Checking my e-mail has never been so much fun! The last few weeks I’ve been taking entries for the Hudson Valley Cutest Kid contest and the entries have been so much fun to see! I’m really glad that I’m leaving the decision up to all of you because I don’t think I could choose! So many cute kids and I loved the notes from the parents too! =)

Voting ends September 8th at 11:59 PM EST and you can only vote once so make it count! The winner will receive a complimentary 2 hour photo session with me worth $250 - and just in time for holiday portrait season! Best of luck to all of the participants - I’m excited to see the results! Let the voting begin (and don’t forget to recruit your friends and family to vote too)!

Parker Renee:

Sydney:

Gavin:

Aiden:

Gracie:

Patrick:

Ilana Paige:

Mackenzie:

Hayden:

Maggie:

Halie:

Erin MacKenzie:

Devin:

Tyler:

Adriana:

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Every Mom thinks their kids are the cutest (my daughter is certainly the cutest!) but who is REALLY the cutest in the Hudson Valley? Submit a photo* of your child(ren) to me at info@autumn-photography.com with the subject line of “HV Cute Kids” (don’t forget to include the child’s first name, age, your name and contact info!) and we’ll hold a poll right here on the blog! The winner will receive a FREE 2 hour portrait session worth $250!

Entries will be accepted now through September 1st, 2010 and voting will be right here on the blog September 2nd - 8th. The winner will be announced September 9th and will receive a 2 hour portrait session (you choose - portraits of your child or the whole family!) just in time for holiday portraits!

You must be the parent or legal guardian of the child you are entering and *photos must NOT be copyrighted* (snapshots are perfectly acceptable!)

Here’s my cutie:

Nominate an NFA (Newburgh Free Academy) high school junior or senior who is staying out of trouble and doing something positive and/or inspirational and one will be chosen each month (May - Nov) for a FREE senior style session, free facebook photos and some wallets to hand out! I’ll also feature them and their story on my blog and facebook (as long as it’s okay with them and their parents!). Just leave a comment here about why they should be chosen (you can even nominate yourself!). If you feel more comfortable nominating in private, you can e-mail me at info@autumn-photography.com. Just tell me their name, age, grade and why you think they deserve this! They don’t have to have the cure for cancer or anything, but let’s face it, if they live in the city of Newburgh and go to NFA, just staying out of trouble is reason enough to tell them they’re doing a great job and encourage them to continue doing the right thing. Let’s reward the kids who really deserve it - please spread the word!

Updates to come soon so stay tuned!

Flowers are blooming and the weather is warming up here in the Hudson Valley - it’s time to get back outside and play! For a very limited time I am running portrait specials to entice those of you who have been holding off on getting your photos taken and give me a great excuse to get outside, take some photos and meet new people! Specials are being offered for a very limited time and my availability will fill up fast so don’t hesitate! These special promotions are for portrait sessions - modeling, Facebook and/or business headshots, maternity, newborn, children, families, couples, boudoir and high school juniors & seniors! See below for specials on each. All specials apply to sessions taking place within an hour of New Windsor, NY unless otherwise noted (which includes areas such as Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, Newburgh, Wallkill, Middletown NY, New Paltz, Brewster, Danbury CT, Ridgefield CT, Nanuet, Kingston, Westbrook, Central Valley, Goshen, Mahwah NJ, Rhinebeck, Bedford, Spring Valley, etc.). If you would like to take advantage of one of these deals but live further away, let me know and we can either come up with a location in the middle or I will give you a quote for further travel.

Headshots

Get a mini session (approximately 30-45 minutes), online proofing and ordering and 2 edited high resolution images for your personal and promotional use for just $100 through April 3rd! Whether you need new photos to represent your business identity, starting or adding to a modeling portfolio, a facebook profile photo or you just want to treat yourself, headshot sessions are relaxed and can take place almost anywhere. Limit one person per headshot session.

Maternity and Newborn

I don’t think there is anything that I love more than photographing maternity and newborn sessions - now through May 1st, book a maternity or newborn session and get 50% off your session fee! If you book BOTH a maternity and a newborn session, not only do you get 50% off each session (that’s like getting one free!), but you will also receive a complimentary 20 page brag book filled with your favorite photos! Since these are my absolute favorite sessions and they almost exclusively take place in my clients’ homes, I am extending this offer a little further than the rest - this offer is for anyone within 90 minutes of New Windsor, NY (zip code 12553 if you’re searching the radius!) - this extends into parts of NJ, PA and even the southwest corner of MA, all the way down to Fairfield, CT where I first started my business.

Children, families and couples

When you book a session at regular session rates and place your order within 1 week of your online gallery activation, half of your session fee will transfer over to a print credit! That’s a savings of $50, $125 or even $187.50, depending on the session! Sessions must be completed by May 1st and must take place within 1 hour of New Windsor, NY.

High School Juniors and Seniors

FREE sessions! That’s right, I said it - FREE! Pre-pay for a minimum $200 purchase and receive a 1 hour session absolutely free! Want to spend even less? Like NOTHING?! Apply to be a Senior Rep and if you’re accepted, you could get a free session AND earn free products just for referring your friends! You want more? You also get Rep cards with your photo on one side and a special offer for your friends when they book too! Senior Rep program is only open to Class of 2011. Send me a message via e-mail (info@autumn-photography.com), facebook or twitter if you’re interested in becoming a Rep! This offer is through June 1st - Rep program is available until further notice.

Boudoir

Sexy and tasteful boudoir photographed in your home (or a hotel at your expense if you wish) - book a 3 hour session at $350 and receive a 5×5 20 page photo book free! Sessions include full retouching and a password protected online gallery. Do you have 3-5 friends that would like a session as well? Let me know and I can provide you with a special rate when they are all photographed at the same location on the same day! Offer ends June 1st.

Sorry, no photos to share here - due to the sensitive nature of boudoir photography, I value my clients’ privacy and never share them with anyone.

Let me start out by taking you through the backstory here… I met Vivian and Michael several years ago… shortly after we moved from St. Louis, MO to Fairfield, CT. Vivian worked with my husband and I had met her a few times. We were invited to their wedding and lucky me, I had been second shooting for a wedding photographer and had just gotten my first DSLR! I went as a guest… a guest who didn’t really know anyone there. I barely knew the bride and I had not met the groom. I decided that my camera would keep me occupied and I would feel less awkward about knowing no one there. As it turns out, I didn’t feel awkward at all and I had a great time - I didn’t take many photos at all (by my standards anyway) but I got a handful that I absolutely loved and sent them to the happy couple after the wedding. They loved the photos and we kept in touch, even though Vivian no longer worked with Sean, chatting here and there over the last several years. They had been trying to get pregnant for two years and I followed along on their journey, knowing that it would happen for them. It had to. They are amazing people and it just HAD TO work out for them. Well, after a long, very difficult road they finally got their wish. When I first heard the news it was vague… you could tell that they wanted to shout from the rooftops and celebrate their news but they were still being cautious so as not to jinx anything. I wasn’t entirely sure that Vivian was pregnant because the news was that vague, but Vivian finally mentioned me doing a photo shoot for her in a few months and I asked if she meant a maternity session. She confirmed that yes, she would be needing a maternity session. YEA!!! I was so excited for them - not only is this an amazingly incredible event, but for Vivian and Michael it was something that they had been wanting so badly and they had been through so much to get there. Vivian also asked me if I would be willing to photograph the birth of their son as well. Um, YES, PLEASE! I had been wanting to photograph a birth for a few years and had not gotten the opportunity due to C-sections.

In December we met up for their maternity session on what turned out to be a randomly gorgeous and warm day. We had fun taking photos and chatting while Vivian’s son Darren and Jaedyn played hide from the grown-ups and Legos. Vivian looked fantastic and she and Michael seemed to be enjoying every minute of the long awaited pregnancy. They still would not divulge the name they had chosen for their “monkey” as they so lovingly referred to him. Little did I know at the time that only Vivian, Michael and Darren knew the chosen name and somehow even Darren, who just turned 9, was able to keep it a secret!

Fast forward to January 19th. I had just changed into my pajamas and walked back to the living room to find a missed text message at 12:39 AM - it was THE text from Vivian:

“off to L&D, contractions are coming pretty strong”

Such a sweetie - I told her I am always up super late and don’t ever feel bad about calling me in the middle of the night! I sent her a text back (which she didn’t get to check for several hours) and got dressed, grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. The hospital is about an hour from me so I arrived at 2 AM through the emergency department and waited to be let in. And I waited. And waited. I finally arrived to her room around 2:20 AM and she was in quite a bit of pain but handling it like a pro. Vivian did awesome! She asked me about my experiences with childbirth and an epidural. She ended up deciding to go with an epidural because she was having front and back labor that had her in a tremendous amount of pain. Michael’s mother and I stepped outside for the anesthesiologist to place the epidural. She was very nervous so we talked and paced the halls together which seemed to help. When we were allowed back in the room the epidural hadn’t fully taken effect yet but it wasn’t long before Vivian was calm and even smiling again. We all decided to try to relax and hopefully get a light nap in while things were calm. We were all just settling down… I was sitting across the room from the monitors, kind of zoning out and staring at them and I started noticing the baby’s heart rate fluctuating quite a bit. I kept a close watch on the monitor - just staring at it, a little nervous but not wanting to say anything for fear that I would jinx something. Suddenly the baby’s heart rate dropped very drastically and then came up and plummeted right back down. My eyes widened. My body tensed up. Michael looked over and saw the look on my face and I pointed to the monitors, not wanting to alarm Vivian or Michael’s mom too much. Michael walked over to the monitor just as the nurse came in to see what was going on as she was watching the monitor too from her station. Michael’s mom and I stepped out while they checked Vivian. We were out in the hall for what felt like forever, waiting, nervous, scared. We weren’t being allowed back in. We were both shaking, but I tried my best to hide it and calm her. I kept walking to the door to listen and I finally heard the nurses getting Vivian ready to push… WOW - already?! I told Michael’s mother that I was pretty sure her grandson was about to make his appearance and encouraged her to stand by the door so she could at least hear his first cry. We stood at the door for a moment and then a nurse finally invited us in, with some restrictions on where we could be and when I was allowed to photograph. Totally understandable. The next few minutes will be etched in my memory forever. The birth of my daughter was absolutely, without a doubt, the best day of my life but I was quite sick and don’t remember a lot of it. It was a different kind of amazing. Witnessing the birth of someone else’s baby was just incredible. I cried, I remembered things I had forgotten about Jaedyn’s birth, I sat there watching, happy and sad at the same time that I won’t be experiencing that first hand again. I cried some more and smiled a lot. I was so happy for them and so caught up in the magic that I almost forgot to pick the camera back up (I wasn’t permitted to take photos until the baby was stabilized) and take a photo of the clock - which read 5:21 AM. They got the baby stabilized and I stood back, documenting everything. A few minutes later the doctor asked if they would finally be willing to tell us all his name - they laughed and told us - it’s Gabriel Michael. Gabriel was 7 pounds, 2 ounces and is a beautiful, healthy boy. Shortly after his arrival home I visited again (twice), camera in hand of course!

Please enjoy this slideshow of Gabriel’s birth story… but be sure to grab the tissues before you hit play!

(P.S. Please be patient while the show loads - one of my pet peeves is a show pausing to continue loading once it’s already playing!)

Vivian and Michael: Thank you so much for inviting me to share in and document such an amazing and intimate part of your lives. I am so honored and blessed to have been able to do this for you and I am so happy for you guys! From the bottom of my heart - CONGRATULATIONS!

Darren: Congratulations to you too! You are already an awesome big brother!

Wow - I have been seriously neglecting my blog in an effort to keep up with everything else during this busy season! I guess it’s time to play catch up, huh?! Forgive me, the next several posts will all be quite brief in wording (you’re really only here to see the photos anyway, right?!) but I’m going to get caught up! =)

The “D.” and “Z.” cousins in Greenwich, CT:

It’s FINALLY ready! I have worked on designing a new website for a couple of months now and it’s finally at the point where I am ready to show it off! It’s new, it’s colorful, it’s fun and it’s totally ME! Thanks to the awesome Showit Sites software, I built this baby from scratch! More tweaks to come when I have some time but check it out! =)

www.autumn-photography.com

(same web address)

Jessica and Barry were married at Castle on the Hudson, also known as “The Castle” in Tarrytown, NY on July 5th which turned out to be such a gorgeous day! Despite a few stressful mishaps early in the day and some unexpected entertainment (think America’s Got Talent!), everything was beautiful and everyone had a great time filled with Jewish traditions, lots of dancing and even singing. Besides, the most important thing went off without a hitch - Jessica & Barry got married! =) During the reception The Rythym Shop kept the party going strong until the very end and they also got everyone into the act! It was a lot of fun watching Jessica and Barry join in on the mic singing Journey and Bon Jovi, banging on bongos and watching Jessica and a few of her girls play back up singers to “Tina” during Proud Mary.

Some details:

Playing Tetris and relaxing before the ceremony

“He doesn’t have his pants?! This is a joke, right?!”

Jessica’s AMAZING Michelle Roth dress from Kleinfeld’s

I just love Barry’s expressions, but especially after he is told that he and Jessica are officially married!

I told you it was a gorgeous day!

Once Jessica took her veil off she felt so much better and while her bridesmaids bustled her up Barry went into the reception and grabbed their place card to show her - they were so incredibly excited to see Mr. and Mrs. Postrygacz in writing!

“Wait… how do you do that thing where you interlock arms while you drink champagne? Oh, that didn’t work!” =) They were so cute!

Jessica getting her turn at the mic

Does he not have the best expressions?! You can definitely see how in love these two are!

Don’t forget to check out the slideshow!

Congratulations again you two! I hope you’re having an awesome time in Hawaii!

It is such an honor being voted “The Knot Best of Weddings 2008/2009″ by my brides! Thank you so much to those that voted and had such wonderful things to say! For those that don’t know, it’s a huge magazine with all of the wedding vendors nationwide that were voted “Best of Weddings” by their couples - it’s a fantastic resource for finding the best wedding vendors! Congratulations to all of those who were also voted “Best”! I grabbed my copy at my local Barnes & Noble - don’t forget to grab your copy of this comprehensive list of the best wedding vendors as voted by real brides! Now they just need a vote on “Best Wedding Clients” because I know mine would make that list! ; )

My daughter Jaedyn and I went out and enjoyed the gorgeous day today and while we were out I took some photos of her (of course!). She started putting on the full model act almost immediately… she pulled out 2 different sweaters, a jacket and two hats (one of which she forgot about until the camera was put away!) and put on her favorite boots. We got outside and she was workin’ that camera and being OH SO SILLY too! I was totally cracking up at all of her poses and expressions! We took some photos in our yard and then we explored our neighborhood a bit. Found a cool spot with a bright aqua wall, took some photos and then headed off in search of a playground that we’d heard was a few blocks away to have some fun.

I love her laugh!

I asked her to be a little bit more serious for a second and this is what I got! Ironically, I have a photo of her doing almost the same thing when she was only a few days old...

I had NOTHING to do with this pose... this is all her!

I love this wall... and it is walking distance from my house! =)

off to the park....

No, this is not photoshopped... that sky is straight out of the camera. Gorgeous day!

fun on the jungle gym

So silly... I just love this one!

She tells me that this is her "attitude... like a model"

She is going to kill me for this one when she's older! She was already in shock that I took it in the first place!

When we got inside she begged to take a picture of me so I took the opportunity to try teaching her about the rule of thirds. =) I am told that this is my signature smirk.