Schenectady County is planning a wicked fun family event, and Event Photography by Greg Wolcott is happy to be a part of it!

This Saturday morning, September 11th, will see the start of the first ever Schenectady County Pedal-Paddle-Run triathlon type event. It is a non-timed, family friendly event designed to encourage exercise and community pride. All proceeds from event registration will be used to the benefit of Schenectady County Youth programs, which is awesome. You can participate in each event as an ironman or have family and friends join in with teams of up to four people. The event truly is family friendly, with the minimum entry age set at 10 years old. (You must be at least 15 to participate as an ironman.)

The event starts at 8:30AM, with the ‘pedal’ leg coming first. The teams will transition to the running portion, and then finish with the canoe/kayak leg of the race. The course is very well laid out, and will provide some really nice views of the Mohawk River for the bikers and runners. You can see the course maps, and get additional event details here, or just take my word that you don’t want to miss this, and go directly to registration on active.com here!

After the race, there will still be plenty to do, as Schenectady County has more family fun waiting once you cross the finish line. You can still enjoy live music, a bounce house, kids entertainment, and some barbecued goodies. So get ready, get registered, and get set to enjoy a day filled with civic pride and family fun.

By 8AM, the NKF and Liberty Mutual volunteers and the Mohawk grounds crew were all getting ready to make sure golfers would have a fun time, and they were successful. Event volunteers were out in full force as the Mohawk put the finishing touches on the tees and greens.

My good friend Dianna Rios was coordinating the event, so it’s no surprise that things went as planned. Dianna and the rest of the team from NKF NENY were on site making things happen. Liberty Mutual provided some amazing swag bags, and a ton of local businesses were involved at various levels of sponsorship. Included in the sponsors was The Desmond Hotel in Albany, who provided not only some incredible auction prizes (more to come!) but also handled the H2O for the golfers.

Prior to teeing off, golfers were treated to food, drinks, complimentary cigars, and a variety of raffles, including a very unique dartboard based raffle. They could also browse and bid the silent auction items and review the live auction items.

Once on the course for the scramble event, participants were having fun playing for a chance to participate in the Liberty Mutual Invitational National championship. Golfers of all skills were represented, and the golfers I spoke with while taking their photo on the course were happy to be involved. We brought the portable photo lab along, and by the time golfers finished their round, they were able to pick up their foursome photos immediately.

After a buffet dinner, the live auction kicked off. Featured items included a Gucci watch, a baseball autographed by Wille, Mickey and Duke Snider, an autographed Muhammad Ali photo, a Lake Placid golf vacation, a selection of golf gifts from the Mohawk, AND what started as a pretty nice Desmond/Shaker Ridge golf package. Through competitive bidding, and the graces of The Desmond’s John D’Adamo it turned into so much more. The winning bidders (2!) each received 3 suites at The Desmond, a limo to the hotel, a 30 minute open bar with Hors D’oeuvres, dinner at the AAA four diamond rated Scrimshaw restaurant, shuttle service to Shaker Ridge Golf Club, golf for four, brunch at The Desmond, and six bottles of some very tasty wine. (I think I got everything!) Holy moley! It was an absolute riot watching John sell these packages, and both sets of winners still got a great value for their donation to the National Kidney Foundation! The golf team from NYSCOPBA took home top honors, and a chance to play at Pinehurst in March!

Photos from this event are now available here. Images will be cropped and adjusted as needed on order. Also, you can use the order comments section to request your image be printed with the commemorative border from the day!

The Liberty Mutual format allows indexed foursomes to compete for a chance at some amazing prizes. The top team will be awarded a spot at the Liberty Mutual Invitational Nationals, played this year at Pinehurst Country Club – the site of the 2014 US Open! Golfers will also receive some serious swag; Shoe bags, hats, golf gift cards, balls, a backpack, shirts, gift certificates, and of course, an amazing foursome photo featuring the Liberty Mutual Invitational and National Kidney Foundation logos.

There will also be some on course contests…long ball, team putting, and closest to the pin to name a few. Generously, the top SIX teams will walk away with award prizes.

There are still a very limited number of spots available for Monday’s tournament, which also features tasty food and beverages. You can visit the National Kidney Foundation website to register, or check out Liberty Mutual for format information and a general overview of this prestigious national competition. Photos will also be posted and hosted at the store after the day, and golfers will be able to pick their complimentary photos up after their round. Monday’s weather in Niskayuna currently shows clear and 86F! See you on the links, and check back for photo updates!

What a tough life…while most people have to choose between going to work or spending a day at the Colonie Golf and Country Club hitting a few balls, driving around a beautiful course and enjoying the dry parts of a pretty wet day…I get to do both at once.

Yesterday was the annual Sunmark Golf Classic sponsored by Sunmark FCU, and this years event was to the benefit of Hannah’s Hope Fund. There were two flights this year, to accommodate more golfers. The morning group saw a little better weather, while the PM group had the chance to tee off with New York Yankee great Bucky Dent. Bucky was at the first tee, and I was able to get some great shots of the foursomes with him as they played through that hole.

The Sunmark group did a really nice job with the annual event, which featured a great barbecue lunch, sponsored beverages on the course, an open bar, a tasty dinner, and awards for a variety of categories. It was a pleasure to work with the entire Sunmark team, and I really appreciate them giving me the opportunity to shoot the event. Rich and his gang had things perfectly planned and had enlisted Chris Sabatello to run the silent and live sports memorabilia auction. Chris had some very unique items at auction, and he of course had some Bucky Dent signed items at the first hole. Like the rest of the day, the proceeds went to Hannah’s Hope Fund.

It was, of course, a pleasure to see Hannah and the Sames family again. The entire family was on the course by 8AM and stayed through the entire event. Hannah and her sisters were troopers throughout with smiles for everyone. Hannah’s mom Lori had the army out, getting the word out about the Pepsi Refresh Everything Challenge. You may have seen this information over at our facebook page, and if you haven’t, I strongly encourage you to check it out. It is a wonderful, free, fast way to help HHF earn a quarter of a million dollars from Pepsi. And they are at a crucial juncture right now, raising funds to conduct trial testing. Lori and her folks were grabbing everyone for a quick text and facebook lesson on how to vote up to 3 times per day.

Hannah’s dad and his foursome tied for top honors on the day, and Matt Sames took home the long ball award at the end of the night. All photos are posted at the store, which you can access with the link on the left. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Hannah’s Hope Fund, and like you (hint, hint) I will also be voting 3 times a day!

Thanks again to Sunmark FCU and HHF for bringing me along for the day! Here are a few memories from the day.

Tomorrow I will be at the Colonie Golf and Country Club photographing the Sunmark Golf Classic. It’s going to be a loaded day! There are actually two separate flights tomorrow, with the PM session being sold out. The morning event is still open as of this writing with 8AM Lunch is from 12:30-2:00PM, and the dinner looks pretty incredible as well. There are going to be snacks and beer available on the course, with an open bar starting at 6.

This year, Sunmark has chosen local charity Hannah’s Hope Fund as the designated charity to receive the proceeds from this event. Throughout the day, I will be photographing the foursomes, along with corporate groups and the rest of the event. On site 5×7 photos will be available, and 50% of the photo sales will also be donated to Hannah’s Hope Fund as well!

There are sure to be some great awards, and based on past Hannah’s events I have been a part of, the crowd will be absolutely awesome. I’ll be sure to post some photos from the day after the event, and I will also be hosting all the photos at the store for a few weeks as well.

This photo shoot was really fun, especially since the model was really open to having a good time, and doing whatever it took to get some great poses! Even better, she loved the results!

Give a call to book your (or your entire family’s) photo session. Onsite or at the studio, prices start at just 99.00 with no limit on number of people or poses. You can use the contact me link on the left, or call me at 518-810-1240. I will travel anywhere, too!

Images have not been cropped or adjusted to allow the largest choice of sizes. On order, your photo will be custom cropped and adjusted as needed. If you finished in a group, let me know your bib # in the order comments, and I will crop your photo accordingly.

I am still waiting for the email list from the company which handled the registration so if you know anyone who participated, feel freer to pass this information along!

If you can’t find your photo, or would like to purchase a size you don’t see listed email me using the contact link on the left, and I will do my best to help you! Let me know your bib # and approximate finish time if you can’t find your shot!

The weather was absolutely perfect all day, and over 200 athletes participated in the event. I had the chance to reconnect with some runners from last year’s race, as well as make a few new friends. The F-T volunteers were ready to go by 6 when I arrived to get set up, and they had the tables fully stocked with snacks and water for the runners.

The gang from the Albany Running Exchange did an awesome job on the timing, as usual. This race was chip timed, and results were available almost immediately. I look forward to working with the ARE team on a couple of upcoming events as well.

Awards were given out immediately following the final finishes, and the newly renovated Fasig grounds provided a great background for the photos. Images should be posted to the online store by tomorrow! If you would like to be emailed or contacted when your photos are available to view and purchase, click the link on the left that says ‘Event Updates’ and mention the FT5K in the subject line. As soon as ARE gets me the list of registered emails, I will also send an email update to everyone who used their email to register!

Thanks to everyone who came out to participate today. The registration fees are going to the benefit of several wonderful NYRA Backstretch Employee charities. Thanks also to Anna Seitz from Fasig-Tipton for inviting us back this year!

Ah, fitness season…a time to really get your body moving. Work up a sweat, get aerobic, and all that other stuff that’s so much fun to watch from behind a camera!

The 2nd annual Fasig-Tipton 5K is taking place on Saturday August 7th, 2010. I am pleased to once again be photographing this great event. The course remains the same as last year, and will kick off at 8AM. The 1 mile fun run starts at 7:30, and both events will start on East Avenue between George and Madison in Saratoga Springs, NY. The line is right in front of the old Fasig-Tipton auction facility, and right next to their barns. The course provides some nice scenery, if you are in the position to run 3 miles and still look at scenery. Last year there were many families who came out and walked the course at their own pace.



Our friends at AREEP are handling the setup, registration, timing, and if past performance is any indication they will also be jamming out with some groovy tunes and putting on a great show. You can register online with them here. Online registration is available until 9AM on August 5th. Cost is $21 for the 5K, or a measly 5 bucks for the 1 mile fun run. Proceeds will once again benefit the NYRA backstretch employees, including education, child care, and health and human services. Not a bad way to spend $21!

All registered runners will get a swag bag, and if I recall, the prizes last year were pretty awesome. I believe there were some camp chairs, race passes, and even a sweet GPS for the winners. Maybe they’ll throw in a Fasig-Tipton thoroughbred this year?

So get off the couch, get registered, and get ready to run the second annual Fasig-Tipton 5K! I hope to see you there.

There were quite a few photos that I really like, and hopefully the family will feel the same way! The package we were working on was my 45 minute ‘unlimited’ package. This choice includes 45 minutes of photography, with as many poses, costume changes and subjects as you’d like. It also includes a selection of prints!

So, I wanted to share just a couple of my favorite candid shots from the day. Both are from the outdoor portion of our shoot, and both are from the earlier part of our session together. The family then changed into some great matching casual outfits for the second part of our time together!

The older siblings look on while she checks if her foot still fits the plaster mold she made.

On the swing. I love the blur the slow shutter speed provided here!

So thanks to this family for giving me a great summer morning on Father’s Day weekend! I hope to be a part of more of your upcoming events, whether it’s a Yale graduation or a party celebrating a successful driver’s test!

There are still some open dates for your family’s summer portraits as well. Call 518.882.7360 or email with the contact me link on the left  to reserve your time, and to discuss which package might be right for you!

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