A few weeks ago, I started taking the steps to relaunch my photography business and am proud to have created a space to share photos and stories that document my ongoing journey of art-making and entrepreneurship.
What began as a partnership between myself and Maddie in 2010 has gone through many transformations. Almost 8 years later, I am proud to be relaunching Hart & Sol Photo to provide portrait, event and lifestyle photography services for folks with stories to tell and moments to celebrate.
During this time of renewal, I did a lot of self-reflection which ended up being a combination of self-care, mentorship, and to-do lists. I thought a lot about where and how I learned to take photos: on that old Minolta film camera spending hours with my grandfather - an amazing mentor, artist, storyteller, and photographer. I still try to create moments to learn from him, studying his photos as though he was Walker Evans, thinking about the ways he would challenge me to "bend my knees more" and "to always use natural light" (below is one of my favorite photos he took of my grandmother).
I am forever influenced by his clean, photo-journalistic approach to capturing the little moments around him (whether overseas while a chef in the army or between him and his family friends sipping whiskey in their apartment on Hyatt St. in Staten Island). I also obsess over the quality of color in the slide film and the glass lenses that he'd used, finding myself hacking old lenses with hopes that my DSLR will start breathing the lens' past life.
My grandfather is just one of many mentors who have helped me gather the courage, skills, and patience to relaunch Hart & Sol Photo: People who relish the small moments, people who are thrifty and entrepreneurial, people who are fearless reminders that we all have ability to start anew. Thank you to those who have shared encouraging words and friendly advice along the way.
