset light is always KILLER there!

This was our Facebook teaser. Make sure to like our page to be the first to see their wedding photos! It is also one of our favorite e-pics of the year, and I totally think when we redo our wall art in the studio this winter, this one is going up there.

These are SO perfect.

A nice one for mom and dad:

As there is a bunch of snow on the ground at our house right now, we are totally missing this gorgeous fall color.

We hope everyone enjoyed these, and make sure to click the love button under your favorites! Kate and Kevin, we are so excited for your wedding, and we can’t wait to show off all the joy and magic of that day right here! Thanks so much for braving the cold and spending the afternoon with us. We had such a great time, and we hope you love these images as much as we do!

After the big snow of October we were able to get some warmer weather (finally) and some pretty fall light. I love fall light because it is so warm and beautiful it makes Albany look a bit like Southern California. You put our rockstar couple in gorgeous locations with some pretty light and just like Emeril would say BAM! You have a Kretschmann engagement session to remember. Even when we had a small forgotten clothes crisis at our second location Jen and Jason continued with their session like pros. What follows are some of our favorites so hang tight because there is a lot of rockstar style with a touch of cute in this session.

No matter how many times we shoot on the track, it’s still cool.

At the starting gates:

The start of the pretty light:

SO romantic! :

Standby for August 18 next year:

I always love the clubhouse when it’s empty. So cool.

LOVE this one:

Off to Congress Park, and we hit it right at sunset. PERFECTION!

This one was our Facebook teaser. Make sure you like our page to be the first to see their wedding photos!

OK, funny story with this next series. Those of you who follow this blog know we love a nice golden backlight from a golden sunset more than anything, which is just what we had here. So, as I’m lying on my stomach in the grass getting these shots, and Lisa is standing a few yards to my right catching the other angle, both of us with pro cameras, lenses, and gear bags, an old lady comes up behind me as I’m shooting and says, “Excuse me, you shouldn’t shoot into the sun. Those won’t come out.”  Gee, thanks ma’am. I’ll leave it up to you guys to decide if they came out or not. We personally love them.

That golden rim light is sheer perfection. The smiles and happiness on their faces is just sublime. Can’t beat it.

Classic Saratoga Springs:

Did we mention how much we love sunset photos???

Oh yeah. That’s the light.

So incredibly sweet. How can you not LOVE this one?

And we’ll finish off playing in the leaves.

Actually we’ll finish with Jason feeding the duck that came over to visit a piece of leaf. The duck was NOT amused.

Can’t say we weren’t though.

Jen and Jason-We are so happy that everything happened the way it did so that we are able to be a part of your special day It was a blast working with you guys, and we can’t wait for your wedding. Oh, and for anyone who isn’t doing anything this Saturday night, Jason and Jet Crash Billy will be playing at the Dinosaur BBQ in Troy, so come down and see them and say hi to us as well!

The Barns of Nipmoose are a really cool historical property in Buskirk, NY. The barns are Scottish Barn, the German Barn and the corn crib all dating from the 18th century. In the surrounding field there is an Aspen Grove and corn field, plus we had gorgeous fall foliage as far as the eye could see. It is a beautiful property and would be beautiful for a wedding. When we arrived at the barns it was cold, windy, cloudy and threatening rain but Yvonne and Billy were troopers and they walked all over the property with us. As soon as we went inside the Scottish Barn to start shooting though it started to pour and not just pour but thunder and lightning as well. Just as we thought we were done for the day, the sun peeked out from below the clouds and we got some AMAZING shots of the sunset and rain at the same time. Yvonne and Billy didn’t mind getting a little wet for the shots, and they were so worth it!  Overall the session ended up amazing and of course with such a cute couple our job was easy.

Yvonne and Billy are getting married at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy next August but this won’t be any other ballroom wedding. This will be a ballroom extravaganza with hay bales and all types of cool touches. We are from the south so this will definitely be familiar territory for us. From meeting with them a few times we can tell they are so excited for their wedding day and it will be filled with beautiful and memorable details. We hope you enjoy some of our favorites from this really fun e-session!

This really is an awesome property.

Nothing like some moody clouds and golden foliage to say fall in Upstate NY!

We trudged through some mud to get some cool shots in the corn:

Just look at the color in those trees! Oh wait, you were distracted by the cute couple? Yeah, that’ll happen.

These trees made the perfect backdrop for a little stroll down the road:

Gotta show off that bling with our signature shot!

A nice portrait for the parents:

As the rain started to come down, they headed inside the Scottish Barn while we stayed outside to grab a few shots. We got a little wet, but the photos were well worth it:

The Facebook teaser. Make sure to like us so you get to see their wedding photos first!

I love a good moody black and white sometimes:

Yeah, how cute are these two???

Red umbrella, faded red wall, cute couple having fun……perfection.

Yeah, how cool is this barn?

As we were about to head home, the sun popped out. Sun and rain together? Totally worth getting wet for!

Lisa grabbed this one. It’s one of my favorites.

Can it get more romantic?

We hope you guys enjoyed this one as much as we did! We’re really looking forward to Yvonne and Billy’s wedding next year, and we wanted to say a special thanks to them for bearing the cold, wind, and rain to get these awesome shots. Totally worth it now isn’t it?

Michelle and Mike are doctoral students in sociology who met at UAlbany, so they are extremely busy and we are lucky that they managed to find some time to squeeze in a session. We think it was well worth it though for their day off and we managed to get just a peek of some pretty fall foliage. It was a holiday weekend so the place was crowded but we managed to shoot around it and you can’t even tell that the place was packed. Not only did we get to munch on some apples but we crawled in apple crates and drank apple cider. It doesn’t get much more fall than that! Lisa also decided they should do apple themed save the date pictures, which we absolutely love.

We are so excited to shoot Michelle and Mike’s wedding in May at Riverstone Manor. We can’t wait to meet all of their family and friends and be a part of their special day. Michelle and Mike, we hope you enjoy your pictures and that reflect the love you have for each other. Make sure to leave some love for the happy couple in the comments section!

Gonna start today off with our Facebook teaser for this session. Normally the first 30 minutes of a session, the couple is still getting used to us and being in front of the camera, but Michelle and Mike got right into it. It was awesome. Make sure to like our page to be the first to see their wedding photos!

So sweet:

How cute are these two? And the light….so perfect.

Even with the awesome light, we had to do some great black and whites too!

Nothing says fall around here like some fresh picked, ripe apples.

Then, we found the perfect spot, with the most perfect light ever:

Fresh pressed apple cider? Yes please!

We just had to have a little to drink while we were there:

You’re going to get not one, but TWO bling shots today!

This was Lisa’s idea. I love it.

That “Indian Ladder Farms Green” is so iconic in this area.

Yeah, here’s the bling again. Mike did well.

Just as we were finishing up, I saw the red tree. Just couldn’t pass it up!

I think they both picked pretty well!

Michelle and Mike, thank you so much for the AMAZING time, and we are so excited about your upcoming wedding! We had so much fun on this session, we know we’re going to have to go back to Indian Ladder again!

We really enjoyed getting to hang out with Sam and Nick because they are so much fun, not to mention that they treated us to Ben and Jerry’s at the end of the session! We even got to hear about their Christmas time proposal at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. We can’t wait for their wedding in May, and more importantly we can’t wait to share it with you all. We hope you enjoy the pictures!

A little family portrait:

So cute:

Yeah, let’s just say he wouldn’t look at us. At all. This is the best we could get:

Off to prospect mountain. LOVED this light:

A little portrait for the parents:

LOVE this one:

The sun was really strong, so we decided to have some fun with silhouettes:

Time to go down to the lake!

How about a little dancing?

Sam really does have amazing eyes:

Our Facebook teaser is next. Be sure to like our page to be the first to see their wedding photos!

This next one really is one of my favorites:

Of course, we have to finish by showing off the bling:

We hope you all enjoyed these, and we can’t wait to show you their wedding pics!

I wish we could take some credit for helping plan the creative locations in this session but that was all Kristin. Not only did she find a cool bookstore to shoot in but she also planned all their outfits! Kristin is really creative and made the session so unique to them as a couple.  We had never gotten to shoot in a bookstore so it allowed us a chance to be creative and try some new things. We started at Kristin’s parents house where we took pictures in shirts that Ira had designed and printed through his screen printing company for valentines day while he was saving money to propose, and the shirts just had to make an appearance at their engagement shoot, along with a matching balloon! Then we stopped by the bookstore and then we finished at Moreau Lake State Park. All in all we got a great range of locations and outfits.

Kristin and Ira are planning are planning a beautiful Canfield Casino wedding in October of next year and with all of their creativity it will be an event to remember. They are an amazing couple who love to laugh and know how to have a good time so we are sure that they will have an amazing event. Without further ado, we hope you enjoy their pictures!

Here are the famous shirts, and they just had to get a balloon to match! It was really cute.

As per our discussion at the session, this is now “the love bench.”

Off to the bookstore! This cool old location definitely called for a few cool black and whites.

Time to do some reading!

Yeah, Ira did a good job with this.

This one is our favorite and was also our facebook teaser.

Seriously…how cute can these two get….

I’m pretty sure this was a reaction to one of Lisa’s jokes, but we were all laughing for this entire session. It was so much fun!

I love the reflection in this one:

Off to the lake!

Love this one.

The fall color was so awesome. The fall left us way too soon with a snowstorm, but it was great while it lasted. There’s nothing like fall in Upstate New York.

How adorable are these two?

One of my other favorites:

Lisa spotted these boats and said we had to shoot there.

One for mom and dad:

Of course we have to show off the bling with our signature shot:

We had to close out with a couple of shots after the sun set. The dusk color was incredible.

After the sun had set, we grabbed a great dinner with them at Hattie’s Chicken Shack, which is seriously the best fried chicken we have had since we left the south. If you haven’t tried it yet, go soon. It is SO good, and Kristin and Ira made amazing dinner companions. We really can’t wait to see them again! We hope everyone enjoyed these, and we can’t wait to show you their wedding photos next year!

We really appreciated their flexibilty with their schedule even though they had to miss their weekly dinner with Ryan’s family. They allowed us to wander around and pretty much look for beautiful light and backgrounds. These two totally worked it for the camera, and we LOVE these images!

We can’t wait for their beautiful May 2012 wedding at Birch Hill for what we are sure will be the wedding of the century. Birch Hill is a gorgeous location so stay tuned for some awesome pictures from that.  In the meantime, enjoy some pictures in the pretty light while we in upstate NY are preparing for an October nor’easter on a gray and chilly day.

Say it with me now: Swoonworthy!

I love a nice silhouette every once in a while.

Tall grass is always our favorite. We totally made good use of it on this shoot.

The killer golden sunlight made for an amazing session.

Did I mention the killer light?

These two are so cute together.

This next one is our favorite image I shot:

A few intimate moments shot by Lisa. One serious:

And one fun:

Love this in black and white:

This one is our favorite that Lisa shot, and also our Facebook teaser!

There’s nothing quite like Fall in upstate NY!

These two were seriously having so much fun!

Yeah, here’s where they pulled out the modeling faces:

A little portrait for mom and dad:

Sunset, our favorite time!

This next one is SO much fun!

Did I mention the awesome golden light? Well, I’m going to mention it again:

Lisa said that she wants to be BFF’s and buy friendship bracelets with this picture.

We had so much fun at this session, we can’t WAIT for their wedding. Stay tuned for lots more fall engagement fun on our blog, coming very soon, and for our neighbors in NY and New England, stay warm and safe this weekend!