Retro photo buses that'll pull up to your next Long Island party 

A party photo op once meant posing in a booth or in front of a green screen with props. Today? Photo businesses have been elevated to include experiences like 360-animations reminiscent of a red carpet op, stop motions ideal for Instagram sharing and, the newest to hit Long Island, bus backdrops that pull up to your party. Take, for instance, Long Beach Photo Bus.

The company, founded by husband-and-wife team Ann Lamore and Brendan Dwyer, launched in summer 2020 with a revamped, mint-colored 1971 Volkswagen bus named Sammie and now also includes a refurbished, off-white 1972 Volkswagen bus dubbed Gracie. The busses hit the road and come to local homes and venues for picture-taking opportunities during milestone events, corporate gatherings and "mini sessions," during which a photographer can hire the bus for their own photo shoots. 

“I just fell in love with it at my friend’s wedding” upstate a few years back, Lamore, 40, says about the first time she saw a traveling photo bus. It ultimately served as inspiration behind her own business, which she had originally planned to launch after she retired from her full-time job at Viacom CBS (now Paramount). But, “this is my time,” she says, adding that her husband, 55, encouraged her to open the business after the pandemic hit. 

Both buses have Boho-like appeal and can be customized — inside and out — with décor by season or holiday and are available for three, four- or five-hour time slots. Props, and customized photo strips and backdrop, come with each package, as do unlimited photos, a keepsake album and access to an online gallery with free photo downloads. The buses are equipped with a photo booth-like system that prints photo strips on demand. 

Lamore and Dwyer pay close attention to detail outside of the bus, too, setting up a lounge-like area custom to the clients' needs for more photo opportunities.

Lauren Dayton, 28, and Reece Dayton, 30, who hired the Long Beach Photo Bus for their wedding last fall at the Jamesport Manor Inn say they knew they wanted a photo booth at their wedding, but were in search of something more fun than what they were used to seeing.

Lauren says she struggled to find a business that offered more than the “typical, generic backgrounds that they usually have at weddings.” A Google search on photo booth “alternatives” led her to the Long Beach bus.

“A lot of our wedding photos were taken on the bus,” she says, emphasizing that “they really customized it to what exactly we needed.”

Likewise, Kristyn Castaldo, 31, and Victor Panica, 34, booked Sammie for the cocktail and beginning hours of their reception at their April 16 wedding at Stonebridge Country Club in Smithtown. Castaldo says she went to see the bus before her wedding was even planned and wasted no time booking it when she set a wedding date.

“Our wedding vibe is '70s, retro," the bride says, adding that she was happy to find out a photo bus was part of the deal. “This way we got the best of both worlds. We could use it for our photos, for memories, and it will be a fun part of the day for everyone to see it.”

Also available for hire on Long Island and the surrounding tristate area is New York Photo Bus, which owns several restored late '60s and '70s Volkswagen buses. Madison Reyes, 36, owner of the company that's based in New Rochelle, says, with his buses, he brings “an entire experience” that includes music and lighting. “We provide an entire sort of world based on the vision of the client to step into.” 

The company pulls the bus up for outdoor movie nights, weddings and more. It specializes in all things vintage, “sourcing around the country and the world for the real vintage interiors that would have been in those buses at the time,” he says, adding that he doesn't "do modern reinterpretations of interiors." People are "interacting with real vintage technology."

Eilis O’Connell-Sussman, 31, who booked one of his baby blue buses for her wedding at Gatsby On The Ocean at Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh can attest. She originally booked the bus for five hours, but ultimately had it for nine.

"It was like a second party outside because he had music" and other goings-on, she says, adding that the camera setup is framed around an old-school TV for a classic look and the outside of the bus featured vintage design elements, too, like a wicker '70s chair, and a vintage surfboard and suitcases, all of which added to her wedding’s beachy theme.