If you found yourself seated next to Joan at a dinner party you’d be struck at once by her sense of humor and her sharp attentiveness…but there’s something else.

Perhaps after a few moments you realize Joan is one of those extraordinary people who possesses a genuine gift.  She makes you feel celebrated as you become free and spontaneous and even laugh in front of her lens; whether she is photographing a corporate event, a family or individual portrait session, or even a wedding. And with this freedom of self, your expectations are exceeded.

With the camera temporarily forgotten, the personalities are permitted to shine through!

Her attraction to photography started with a coupon offer for an Instamatic camera – a child’s toy that sparked the passion and purpose of an adult. After years of personal enjoyment and much encouragement from her friends and family, Joan Heffler Photography was born.

You work as a team, and Joan guides you through every step of the photographic process whether crafting a delightful keepsake album, capturing those special moments in an event or designing a wedding package that evokes the joy of the once-in-a-lifetime celebration.

Her talented style is classic, authentic and individual. And, like an epiphany, you know this is the very person you want to capture you.

Art was always a part of her life.

Rainy summer days vacationing in Atlantic City, Joan’s mother encouraged and even supervised arts and crafts projects; decorating shells with colored string and paints, making paper mache puppets, and then selling the wares on the boardwalk.

This talent was passed down from the maternal grandmother who painted in oils, sculpted and taught her grandchildren to appreciate the arts. Visiting her grandmother in Delaware for weekend trips, Joan remembers following her grandmother up a very steep, spiraled and creaky staircase thinking they were going to Rapunzel’s castle room.  Instead, at the end of the journey was an artist’s studio with an array of half finished clay models and easels amid dozens of oil paint tubes and that distinct smell of turpentine; the memory of which even today warms her heart and reminds her of those fascinating art lessons.

It was there that her grandmother introduced her to the joy of artistic creativity.

She watched and learned and there she began her career as an artist.

When Joan was in the first grade her teacher asked the students to draw themselves 20 years into the future.  While the others drew themselves as nurses and teachers, Joan drew herself as an artist! Joan is as committed to her clients as she is to her craft. She is very passionate about her creative outlet and stays involved with them from concept to end product. Joan provides a great value, and presents you with extraordinary photographs that jump off the page and delight your spirit. It is in that spirit that she captures your treasured moments.

Joan’s studio is located in upstate NY, though she travels anywhere in the world to be a part of your world… Contact Joan Heffler Photography online, call (518) 346 – 4485 or e-mail for more information on portrait, corporate, event and wedding photography in Albany, Saratoga and/or Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, Troy, Saranac Lake, Lake George, Bolton Landing, Lake Placid, Syracuse, Upstate NY, Capital Region and/or Capital District, Tri-County Area, Upper Hudson Valley, Hudson Valley, Adirondacks, Berkshires, Western Massachusetts, Vermont, Northeastern New York and New York State.