Engaged in some photography

January 14, 2012 9:59 PM

Need suggestions for an engagement photographer, engagement photo locations & a photo booth in NYC.

Can you help on any of these three engagement-photo-related questions?

1. Photographer: Disclaimer: We are not having our wedding in NYC, so we probably not be utilizing this person for wedding photos, though it is a possibility if we fall in love with their work. I have no photographer friends, and have solicited a referral from a coworker, but wasn't too psyched about the photos displayed on his website. Perhaps you were really thrilled with your engagement photographer and would like to share his/her contact with me (memail is fine)? Perhaps you yourself are an engagement photographer and are (obviously) really proud of your work? Preferably someone with a website so I can view his/her work! And pricing, if you're able to provide it, would be most helpful. We're flexible on that...what is the gamut that engagement photo costs run?
2. Location: We're in NYC. We're flexible on timing (not getting hitched until next year), but would like to accomplish this sooner rather than later (we got engaged in the fall). Any suggestions/considerations for wintertime photos? Maybe an indoor botanical garden? We'll also be in the Tampa/Sarasota area in late March, would it be insane to try to find someone to take the photos there?
3. Photo booth: For our save-the-dates, we want to include photos we take ourselves at a photo booth. I guess we could do it on our Macbook Pros, but we'd actually really relish the experience of using a real photo booth. Are there any in NYC (preferably), Jersey, or the Philly area that you know of? I have come up with a bunch of hits for "rent a photo booth" but I can't see to determine where one might be set up for public use...

All suggestions warmly welcomed!
Thank you!

posted by xiaolongbao to media & arts (11 answers total)

3. Photobooth.net has these two locations added within the last few months:

Vlada Bar in Manhattan and The Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn.
posted by effigy at 10:13 PM on January 14

There's a photo booth in Niagra on 7th and A.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 10:13 PM on January 14

Union Pool and Blackout bars in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.
posted by greta simone at 10:24 PM on January 14

^For the photobooths
posted by greta simone at 10:24 PM on January 14

My friends used Katie Jane for their elopement, and she also does engagement shots. She's very, very lovely to work with and I love her style - super-simple, vibrant, and full of expression. If you browse her blog you'll also get some ideas for your location. And congratulations!
posted by ukdanae at 3:04 AM on January 15

Seconding Katie Jane, I found her blog when we were looking for a photographer (didn't use her because we took ours in Virginia in the end) but I still follow her blog - she has a marvelous style.

Locations: Cloisters? Although maybe not as pretty in the dead of the winter. They allow photography inside but I don't know if they allow photography of people inside.

If you want a sort of train theme, new jersey central railroad terminal has a bunch of old train platforms under a glass roof open, and you can definitely take pictures around there.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a greenhouse but you might want to call to check on photography rules.


Or ask the photographer you book. When we did ours in Virginia we went with a suggestion from the person we booked and it worked wonderfully. If folks shoot in an area often, they will know where to take you.

Have fun :)
posted by lyra4 at 4:47 AM on January 15

My photographer, who shows photos on her website and blog, is located on LI and does shoots in NYC. She used to price packages separately for wedding and engagement, don't know if she still does. Also, you may find ideas for locations by looking at her work. She's at kimberlyhurst.com
Have fun!
posted by Tandem Affinity at 6:20 AM on January 15

The photographer who did both our engagement and wedding photos is Danny Weiss. He's great to work with and loves unique locations, so he may have suggestions for places to shoot. We walked around our neighborhood, over to Union Square, and on the roof of our building, because we liked having the city in the background of the photos, and for the pre-ceremony photos we walked around DUMBO for the same reason.
posted by bedhead at 9:00 AM on January 15

Jordan Van Aken (website, blog). Beautiful photos, fun to work with, totally game to do cool and interesting things with your shoot.
posted by SampleSize at 3:04 PM on January 15

Locations: Cloisters? Although maybe not as pretty in the dead of the winter. They allow photography inside but I don't know if they allow photography of people inside.

They do not. My wife and I (and our photographer) were kicked out during our engagement shoot in September. They wouldn't even let us take pictures on the driveway as we walked out.
posted by dorisfromregopark at 4:52 PM on January 15

Hi there! My girlfriend Julie is a fine art photographer who has also done engagements and weddings. She and I live in Central Mexico but we will be in the NYC area Friday through Sunday if you're interested in having her take your engagement photographs.

You can view her work here: http://www.2cupsvegetableoil.com/
And view a full slideshow of a featured engagement session at http://www.2cupsvegetableoil.com/caitlin--jeffs-engagement.html

Her engagement sessions start at $100 and you can contact her at [e-mail] but feel free to ask me/her about pricing either for her own work or if you have any questions regarding typical prices for other photographers in or out of the NY area.

Thanks! Tory
posted by pynchonesque at 11:31 AM on January 16