In March I hosted a sweepstakes with two prizes up for grabs. The grand prize was a free portrait session for up to two members, could be family or a couple. The second prize was for a piece of framed fine art photography from my ETSY shop.

The Grand Prize Winner scheduled his shoot for a warm weekend in June, where we’d shoot near his home on Far Rockaway. The day was clear, and the sun was high which presented some inherent photographic challenges. But a reflector helped mitigate less than ideal mid-day photography.

Vlad chose to take advantage of the session with his girlfriend Lena- which put this session in somewhat familiar territory of the couple/engagement shoot – but it was not that.  It was a great session though, it’s always interesting learning about people and their lives. And Michele and I actually picked up some great tips from Lena, who we discovered seredipitously is an “extreme couponer” with enviable savings and prize winnings to speak of. If Michele and I ever got the chance to learn what it took to do what she and so many other Americans have become experts at, we were gonna take it. And she was more than willing to divulge “trade secrets.” We’ll keep in touch with these kind folks.

These shots will give you a good sense of what the day and the shoot was like :

We walked along the beach stopping at various points of interest to shoot a bit before moving on. And we spent quite a bit of time chatting in-between.