Adrienne Brand Photography

On the Gold Coast of Long Island lies a park previously owned by a person who probably had ridiculous amounts of money. The estate is perfectly landscaped with fountains and even a cottage for the ghost of caretakers gone by. The slate walkway seen here leads back to the gardener's cottage, where our little boy walked before disappearing beyond the pink haze of autumn fluffery.

If you're lucky enough to have a summer home in the Hamptons, you may have already visited the Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Sag Harbor, New York, or as I like to call it, "The Chickadee Park." The birds and chipmunks are so comfortable there that I felt like I entered Snow White's kingdom.  This past weekend was slightly overcast, but it didn't stop us from visiting the park with our entourage of children, who chased the birds around like they held the keys to Disney in their tiny claws.  This sweet little blonde peanut is my aunt's niece. I caught her being playful on the railings of the bridge. I told the adults in our pack to keep an eye on her safety while I photographed her in action. This time, however, someone got a shot of me, too! 

Photographers are creative people, and we definitely want to bring our cameras everywhere. But even photographers need to unplug. The problem that I personally have with bringing my camera is that I won't be able to completely unplug when I'm supposed to be relaxing on vacation. If I don't relax, I'll end-up with a few problems when vacation is finished: I'll end up turning my vacation into a training session and put pressure on myself If I don't completely unplug and relax during my vacation, I'll still be burned-out when I return from vacation I'll have vacation images to go through when I get home that'll put off business One thing I like do to when I'm on vacation is bring a small point-and-shoot. These cameras are pocket-sized and can take the photo as well – though not nearly as impressive as my entire rig can – but will at least preserve the memory and allow me to later contemplate how I would have shot it professionally had I had a...

I love when parents bring accessories to photo shoots! Considering I have a full time job at a worldwide advertising agency in New York City, it's less I have to think about. It also breaks up the flow and sends us on another track, often with great results. A few of my clients have brought hats that have given them what seems like a whole new set of images! I photographed one little girl after Hurricane Sandy at Avalon Park in Stony Brook, on Long Island, New York. While the gas lines stretched down the road behind us, we walked the length of the pathway up the hill and through the woods. I photographed the girl and her sister the whole time, but when we put her hat on, another personality came out completely. Something about hats makes children concentrate more on the hat than their fear of the camera. So you end-up with more genuine photos of your kids. What's great about clients like that girl – besides the hat – is that she would perfectly pose  even before I was able...

Miss & Mini , a photo by PhotoGraphicGirl on Flickr. I'll admit there are times when I just don't feel like photographing clients. This wasn't one of those times. When a client shows enthusiasm from the very beginning, is excited about the location, what they're going to wear, talks about their children, follows up with me quickly... you know it's going to be a great shoot. These two girls posed wonderfully before I could even get my entire statement out. Most of the time I would end-up saying things like, "Yes! That's it!" And now I know why photographers shout enthusiastic statements to models, we're just so excited about how well the shoot is going and how great we think the final images will be. This shoot was taken right after Hurricane Sandy on Long Island, New York. We were going to photograph the girls at Argyle Park in Babylon, but the water still hadn't left the park, and everything was in disarray. So we went to Avalon Park in S...

The Calm After Hurricane Sandy , a photo by PhotoGraphicGirl on Flickr. A tiny bit of calm in the wake of Hurricane Sandy... With many Long Islanders not sure about how to proceed in the wake of the storm, this client held her ground and came out to have her daughters photographed. And they were magnificent! Well behaved, good listeners, loved them, and was very glad that we could finally get their shoot done! Well worth the wait! Thanks to Ken Thalheimer and Ed Dertinger from Photographers for Freelancers Meetup, as well as an old classmate, Marc, for helping me out with the location of Avalon, I hadn't been there for a while and wasn't sure where the actual location was. Thank you!