As we charge our batteries and race towards another busy year, we realize that we haven’t really stopped to appreciate some of the work we did in the past year. 2014 was a full and often frenetic year filled with more weddings than we’ve ever shot in a year as well as many Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and portrait shoots. This is much more than just a business for us. We love making pictures, and need to review our work so we can learn from the past. There is no formula to what we do except to try to see and listen as carefully as possible, and to frame our clients memories in the most positive and flattering way. We’ve been privileged to be at some warm and gorgeous events. Here are a handful of frames that just tickled us a bit as we reviewed the work. Also, don’t worry you brides and grooms, boys and families that we shot this year. Your pictures will be up here soon

A cute little girl ignores the party at her cousin’s Bat Mitzvah

A Bat Mitzvah girl about to start the portrait session. We prefer the unscripted to the posed

Getting ready for the big party

The sister of the Bar Mitzvah boy signs the sign in board

Getting ready. Sometimes the slight gestures tell the story.

Fun at the party

Little sister didn’t get the prize. Yet.

Wanting the party to start.

We often photograph couples prior to their Wedding. The sessions used to be a pretty quick thing for a NY Times insertion, but now more often than not, it’s much more than a headshot. It’s a great way for us all to get a little more familiar with each other before the big day and it’s also nice for us to see the couple through our cameras before the Wedding. Most of all, it’s usually just fun.

Sometimes couples have a special location that has meaning for them. We’ve shot the high school where a couple met, and the beach where another couple were engaged. But often,  there’s no special theme and we photograph on or around our property. With the barn and stables, the quiet country road and a nature preserve moments away, there really is no place like home.

 We shot a beautiful wedding at Tappan Hill Mansion 2 weeks ago. Jennifer and Michael couldn’t have been sweeter and everything was beautiful from the weather to the always incredible food by Abigail Kirsch. Decor was by Diana Gould Ltd and you can see by the photos that the room had a very special glow that night.

Pre Bar Mitzvah sports themed photo shoot. Image was printed 8 feet wide, backlit on plexiglass and hung above the bar. Photo © Tripp Street Studio 2013

Having just put a new roof on the barn, we thought we’d add another post showing some of the work we do out there. It’s not just girls who want pre Bat Mitzvah photos, the boys get into it as well. More and more, we see these photos as decor at the events and sometimes they’re projected as loops on screens during the parties. We recently made some 4 x 6 feet prints that were face mounted on plexi. They looked pretty incredible and should last a lifetime. The shoots aren’t all about sports. We photographed a boy who’s party had a carnival theme. He had a blast with the concept, and so did we.  We storyboarded the ideas, shot them in the barn and added type after the shoot. We then had large banners created that were displayed at the party.

It’s pouring out today, but it’s dry as can be in the barn where we’re going to set up a new shoot this afternoon. The property here on Tripp Street is pretty nice too, so we often find ourselves doing less stylized, more natural photos on the grounds.

The Barn at Tripp Street Studio

Inside the Barn at Tripp Street Studio

When we saw this barn and the attached stables years ago, we fell in love with the space. It’s certainly not because of our love of horses. We don’t love them, and they know it. But after years of loft living in the city, the barn provided a perfect studio. Most of our work is on location, but it’s fabulous to have a high ceilinged, brightly lit open space on the back of our property where we can shoot, and hang out. It’s not heated, but we get 7 or 8 good months a year of shooting out there. 

Recently we’ve been hearing from families who’s child is leaving for college next year, and they want another family portrait to hang on the wall. But it’s much more than that. Aside from family portraits and the occasional still life or product photography, it’s great for engagement sessions, pregnant moms, dog portraits (yes you might be surprised) and pre Bar and Bat Mitzvah shoots. In an hour or two, we can create photos for a sign-in board, as well as many pictures that get used for decor at the actual event. We find that girls often like a fashion approach, and boys range from sports pictures to nice relaxed portraits and beyond. The shoots are all different, just like the kids. But the common factor is the fun we have, the comfort zone we create for our “models”, and how nice it is to get to know all these cool kids.

We’ve had a  crazy busy spring, and it’s still going. We love it, and we especially love all the new pictures that we are making. There have been too many to show in one post, but here are a few of the girls we’ve been shooting at the barn. Next post, we’ll show you some of the fun stuff we’ve been doing with the boys.

As photographers, we hate to turn down work.  It feels like bad karma, and after years of doing freelance work, saying no is almost unimaginable. But that’s exactly what we’ve done time after time over the last years. We’ve just been too busy shooting and we didn’t want to farm out the work to others whom we couldn’t really trust. Jodi and I have developed a pretty good reputation and we made a conscious decision to be “boutique” rather than “factory”. 

When our son became a Bar Mitzvah, we knew we couldn’t shoot so we hired Dennis Lee whom we’ve known for years. The pictures are stunning, and our first associate was standing there staring us in the face. Shortly thereafter, our ace assistant Hillary started second shooting for us, and we realized we had another shooter we could trust. They’ve been shooting through our studio now for years. Their pictures are incredible, and our clients love them. So do we. 

Over time, we’ve become much more than just Jodi and me. We find ourselves doing video, portraits, montages and all manner of fun and different things. Calling us Steve and Jodi just didn’t seem to make sense anymore as we are so much more than that. The team has grown, the work we are doing has expanded, and it just made sense for us to acknowledge that. Although Jodi and I continue to shoot every weekend, so do others under our banner, thus the name change to Tripp Street Studio. We’ve evolved slowly, and we still believe that framing our clients memories in the most positive way is the most important thing we do. We’re just doing more of it now for more great clients. We will always try to be as user friendly as possible and we will never expand beyond those principles.

We’re getting ready to celebrate with dear and wonderful old friends for a sure to be tasty New Years Eve dinner. I can’t imagine a better way to shepherd in 2013 than with those whom we love the most. Our job is to document many of life’s most precious moments for our clients, so it’s always exciting to raise a glass of champagne, rather than look for some cool reflection in the glass. But as we get ready to look ahead, we realize that so much of the work we’ve done in this past year is just sitting on our computers(as well as backup servers in California).

We’ve had a wonderfully busy year at the Studio, and posted close to nothing on the blog. We knew we would be only occasional bloggers, but this is crazy. We’ve probably had over 100 separate shoots this past year, and only several blog posts. We have worked with and photographed incredible people. We’ve preserved some of life’s most precious moments with Brides, Grooms, Mom’s and Dad’s, Grandparents and teenagers. We’ve seen people laugh, cry, dance and celebrate. So before the year ends, we quickly pulled a few images to get onto the blog. Perhaps we’ll expand this selection in the days to come.  Knowing us as bloggers, probably not. Either way, we wish to all a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

We were delighted to hear that Skeetshooter Kim Rhode had won gold at the London Olympics this week. In 1996, she was the youngest member of the US Olympic team, and this year marked her fifth trip to the Olympics. She won her fifth medal and in doing so equaled the world record of 99 out of 100 clays while setting a new Olympic record. She becomes the only American to win medals in individual events in 5 consecutive Olympics.

When Jodi photographed and interviewed 100 Women for her book “Superwomen”, the goal was to include a range of  athletes, from novices to Olympians to historical figures. She wanted to represent a mix of sports as well as personalities who could serve as role models and inspiration to others. Kim fit that bill perfectly then, and still does today. She has been quoted as saying that her sport is about “responsibility, discipline and focus”, a familiar set of values to many of the “superwomen” athletes.

The ball

25 Years ago on January 14th, I was finishing up the Annual Report for National Patent Development Company. The next day, I was scheduled to start shooting the American Stock Exchange Annual Report. It was going to be an elaborate 15 day shoot, full of special effects and snazzy graphics. But when I got back to the studio that night, there was a message on the machine that the entire shoot was cancelled. I was despondent. I had just lost 15 days at full fee, and the opportunity to make a lot of great new pictures.

I awoke January 15th to an unseasonably warm day, so I called 2 friends, both also self-unemployed photographers and off we headed to the golf course. It was cold, and I started miserably. I had a ten on the par 3 2nd hole, which for you non-golfers out there who don’t know about these things is about as bad it gets. I then parred the 520 yard Par 5 3rd hole and felt only slightly  better.

I arrived at the tee on the 4th hole, a 149 yard par 3. I selected a seven iron, tried to clear my head of the cancelled assignment thoughts as well as the 10 on the 2nd hole and launched the ball towards the green. It bounced once, and spun into the hole.

A HOLE IN ONE!

I walked to the green and stared in disbelief at the ball. It sat comfortably in the hole, staring up at me.  A lifelong dream answered. High fives all around and general exuberance. The rest of the round was a blur, my total score did not matter.

The tradition is that you’re supposed to buy drinks for everyone at the club when you make a hole in one. I was a little nervous about a huge bar bill as we approached the clubhouse. We got to the restaurant and their were only two other intrepid golfers sitting in a booth, finishing their lunch. They declined the drink offer, and I was off scott free. The middle of winter, it turns out, is a very good time to record an ace.

A hole in one certainly dulled, but didn’t eliminate the pain of losing 15 days at full fee. I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d rather have the money from the assignment or the hole in one. I returned to the studio high as a kite, but still aware of the next 3 weeks without any work booked. The message light was blinking on my phone machine, and one of the messages was from the Art Director at The Stock Exchange. She was extremely apologetic, and informed me that the Stock Exchange would pay 7 and  1/2  days full fee as a cancellation payment. High fives and general exuberance commenced once again.

A wonderful end to a very special day and clarity on the question, “Hole in one, or 15 day assignment”? The answer, easy. I’ve still got that hole in one, the money I’m quite sure would be long gone.

The witnesses

The Hole In One keychain - a gift from Foot Joy

Yesterday, the family took a trip down to see the 9/11 memorial. After crawling through traffic and snaking through entry lines and security, we entered the site and were immediately struck by the sense of sadness that we felt. The museum is not yet open, and the memorial itself is not quite finished, but our feeling was that they are doing a great job creating a space that’s appropriately reflective and sombre.

I didn’t really see “the” picture that captured the gravity and meaning of the place. But after leaving the site, we walked through lower Manhattan appreciating the plays of light bouncing off the buildings late in a winter afternoon.