The Saratoga Yaddo

I recently had the unbelievable pleasure of photographing several rooms from the Yaddo Mansion in Saratoga Springs. I received a call from the editor of a local magazine asking if I'd be interested in shooting inside the very private mansion.

The photos were needed for an up coming publication written on an enormous Tiffany window that resides between floors within the mansion. The window is truly a sight to see in person, photos don't do it justice.

We were greeted by a Yaddo rep, Leslie, and taken to the main mansion, were Leslie told us the sad story and history of the Yaddo, and the Trask family. It's a history filled with fatal fires, deadly ailments, and even a few ghost stories.

The Yaddo is now home to visiting artists, writers, composers, and even movie producers. They excepts thousands of applications from artists and writers from all over the world. Each year around 200 applicants are hand selected and given the opportunity to live and work from within this historic mansion.

You can read more on the history of this incredible place at the Yaddos official website: http://www.yaddo.org/

The view from the public part of the estate, looking up at the rear of the mansion. The top most peak of this house as seen here is called the Katrina Studio (named after it's former resident Katrina Trask).


A view of the Tiffany window that I was there to photograph.


A detail view of the Tiffany window.


Upstairs looking down.


I first thought this was a Chapel of some kind, but actually it's a music hall of sorts. As you can see there's an enormous grand piano set at the front of this room (full in tuned no doubt). I asked Leslie if it was actively used by visiting artists. She said often guest composers would come down and play, it would help then when writing new music and large compositions. I'd give anything to be a fly on the wall in this room when a world class composer is at the helm of this piano...

The Golden Palace

The Golden Palace...well not exactly, but it does look pretty cool, right?
This is the result of some serious HDR work (9 shots) and some heavy photoshop work. It was a real toss up between this finished image and the original finished HDR (posted below), but in the end I had to go with the more creative of the two. HDR's are becoming more and more popular, but the finished piece is still unique (fairly). I'm so pleased with the final results that I'm considering doing an entire series on this technique. I think it would be pretty cool to see different structures or objects in this "Golden" style. More to come I'm sure.



The final work with a "Golden" technique



The Original HDR

Nicole and Mike

These are a few images from nicole and Mikes wedding. The wedding was on Nicoles parents estate on Mount Desolation in upstate NY. The view is incredible, from the lookout where they were married you could literally see Albany; that's at least 70 miles or so.
We all had a great time, even though the black nats were horrible, it was like we were inside the mother hive of black nats. I literally had to count down to the shot just so people could stop swinging at the nats and pose for the shot. I love the rapid fire, 9fps baby! That and a lot of photoshoping to remove those buggers made for some nice pics.

The 10th Green

This image is from a shoot I did a few months back that I'm finally getting around to going through. I was passing through the Saratoga State Park and just happened to catch this green and fairway out of the corner of my eye. I decided to turn around and see if the setting was good enough for a quick shoot.

Being that I had just returned from a full shoot I had all my equipment handy so I set up on the green and snapped 50 or so shots of everything in all directions. This image is the result of a 9 shot HDR I created in Photomatix. I then processed it further in Photoshop to create the finished product.

The Sitting Room

This is one of the sitting rooms at the newly upgraded and very classy Saratoga National Golf Course in Saratoga Springs NY. We were lucky to be allowed to shoot at this location in the middle of the day, literally moments before a wedding was scheduled to begin right outside the room (one Michael and I weren't shooting, don't know how that happened). It's a great place, and I'd love to revisit this location again for a more thorough shoot of the entire building, and the 18 golf course outside it. More to come from this place I'm sure.

Family BBQ (Great Photo Op)

Here's a few of the pics I snapped at our family BBQ on Saturday, had a great time. The kids had more fun than anyone, running and playing in the little pool. Then they discovered gravity through use of a wagon and a kidsmobile. Good Times!
Cadence trying her luck with the gravity wagon express.


Logan gaining some real speed...I think Jeff pushed him!


Candace (NOT CADENCE) playing at a much safer speed.


Bob in high contrast black and white.

Happy 4th

July 4th, the great american holiday. Families pack the cars and head to the beach (or the pools) for a day of fun, and a night of colorful and loud explosions. We too, gathered the family and hit the pool waves for a day of sun and fun. A great weekend, with family and friends. What more could we ask for.