Bump & Birth photos
The 1st of 3 monthly drawings for free photo sessions will be held at Ciao Belly, 730 Washington St. in Hoboken on Oct. 31st. One winner per drawing will receive both a bump (pregnancy) and birth (infant up to 1 month) session with Labor Of Love Pix
Jene Youtt and I are very excited about the prospects of capturing these special moments in a new family’s lives. Our fine art portrait photography is stirring interest so if you want families photos, now is the time to schedule a session. These make wonderful holiday gifts to share with friends and family.
Visit Ciao Belly – the unique maternity baby gift store and pick up a 25% coupon for any in-studio portrait session and print order. We also will shoot at your house but the coupon then valid only on your print order.
Life spiraling – out of control
Does it seem that sometimes you have so much going on at once that you are careening out of control. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing… just that it is out of hand and yet I don’t seem to be able to pull the reigns in on it.
Friday, Jene Youtt thought he had a social meeting with the Hell’s Kitchen artists. There’s a Nov. open studio tour that he will participate in. So I finished what I was doing at home and headed into the city Friday night. Jene made a quick dinner and we headed over to Bar 9. Looked for some artist types, couldn’t find the group and walked back to the apt to discover the social is on 11/6. Saturday morning was spent busy with something and for the life of me, I can’ remember what took up our time but we were almost late for Tim Roda’s talk about his work at the Daniel Cooney Gallery. That was interesting. It’s nice to hear how other artist’s work develope along the way. His 11 year son, who is a subject in most of his Family Matter’s series was on hand to answer questions also.
Back to Jene’s apt for dinner before heading down to Ward-Nasse’s artist reception. Amanda Dolan was the featured artist. Last time she exhibited there, 2 of Jene’s prints had sold to a collector. We are hoping for a repeat of that. Chatted with other artists and art lovers then we headed back to Jersey.
Sunday we had the Hoboken Open Studio Tour. We exhibited in the Monroe Center for the Arts. Set up @ 10 and people started coming in waves as we were laying out some brochures about Labor Of Love Pix. I even brought some of my wearable art pieces in hopes of getting some early holiday shoppers. I did sell 2 small prints so that made my day.
I had to print more brochures for Ciao Belly, the boutique in Hoboken, Laura has givien us counter space and helping us advertise the random drawing for bump and birth portrait photography sessions.
Researching card stock paper for blank greeting cards that Barking Lizards will be carrying. We are both exhibiting there for their grand opening and hoping to become resident artists of the gallery. I bought a new printer that is still sitting on the floor and Jene has to build a structure to house his new computer. Programs will need to be installed and we are getting ready for the debut opening of Barking Lizards.
Print more business cards. Update my website and touch base with my friend Denise DeLuise on her site and to design some postcards for her.
Bought a new scanner printer… hooked that up today and got it running. Trying to schedule a photo shoot for a personal project with a friend who just got back from South America. He has a online magazine - Pinstripe and a small clothing line.
Testing some card stock that Jene had left over from his art card business.
Tomorrow starts PDN’s Photo Expo at the Javits Ctr, NYC. I’ll take the train back & forth. On Friday Jene & I will be going again and meet Jack Cutler,a photographer and consultant for PTS later for dinner.
Not to mention that we are still working on the powder room in the basement. Not enough time in the day and yet I find myself blogging. hmmmmmmm maybe I need to prioritize a little better. Gotta go!
Contest promo – free photo session…O
The official start date of the random drawing at Ciao Belly in Hoboken, NJ starts tomorrow. YAY. The owner Laura is just as excited as we are to offer her clients a wonderful service and a chance to win in a monthly drawing for the next 3 months. There is also a 25% off coupon for a photo session if you don’t want to entry the bump and birth photo drawing. The holidays are coming and family photos do make for such personal gifts. Take advantage… stop by Ciao Belly at 730 Washington Street, Hoboken and pick up a coupon for Labor Of Love Pix.
Living in the 21st Century…
educated in the mid 20th century really puts me at a disadvantage. I have a digital camera that sometimes still baffles me and I’ve my MacBook Pro with intel chips and all that. But I sometimes feel at a loss. I don’t tweeter, I do facebook without quite knowing it’s capabilities or the best way of navigating through it. I don’t answer invites, or notes because I’m not really sure how to half the time and it seems if you accept something FB wants to share your information with others. So I don’t go there… I don’t know who the others are. To go back and read all the fine print is way to time consuming for me.
I am of the belief that if it’s on my computer, I should automatically know how to work in the programs by Osmosis! Some people are inquisitive and play on their computers discovering all sorts of neat things. I am the opposite…. I am afraid of screwing things up and when I do figure something out for myself, I can’t remember all the keys I clicked to make that happen. I have gotten better, a year with one to one apple trainers helped. But because each week you had a different trainer, with different areas of expertise, I would jump from Aperture to Photoshop to building website lessons. It was rather unstructured and I need to learn in a more linear method in order for it to stick in my brain. I have to understand the effects of one thing onto another… that’s just how my brain works. I know there is more than one way to skin a cat and instead of showing me all the ways at once. I need to learn one at a time and then will figure out which works best for me. The end result is the same…I have monkey mind to begin with, multi-tasked for 30 years at work, juggling work, home, motherhood all that sort of stuff. (Today it’s called ADD)
Too many irons in the fire…. (most young people may never have heard that saying) and my head starts spinning. But that’s my daily life. I have a to-do list at my side or NOTHING gets completed. But I keep adding to it pushing the priorites around.
I know I am not alone in my boat, so many others go through the same thing… I am trying to get a handle on is and YES the to-do list really, really helps me. But it doesn’t help me feel like I am functioning in an efficient manner within the realms of the computer age. I feel like I am being left behind, always trying to keep up, not quite knowing what I am doing and yet I am doing! I’m blogging, built simple websites with templets. designing POP brochures, entry boxes all sorts of things.
This isn’t all bad… I really do manage to get around on the computer, learned to work in InDesign, LightRoom and other programs that are essential to me as a artist. But I work clunky… I still feel that I lack something – confidence!
I love the PC commercial where the 6 year old is doing slideshows and movies with Window 7. These little ones are incredible. I did feel good about the fact that after my grand daughter Rose saw a power Point Presentation that I had done, she wanted to learn how to do it on her PC. I actually was able to help her. She’s probably surpassed me in skill by now.
Anyway, I try not to let it get the best of me, but boy do I feel like I eat everyone else’s dust when it comes to technology. Zoom, zoom……
Turning fine art into a business
…or trying to!
Jene Youtt & I decided that we should merge our talents moving into the realm of weddings, bump, birth and beyond portraits. Although we have distinct styles of shooting, you can see the similarities in our sensibilities. We look to capture feelings of the moment. The fleeting moments that in an instant – Poof – they vanish!
Jene’s extensive experience in lighting (having spent most of his adult life in the theater industry and awarded 2 Emmys for lighting direction for major network shows) is evident. He instinctively knows how to set up his lights for the effect he wants. I, on the other hand may move the lights around searching for that sweet spot. The end result is the same and it doesn’t take me that much longer to set up – dramatic or soft lighting sets the mood. It’s like the music that sets the stage for a movie… It’s the emotion grabber.
Our style sets us apart from the run of the mill portrait studios. There is nothing wrong with them, but most family photos look exactly the same. Bright smiling faces staring back at you. We look to capture who you are deep down, to bring out the shyness, the innocence, the confidence in a child or what ever it is that makes them so utterly special. It’s who they are.
We take our time with children, we talk, as we shoot and get them comfortable in front of the camera, drawing them out. This is a quote from one mother, “I highly recommend Mary and her work. She is patient and makes kids feel at ease. This picture was a very relaxed little girl who started out very stiff and nervous! She definitely bring out the beauty in her subjects right from their heart.”
It didn’t take very long to go from the first photo to the WOW, which currently is hanging in the Rivermill Art Gallery in Westfield, NJ. This is what we love to do, it is why we are photographers, we want to tell a story through our pictures. One that is started by us and continued by our viewer connecting to the photo and to us, the artists.
Jene & I really love what we do. We started shooting together a few years ago, occassionally Jene would let me assist on his sessions. It was a learning experience and I always felt it you were going to learn, then learn from the best. We do have a little competitiveness, he thought some of my images were better than his but yet his have won numerous art awards in the fine art world. Our personal projects are exhibited in galleries in the NJ/NY Metro areas and Jene’s work netted him a solo exhibit in Kyoto, Japan last year.
Starting Oct 1st, Labor Of Love Pix will have visibility at a lovely maternity/baby boutique in Hoboken, NJ called Ciao Belly. 730 Washington Street. We are excited about that.
Word of mouth was our only form of advertising for our wedding photography. We just shot our 3rd wedding and am working on editing through tons of images. It’s all about the moment… capturing the tenderness shared. And as soon as I can get out from under, I will be contacting bridal boutiques to see if we can get some counter space for our photography brochures.
This isn’t just a business partnership that Jene & I formed. It is an extensive of the love that we have for each other and the joy we get from sharing and making connections with others. Afterall, connections are what makes life worth living.
La vita bella!
ciao
Flash forward – to today and our issues
In trying to develop a business as wedding photographers – bump, birth and beyond portraits, I tend to come across obsticals of the technical and creative kind. Since it seems I am the one developing the website, business cards, promotions etc. with no real working knowledge of what I am doing it poses problems for me. I fumble through things and somehow or website is up and running but still cannot be located with the www in place. I don’t know why but if you type the address as http://laboroflovepix.com as the URL address it can be found. Add the www and it can’t. Google can’t seem to locate the website either but locates my blogs when searched as Labor of love pix.
Then there’s the creative side of designing everything from the website to the business cards and promo pieces. I am designing them all – this works for me since I am by far the better graphic designer.. (Jene agrees) But it smacks of working for someone else. I left the corporate world because of these reasons. Input as hindsight… I would like direction first before I take off on my own only to discover that maybe that’s not how the other person was visualizing. Jene has tons of wonderful ideas and reigns me in to focus plenty of times. BUT I hate starting from scratch time and time again and it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Should couples work together? How do you know ahead of time if it is a good thing of bad for your relationship? Does anyone have the answer to that question? I guess you really need to factor in a lot of things. 1) your realtionship – is it based on respect ? 2) your business venture – are your goals the same? 3) do you think your relationship can withstand the test of time?
I’m not sure I have all the answers yet but Jene & I are trying to set aside our egos (ok my ego) for the better of the whole. My initial reaction is defensive in nature (and I am sure I am not alone in this one) but then logic steps in (thank goodness) and luckily that prevails. Being a gemini has it’s positive and negative aspects – and with me it does balance out – Eventually! But it takes it toll emotionally and tires me. Tonight I sent Jene home with a printout of the 3rd revise of the folded promotion piece for our wedding photography as well as the 1st draft for the bump, birth and beyond piece. He really needs to go over the copy that I wrote as a little bio for him – 12 lines – so that I can put that to bed and move onto the next step.
The business cards were approved by the 2 of us (taking his input into consideration) - PRINTED! check that off the list.
Fun filled labor day weekend! But we are moving ahead…
Roma, the eternal city
The Naples train station was as crowded and confusing as Grand Central Station to foreigners and full of hustlers. For an extra 5 euro we were ushered to the head of the line to upgrade our Europass to 1st Class and he helped us get to the gate on time. Jene can close his eyes anywhere catching needed zzzzzz’s. Not me…. I don’t want to miss a moment – the farmlands and towns zipped past and I watched our fellow passengers.
At the Rome train station, the taxi driver wanted 25 euro to take us @ 10 blocks to our hotel, the streets are congested and the taxis are not metered; you negotiate the price first no matter the distance or time it takes. We agreed on 15euro to take us to the Hotel Lazzari (I had the address, printed directions and map from their website so I knew exactly where we were going – yay Mary) The hotel was on the third floor and had a neat old elevator.
picture this rotated 90 degrees.
The room was simple, a decent size and good location; close enough to both the train and bus depots which made getting around town fairly easy. Jene loves taking mass transit just not with all our luggage. We checked into our room and looked out our window, it started to pour. The weather called for 2 days of rain… oh well. It was 3 o’clock, no sense heading out in the rain, we’ll unpack, shower, nap then venture out. (Of course last minute I decided to lighten my load by leaving the umbrellas home. We stopped in a store & bought 2 cheap umbrellas “look what we got for you …. Italian umbrellas”. just kidding -(insurance against future rain). We headed off in the direction of the coliseum. There’s a long story attached to eating in a restaurant overlooking the coliseum that Jene was aware of. (having to do with a past lover). Our first dinner was overlooking the Coliseum at the restaurant of my choice (Jene is a smart 
The food was excellent, the view spectacular and Jene was charming. (awwww ) This is a view of the restaurant from the coliseum. 2nd Story awning – best seat in the house.
Saturday we did the touristy things, waited in long lines, went to St. Peter’s, the Vatican museums, Sistine chapel (the masterpieces were amazing – so many treasures the Vatican has amassed over the years – unbelievable. (No photos allowed but you can buy these lovely postcards… how do you say rip off in Italian?)
Taking the metro was easy; the ticket machines are in 4 languages. The busses were a little more complicated but we managed. And of course we walked a lot too.
Sunday, we spent the day like the Romans and enjoyed their version of Central Park. It was a leisurely day of people watching. Too nice to spend inside darken museums.
We did all the touristy things, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps. Of course the Coliseum, an amazing structure from an engineering standpoint. Horrific if you think of how much blood was shed, building it and participating in the games. But the aura of it is powerful. The Pantheon impressed Jene. Still standing throughout the ages with little need for structural repair. Once a pagan temple built with the open dome (for sacrifices – smoke can escape when burning a virgin or lamb and indoor plumbing – drainage into the Tiber for the rain or to wash down the blood of a sacrificial lamb or 2. But the most amazing part about Rome as well as other places in Europe is that in the midst of modern day life; at every turn, there stands the ruins of another civilization. Mind blowing. You walk amid all that you studied about in Ancient History.
You need about a month in Rome to see and do everything so 4 nights was not enough time. But we did have some really special meals. Brunch at Gina’s and dinner at Regina’s Ristorante Via dei Mille, 46 . Dining tips found on the Beehive Hotel’s website. If you stand and drink your espresso, it is less expensive then if you sit. Most Italians stand, chat with the bar tenders and off they go to work. Walking and bicycling are common modes of transportation in the cities. Vespas if you have a longer commute and so many smart cars in the cities. (Gas – 12.65euros a liter).
We are becoming seasoned travelers, next – why shell out 5 euro to a guy to upgrade us… I have my italian phrase book in hand… Needless to say, I waited behind a woman with a thousand questions and we missed that train to Florence. (The next one was an hour later) Remember the old saying – time is money – worth the 5-euro tip ?– yes, I think so.
Midnight Train – going first class
At 10 pm, everything closes down at the train station in Venice. We had our tickets, parked ourselves by the hugh schedule tote board watching for our destination and platform to flip up. With each flutter of the changing destinations I was all eyes, Jene sat with his closed, opening them when I would query as to when our platform would be revealed. Jene has a philosophy (I envy…) everything will be fine, it will all work out in the end. With this in mind, I still can’t relax. All other destinations are flipping over on the board and it’s growing closer to our departure time. The informazioni stations are devoid of human life and sightings of men in green A’Italia uniforms are rare. The nervous nellie in me is surfacing and at 11:30 I am dashing here and there looking for someone of authority. Jene sits in amusement, watching as I zip near and far. (Now if I stopped walking as I clicked the shutter, the images would be in focus but this shows my motion and conveys what I saw – a blur)
At 11:45 as I rush back to our bench – the clicking of the board, brings a knowing smirk to Jene’s face. Track 3 -we head to the far end of the station to board.
Bumping our luggage down the narrow hall we found our berth.
We had 1st class accommodations. How cool is that. I rarely traveled by train anywhere let alone in a sleeper car. I took the lower bunk and Jene climbed above. Stimulated by the excitement of a first time experience, I watched out the window as the dark scenery sped by. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the the soft purr of Jene’s breathing. Up before dawn (not that I slept), I heard the conductor draw closer to our car, announcing the ETA and knocking on our door with tray of cafe, pane e formaggio. (LOVE the coffee in Italy)
Gathered our belongings, freshened up and had the conductor write down what bus to take to the seaport. It was mid morning in October but the temp was close to 80 degrees already. Next was a ferry to Ischia, (an island not far from Capri but less expensive), hopped a crowded bus to Hotel Residence Sant’Angelo. Pepe , our host, showed us to our room, Jene decided upgraded to overlook the Mediterranean. The weather was perfect, 80 to 85, with cool evening sea breezes. Pepe told us the hot tub with natural mineral water was an aphrodisiac, as was the pool fed by the springs, the pastries he served were also very special in that way… (Ummmm, in that case, we’ll have 2 more). It was magical, we were like young lovers. Jene professed his feelings for me in almost a poetic fashion. How utterly wonderful, the days were unhurried. No museums or famous cathedrals to visit. Walks into the center of the town, spent an afternoon on a beach. Sipped on cappuccino, cooled off with gelato. Held hands and snuggled up to watch the sunset. We took a bus to the Mortella botanical gardens and to the seaport afterward to shop.
Amazon waterlily pads
I could live here! (Why did I choose Ischia? – my friend, Denise’s family was from Ischia and when we were having dinner in NYC, the waiter overheard our conversation and piped in about Ischia and that we should stay in Sant’Angelo section – (that & the fact that Capri was so much more expensive).
Our days spent in Ischia were short but sweet, Pepe carried our bags to the bus stop and gave us a parting gift of a bottle of wine from his vineyard. Kiss, kiss ciao!
Next stop Roma…
21 days in Italy –
After Panama, our next travel plans took us to Italy – the art, the food, the sites and sounds of my heritage. It was my third visit and Jene’s first. There was so much I wanted to experience with him. I had been to Florence, Rome, Sienna and Pisa. It was hard to limit where we wanted to go and the 2 week trip grew to be 3 weeks. I had never been away that long before. Work frowned upon taking 2 weeks but at that point, I didn’t care. I was going on another world wind adventure.
First stop: VENICE – where love is in the air…..
It didn’t necessarily start out that way… we were over an hour late in taking off from JFK so unless we made up a lot of time there was no way to make our connecting flight in Vienna. The Austrians are noted for being on time – we missed it by 5 minutes… Need to rebook.
We caught the next flight to Venice a couple hours later… where I realize that the hotel sent us the address and what waterbus to take but no directions. No problem (no need to let Jene know – I’ll just ask the gal when buying the ticket for the waterbus She has no idea where the hotel is but we should take the D’Oro water bus and it’s probably a short walk from there). I ask the waterbus guys – they don’t know either but are trying to help because I tell them that my boyfriend is tired (he had deicded to carry Matt’s garment bag instead of his rolling luggage. Note to anyone… never buy luggage that’s not on wheels unless you have a personal porter.) Now I have to confess to Jene. Even when you know where you are going, Venice is confusing. It’s a good thing I’m cute. Lack of sleep doesn’t not make for happy couples….Ok, Jene reads the map and says to go left, I pointed to the right, but he is a little pissed at me so we will go his way. Now remember Venice is built on canals which means when you cross a canal – you cross over a bridge up and down stairs– with all your luggage.
At the bottom of the bridge we are told we need to go back to the other side. (I was right – but not a good time to revel in that fact- Jene was not amused with me… Every few blocks, I ask “Dove e Hotel Ca’ Le Vele – which is also the name of the street it is on. We had a small room without a view (trying to stay on a budget)
Exhausted but excited we head out to see the surrounding area, to breathe in all that we could before dinner. A nice romantic dinner on The Grand Canal. Pricey but what the heck. It was Thursday and we hadn’t slept since Tuesday night (ok Jene can actually doze on a plane, I can’t). All around us, lovers are holding hands and chatting, we barely managed to hold our heads up.
Venice is everything you ever heard about it and then some. Enchanting is a word that comes to mind. We did all the usual tourist stuff except for the gondola ride. Trying to stick to a budget I repeatedly told Jene it wasn’t necessary and he hoped I wouldn’t regret it. He bought Venetian masks from one of the remaining 2 authentic mask stores/schools. I bought some unusual beads for my wearable art jewelry. We went to The Ghetto section, to Murano island, St Marks, 100 little churches, sat in piazza’s sipping wine, ate gelato, enjoyed every moment of the 4 nights, 5 days in Venice. 
It was wonderful, I could live there… (if I were wealthy) Time was up and we were off to Ischia. Taking the midnight train to Naples. We had left our luggage at the train station so we didn’t have to drag it around – the catch was we had to retrieve it before the depot closed at 10 pm. No problem we would hang out at the station resting after a long day.
…. to be continued
… where life takes you, when you let it steer
One never knows what is in store for them. We make plans and then sometimes life, with all it circumstances, alters our journey. It’s not that I am a firm believer in destiny or that you shouldn’t have goals, I am a planner, wanting all my ducks in a row. You know – the way things are supposed to happen. You marry, have a baby, life is grand… and then sometimes things happen and the world turns upside down. Not knowing how you will land can throw you into an emotional spiral. Been there, done that. But this is how we learn and grow, rolling with the punches. It is the people you come across in your life, that shape you into who you are – yes, it’s the journey!
Jene & I met through the internet in 2004, but the first time our paths crossed was nearly 30 years before. Real long story that I don’t need to go into, only to say, he was not the same person he is today and neither am I. Our relationship would have been tumultuous at best back then. With age, comes wisdom for some and I think that because of all that we have both been through in our lives, we are now well suited for each other. I support his creative endeavors whole heartedly and truly think he is an amazing artist/photographer. He encourages me, being a mentor, friend, honest critic and one of my biggest fans. He is man enough to admit that sometimes he likes my images better than his own when we’ve shot together.
We look at the same objects a little differently and it is why we have decided to team up as wedding photographers. I assisted with his first wedding and we shot a second wedding together. We are moving forward in that direction and am looking forward to shooting a 3rd in September. It is the delicate balance, the yin and yang of life that completes the circle.
If you asked me 5 years ago, what I would be doing – this would not have even come to mind. That’s what is so utterly wonderful about the journey. One turn can change everything… Our relationship was one in which we eased into each others lives, without quite knowing that we were falling in love. I don’t think there was a defining moment that I said – yup, I love him, it just evolved into a something I cherish. A string of moments that weren’t rushed. We didn’t know where our relationship was headed and in some ways, I/we still don’t. BUT I’m glad we’re together.
Because we are older, I think we realize that there are less years ahead of us and without sounding morbid, we appreciate life more. We are not rushing here or there. We are simply enjoying what is going on today! PERIOD. I’m in no hurry to get to the end because what is waiting at the end is death. So we stop and smell the flowers and look for the beauty that abounds. It’s everywhere – in the laughter of a child or in sobs that can break your heart, and as photographers we try to create and capture these feelings in the hope that you, the viewer will stop, look and linger in our world, if only for a moment. Afterall, life is all about connecting…
