Connecticut Wedding Photographer : Alissa Dinneen Photography

Location, Location, Location: Litchfield, Connecticut

I have not been a good blogger these days. As some of you know that I'm in the process of buying a house with my boyfriend John (who is now John Dipollina, PGA Golf Professional as of Tuesday--congrats John!). Here is a small update on the house situation; we're currently under contract and deposit on a home in Bristol, Connecticut, and had our inspection last week. I have pictures of the house, and I'm excited to share it with everyone. However, the house is not ours yet, so I'm not ready to share as of yet.

Recently, I've really been itching to get outside and take some personal pictures. For my first stop I am thinking of Northfield, Connecticut to the Laurel Ridge Foundation Daffodil Plantings. 

Description from website:  "Laurel Ridge is a 700 acre estate located in the Northfield sector of the Town of Litchfield. It is protected by the surrounding Waterbury Reservoir property. The natural beauty is enhanced by lakes, ponds, fields, woods, wetlands and a daffodil planting. Miles of hiking and mountain biking trails and bridal paths open the woods up for walks and rides."

Updates on the locations flowers, click here.

One of my favorite stops in Litchfield, Connecticut is Haight Brown Vineyard. It's a super cute vineyard, where you can do a tasting, grab a glass of wine (my favorite is their Covertside White), and sit outside on their deck and enjoy the day. On the weekends, at noon, they do sangria and mimosas.

If anyone else is excited about spring, as I know I am, the Litchfield area is a great place to visit.

Canon Camera Museum: The Website and Alissa's Camera History

This week Jeff asked me a camera question, he had a friend who wanted to know if one of her old lenses would fit on a new digital body. Of course, I love camera questions, but I needed more information. Jeff's friend had a Canon T50 which is a rather old camera, and therefore the lens she has will not fit the new digital bodies today. 

In my research of this camera, I found a very intriguing website (for me), Canon Camera Museum. One of the pages has a video that shows you how lenses are made, that was fun to watch. Going through the site had me thinking of all of the cameras that I've used, where I've been, and where I'm going.

My first film camera was my mom's first SLR, the Canon AE-1, which I used in my high school camera class. Technically, I had my hands on other Canons at this point since I was photographing weddings with my mother, however they were my own camera. My mom gave me her AE-1, which was a surprise gift from my father to my mother right around the time my sister was born. Photographing the weddings with my mother, another model we used was the Canon T70. The final film SLR that I got my hands on was the upgrade into the EOS camera systems, the Canon EOS-3. At this point, my mother had purchased me my very own EOS-3 to take black and white pictures with.

Then in 2004, I bought myself my very first digital SLR, the Canon 10D. I'd also like to mention that my very first CF (Compact Flash) memory card cost a whopping $250 for 1 Gig, today that could be purchased for $17. This was a huge turning point for me, the freedom of the digital camera. I was able to take pictures at the weddings with my mother that didn't use up a ton of film, I experimented more. It was so exciting. To this day, I have my Canon 10D. I can't seem to let go of it, it's a piece of my history. This is the same year I enrolled in the Hallmark Institute of Photography, which was another huge turning point for me. 

As a side note, while I was at Hallmark I had purchased a Mamiya 645AFD and two lenses to boot, standard 50mm and a portrait lens. However, I learned this year that although the medium format cameras have their perks, I am not a medium format camera gal. I am better suited with a 35mm camera. At the end of the year I traded in my Mamiya for a light kit (two studio lights), which was a great trade off as I use them for my baby portraits.

After graduating from Hallmark in June of 2005, I decided that I was ready to open up my own wedding and portrait photography business, I was ready to photograph weddings my way. I bought the next upgrade in Canon's line, the Canon 20D, as well as a couple of flashes (Canon 580s), and of course more memory. It's also when I started my buffet of lenses, oh how a girl loves her options! I had my EF24-70mm f/2.8 (which is a standard zoom, a great starter lens), the Mac Daddy EF70-200mm f/2.8 IS (this is the lens that gets the most attention, people love making comments on what a big camera I have when this lens is on).

Today my camera of choice is the Canon 5D, oh how I love my 5Ds--I have two. I started off with one, but I loved it so much that I purchased a second. Other lenses in my bag-o-tricks includes the Fisheye 2.8, 85mm f1.2, Lens Baby, and Wide Zoom 16mm-35mm f2.8. 

I also have a little point and shoot camera to play with--Canon 950IS, it's great for vacations. I also bought the coolest accessory to go with it, the underwater cover--LOVE THIS! This is something that one should register for their honeymoon--if you're going somewhere tropical. It protects your camera from sand (which is TERRIBLE to get inside your camera, the grains are so tiny they can creep into your camera and hurt it), and water. I captured one of my favorite non-wedding pictures in Antigua, check out my ETC gallery on my website, you'll know what picture I'm talking about. The camera lens is partially in the water.

I guess I could go on and on talking about camera equipment for days. I don't know how to talk describe it to a non-photographer, but my camera is a part of me, sometimes I call them my "babies" (kind of like a guy would call his car his baby). Needless to say, if anyone wants to chat about cameras, feel free to reach out to me. 

www.alissadinneen.com

Alissa's Vacation: Cruising in the Southern Caribbean

This past week I spent vacationing in the Southern Caribbean, cruising on the Crown Princess to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Thomas, and Tortola. It was awesome, much needed rest and relaxation.

My favorite beach was in Antigua where they have 365 beaches. Castaway beach was the name of the beach, which is a part of Jolly Beach Resort. I would love to go back someday.

In my dizzy state, I can't seem to shake the feeling that I'm not on a boat anymore, I can't help but put together a slideshow of my trip.

Bigger Viewing of Slideshow

My Guideline to Point and Shoot Cameras

I get asked a lot about cameras. In particular, point and shoot cameras--which ones, how many pixels, what brand, etc. I know a lot about photography, however I am not an expert on all of the different cameras out there. So I put this guideline together as a rough draft for people to pick and choose a camera that is right for them.

First of all, I would stick to a brand that is KNOWN for making cameras, not for making televisions or CD players. Brands include, but are not limited to, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and Fuji.

Secondly, This about what you are going to use the camera for. Do you want to make huge poster prints? Or are prints up to an 8x10 going to be sufficient. If you're not going to make huge prints, I wouldn't go crazy on the pixel count (five or six should be good).

Thirdly, When size does matter!! I know that the super small cameras are cute, but they may be harder to hold steady, think blurry pictures. Once you narrow your choices down, go to the store and hold the camera in your hand.

Now you're a little ready for some online searching. Here are some great online resources that I would start with, pick a few cameras that you like and then narrow it down;

*DP Review is yet another great resource. They have reviews of all current cameras, forums, and prices of the camera at several stores.

http://www.dpreview.com/

*B&H is a great photo megastore in New York City. The prices are great, and they have everything photography. Plus, the shipping is super fast. I'm talking next day fast.

http://bhphotovideo.com/

*This is an obvious one, but amazon.com is awesome because has customer reviews.I like to compare the reviews to see if there is anything that I like or don't like. Yes, they're just people's opinions but it's just another resource to help sway me.

http://www.amazon.com/

Once you have your camera picked, you may want to consider buying an extra battery if it's rechargeable. Also, get a big memory card (a gig or two). Please note that the more pixels your camera has, the bigger the file, the more memory you'll need.

Now that you have the camera, read the manual. I know it's not fun, but you'll get better pictures if you know how to use the camera. There are so many settings on these little point and shoot cameras, and if you know how to use them, you may get some really great images.

Last, but not least, download and back-up! Make sure you back-up all of your files. Load them to the internet, back them up on DVD, and/or put them on an external hard drive.