How we started a
Renaissance in Photography

ren"ais-sance'  n. & adj. A new emergence or revival, specific of art & literature after the Dark Ages –Websters

enaissance Studio Ltd. was founded by Ron & Liz Deneneberg in 1975, but their love of photography developed years before in their college days.  Liz had majored in Art History and became interested in photography while fulfilling requirements in that subject for her major. Ron, who was majoring in Electrical Engineering (that's right-engineering) accompanied Liz on her photo shoots and enjoyed dabbling in photography also. 

After they married, Ron & Liz continued their photographic pursuits as a hobby.  Ron showed his portraits of Liz to a co-worker who suggested he try to get a job as a wedding photographer-a weekend job to earn "extra money" for the house they wanted. The rest is history.   Ron apprenticed with a high volume studio that was willing to train inexperienced people with talent, turning them loose on an unsuspecting clientele. "I was hooked" said Ron. "It was like combat photography.  Everything happening at once and I was the one capturing it for posterity."

After four years working as a weekend photographer, Ron & Liz decided a career switch was the right thing for them and thus in 1975 Renaissance Studio was born. Their first Studio was located in East Meadow. Within a few years Liz & Ron moved the studio to Smithtown to be near home. The studio has been in its West Main Street location since 1979.

Liz & Ron joined the two Long Island professional photographer associations and then took (and continue to take)  workshops in various aspects of photography. They quickly built up a fine photography business. Consistently winning award after award for their creative and innovative photography told them that they had, indeed, started a Renaissance in photography here in Suffolk. "Having the studio close to home was a great influence. We not only saw our customers in the studio but on the street and in the supermarket. We became involved with their lives in many ways and that made the photography even more fun and even more meaningful to us."

Through the years with literally hundreds of awards to their credit, Ron & Liz have kept the Renaissance alive. Their small staff of carefully selected and trained photographers and videographers, are skilled in all  aspects of photography and video.

Renaissance Studio continues to be family owned and operated by Ron and Liz together with their son Josh Denenberg.  Family has always been important to Ron & Liz and the Denenbergs strive to make sure that all of their clients are treated like family and feel a part of the Renaissance family. Ron supervises the photographers and does all of the in house and portrait photography. Liz supervises all of the portrait production, critiques each set of wedding and portrait images and tries to make sure that everyone is doing their best. Josh is our resident video expert.  He shoots everything from weddings to commercials and is our video editor and producer.

Our other staff members are Clare, our Album Planner, who is dedicated to the art of designing the perfect album, and Kristina and Kris (Josh's wife) our Wedding Production Managers. Just be careful you don't trip over our grandson, who is becoming very adept at breaking down sets, and moving things around. Who knows, maybe 15 years from now we'll have a third generation photographer in the family.

Studio Hours
Tuesday & Thursday 11am  to  9pm
Wednesday, Friday & Saturday 10am to 5pm
We are Closed Sunday & Monday except by appointment for portraits.

Our Studio Is Located At
39 West Main Street  Smithtown, NY 11787
We are about 1/2 mile West of RT111 and just East of Maple Ave
Main Street is also known as Jericho Tpk to the West & Middle Country Rd to the East

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