HYDE PARK – Award-winning photographer Al Nowak from On Location Studios in Poughkeepsie will be at the Dutchess County SPCA (DCSPCA) photographing pets with Santa Claus on Saturday, November 16th. For more than twenty years Nowak has been providing his services in order to raise money for the animal shelter.
Penny Schouten of the DCSPCA said that the money raised with Nowak’s assistance goes directly to care for the animals waiting to be adopted. “It draws visitors to the shelter,” which could lead to the adoption of a new pet. Schouten said that the Santa photo session also draws DCSPCA alumni, giving the staff a chance to visit with animals they had taken care of in the past.
Schouten noted that guests, including children, will accompany their pets into the lobby between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm, where Santa’s helpers will visit with them as they await their special moment with the bearded man in the red suit. When it’s their turn, Nowak said the visitors will enter a room set up as a fully-lit studio environment where Santa’s helpers will help get the animals situated with Santa as Nowak takes several photos of which customers can pick one. For twenty dollars, the guests will receive an archival-quality 5″x7″ photo of the special moment. The prints will be available for pickup the following Wednesday at On Location Studios on Dutchess Turnpike in Poughkeepsie. Purchasers can also elect to have the photo mailed to them.
“We do this to help raise money for the shelter but we also do it to create a memory,” said Nowak. The photographer added, “It becomes an image that’s related to the Christmas season and people will have it for years to come.”
