Harbor Club at Prime Wedding Photography in Huntington, NY

Harbor Club at Prime Wedding Photography in Huntington, NY | Waterfront Weddings at Yacht Club on Long Island New York | Apollo Fields Photographers

Shannon & Eric

Photography: Apollo Fields
Venue: Harbor Club at Prime

Heckscher Park Engagement Photos in Huntington, NY

Vince & Meredith’s Engagement Session | Heckscher Park Engagement Photos in Huntington, NY | Long Island Photographers | Apollo Fields Wedding Photography

We first met Merideth at her sister-in-law Sage’s wedding in September 2019 when we walked into Sage and John’s home on Long Island. Hair spray was in the air, bagels on the table, and mimosas in hand. Meredith and Sage made sure we had anything that we wanted and we really felt the warmth of their welcome. Their kind of hospitality never goes unnoticed on our end.

We met up with Merideth and Vince almost a year later in Huntington for their engagement photos at Heckscher Park. We walked and talked and laughed as the early autumn sun warmed us in the breeze. They spoke about how excited they are for us to become parents and how they’re in the process of moving. I’ve definitely noticed a pattern of families becoming closer both literally and figuratively during 2020, and it makes me grateful to come from a large family. We can bicker and fight each other all we want, but when it comes down to it, there is nothing more valuable in life than having people in your corner.

For me, part of the fun of doing engagement photos is seeing how a couple reacts to one another. Are they playful, does PDA come naturally, or is this whole experience an exercise in torture. Heather and I love to make the experience as light as possible because the vast majority of people have not been in front of a camera like this before. There are different strokes for different folks but we can guarantee by the end of it that we will capture the nature of your relationship because it will naturally pour out of you. There is no putting a lid on love.

Right from the get-go Merideth and Vince had their hands on each other, whispering things into each other's ears, and giggling. People think that engagement photos have to be something more than this but at Apollo Fields this is all we want--for you to be unabashedly yourselves. In a world where our social media lives are as curated as the art that hangs on museum walls, authenticity still reigns supreme. No photo will ever be as good as the one that you let yourself go and exist as naturally possible. That kind of peaceful confidence is the best outfit any of us could wear.    

It’s the kind of confidence that we have when we’re around our families, catching up in the living room on a holiday or summer vacation. It’s so easy for us to slip into the roles that we’ve been carving our whole lives and our egos wind up taking the back seat to the speed of a witty family back-and-forth. There is no time to wonder what we look like or where our hands are when a relative walks by and either physically or verbally jabs us. We just exist naturally. 

And that’s what I’ll remember from Merideth and Vince’s engagement photos. How they and we just walked in the park and took some pictures. It was as easy as a summer night and that’s all it had to be.

Theme of 2019: Bet on Yourself

Apollo Fields’ Theme of 2019: Bet on Yourself.

Sometimes you lose (see above). Sometimes you win (see above). For the last five years Heather and I have been making silly bets like the loser has to take Riddle out to pee while blindfolded, and meaningful bets like starting a business together. We have taken some losses but our gains have transcended any scale that uses a bottom line. Of course, a business has to be lucrative, but we bet on who we are because we know when we connect with a couple it isn’t just a vendor relationship it is the beginning of a friendship. 

Just last night Heather and I shared a meal with one of our 2020 couples, Michelle and Igor. Michelle and Igor just moved to New York as Igor received a job as the new executive chef for the Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. In a meal of delicious fresh oysters, a wonderfully rich fresh cavatelli ragu, a steaming pot of mussels, a few drinks, and two scrumptious chocolate-y desserts, I still have to say the best thing about dinner was the company we found ourselves in. With a balance of silly humor, distinct professionalism, and personal stories of our respective family and friends, we laughed and talked for hours. 

This type of night was the norm for 2019. From when we photographed Rob & Lizzie’s performance-based wedding in the woods of Cazenovia, NY, to Emily & Augie’s intimate and classy backyard wedding in Cape Cod, MA, we didn’t seem to have a night where we weren’t genuinely emotionally invested in the people who surrounded us. We hosted another 20-friend Friendsgiving dinner in our home and accumulated another guest-book rolling-pin to memorialize the friendships in the room that night. Cultivating friendships is difficult but when you realize that they are the things we turn to in times of loss and of levity their worth becomes much more apparent.

We are lucky to run a business where our ideal client is also our ideal friend. Hard-working people who love to feel almost as much as they love to be themselves. The kind of people who pretend a wooden spoon is a microphone and sing into it like “the piano sounds like a carnival, and the microphone smells like a beer!” The kind of people who look you in the eye and hold a hug just a second or two longer. The kind of people who create their lives rather than let it consume them. The kind of people who bet on themselves.

We have taken our lumps this year, coming off the tragic ending of 2018, but Heather and I married one another because we will always bet on one another as individuals. We know how quickly things can turn for the worse but by hedging our bets with one another our losses will never be that great. If 2019 is any indication for the future, our gains will be less volatile and more rewarding for years to come.

Here’s to you you fine friends and fellow feelers: Here’s to the tears we shed and the hugs we hold on to. Here’s to those we lost and the future we’re creating. Here’s to betting on yourself and living with love in your heart.

Happy New Year,

Terrence & Heather
The Apollo Fields Fam

Some of our favorite 2019 venues we worked at:

• The Evergreen Lake House | Evergreen CO

• Granite Ridge Barn and Estate | Norway ME

• Wedgewood Boulder Creek | Boulder CO

• The Art Factory | Paterson NY

• Top of the Rock | NYC

• Normandy Farm | Blue Bell PA

• Six Harbors Brewery | Huntington NY

• 620 Loft and Garden | NYC

• Perona Farms | Anderson NJ

• The Box House Hotel | Brooklyn NY