Life & Work with Marisa Vitale

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marisa Vitale.

Hi Marisa, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started taking photos with a 110 film camera when I was six years old. However, I never thought that could actually be a job until way after college and grad school (neither of which is where I actually studied photography.) Like many, I thought I had to follow a path that led me into the corporate world. It was where I was headed until I gained the courage to take a leap in creativity in the depths of grief. My mom was killed in 2005, right when I was about to take what I thought was my dream job in urban development at the time. I was 27 years old and my life changed in an instant. I spent almost the entire next decade trying to sort myself out.

Sometimes in the depths of darkness comes the brightest light. For me, that was photography. Capturing people with my camera ignited my soul again, it brought joy that hadn’t been ignited deep in a long while. I started photographing families and weddings on the weekends while I kept my day job. Like a crazy person, I quit my day job when I was 6 months pregnant with my twins. I knew at that point it was now or never. I was either going to follow my passion for photography with a full leap of faith or fail trying, but I knew I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t try and I certainly wasn’t going back to a 9-5 job.

Fortunately, it worked! I photographed families and weddings until my kids started going to preschool and stopped napping. I no longer had the energy to keep up with families on the weekends or long days of shooting weddings, my own twins wore me out 😂 so I took another leap of faith, I switched my photography focus. Ironically, I met a gal at a wedding workshop where we both decided we didn’t want to photograph weddings anymore. She worked for Apartment Therapy and hooked me up with a gig I could do while my kids were in school and during the week. At the same time, I started photographing portraits for Bossladies, a magazine featuring businesswomen all across the country. I took on events and product photography, basically anything I could shoot during the week while my kids were in school. And that’s where I’ve been ever since! Somehow the interior work is the one that really propelled me even though I never set out to be an interior photographer! 😂

But I’m about to embark on yet a new adventure where my family and I will be traveling the world for a year. I will once again be taking a shift in my work focus toward travel and storytelling. I plan to conduct interviews along the way and have a documentary project completed by the end of the trip. Working title so far, We Are All Connected.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Owning your own business while also wanting to be at home with your kids as much as possible is kind of impossible. I’m still trying to figure out this balance between mom and businesswoman. Being a mom requires me to be at home, be present with my kids, create a childhood full of magic and opportunities. Being a businesswoman requires me to be out in the world, constantly hustling and looking for my next gig. These are opposing forces and it’s a see saw as to which one holds more weight.

I also built my business on my own, being a solo businesswoman has so many struggles attached, there’s nobody else to help! The hats you have to wear are endless, admin, tech support, customer service, marketing and let’s not forget actually doing your creative job! There have been so many people along the way that have helped support me, mostly other photographers that were gracious enough to share their experiences with me. This certainly isn’t a solo career, I have so much gratitude and thanks to so many that helped me get to where I am today.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an interior/lifestyle/portrait/products and travel photographer. I am probably the most known for my interiors work. However, I would never label myself as an interiors photographer, I still feel like I barely know what I’m doing! 😂 I think what sets me apart is that I can cross so many different fields within photography. I can shoot an interiors project, any products they have and the entire staff’s portraits in one day! I feel like that may be rare to find a photographer that has experience in so many different fields.

Strangely, I think what I’m most proud of is not relating to my work that I get paid for, but for a passion project called A Letter To You Project. This is a documentary photo project about grief. People write a letter to someone they have lost and I audio record it and take portraits of them reading it. This project pulls together two of my passions, photography and emotions. When people are feeling so disconnected and alone in this age of technology, I wanted to create a space where those in grief could feel a sense of community. To be seen, to be heard, to connect with one another. Grief is such a hidden emotion in our society, my intention with the project is to just create a space where people can talk about grief.

What’s next?
I am planning a year around the world with my kids and husband starting August 2023. We have been wanting to do this for years, but covid got in the way. I’m actually thankful now that we waited as my kids will be in 6th grade and will remember so much more and now have more agency in directing our plans and where we are going. At the moment we are planning on Colombia, Guatemala, Argentina, Galapagos Islands, Austria, Laos, Japan, Spain and Somewhere in Africa.

I am planning on interviewing people from every place we go to about their lives, what makes them happy, what’s the worst thing that’s happened to them, their dreams and fears, their families, etc. The point is to show that no matter where we are from, what economic or social class, etc. we have so much in common. These will be accompanied by portraits and sounds of the country where they are from. I’m hoping to have a huge installation when I return of this project. The working title is “We are all connected”.

I will also have a print shop up and running and travel blog from all the places we are heading. It’s a big exciting adventure!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.marisavitale.com
• Instagram: marisavitalephoto

Image Credits
Image of myself by LIly glass all other photos are mine