Michele Heftman joined us this week. She organizes, catalogs, and creates specialized databases for large privately owned photo collections. She talks with us about how she started her career working in a museum, then taking a break to raise her children, and now how she is a business owner. Michele shares some wonderful stories with us about some of the photos she has come across in her work, you don't want to miss to this episode.
Guest Co-Host: Bonnie Shay: bonnie@mariposaphotoorganizing
Bonnie's website: https://mariposaphotoorganizing.com/
Podcast Guest: Michele Heftman: mheftman@gmail.com
Michele's Website: https://www.inthebestlightpossible.com/
Michele's Instagram: Best Light Collections
Transcription:
Kris Parsons00:00
Welcome to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best life and how you can figure out how to do it too. Join us with your lively host Ray Loewe also known as the luckiest guy in the world.
Ray Loewe00:13
Hi, everybody and this is Ray Loewe. And I am the luckiest guy in the world. And I'm sitting here in our wonderful studios in Woodbury, New Jersey. And I've got our engineer Taylor here, and he's going to make sure that this podcast actually works in spite of me. So everybody, good morning. And we're talking as usual, about changing the rules. And you know, throughout our whole lives, we're fed a bunch of rules. And those rules start to accumulate after a while. And some of them that were pertinent once are no longer relevant. And what we find is that if we're living our lives by other people's rules, we're not living our lives. And so we need to figure out how we're going to change those and make those rules work for us. And we've had a series of guests, and we've got another great one today, that's going to talk about her journey and to changing her rules to make rules work for her. And she has redesigned the life that she wants to live and she's living it. So we have a co-host this month. And our co-host is Bonnie Shay. And Bonnie is a photo organizer from Chicago. And the theme that we're working on today is something we call the power of the story. And Bonnie and I did a podcast a couple of weeks ago, and we talked a little bit about the fact that there are different ways to tell stories. But if you can weave stories into your life, you add power to the way you communicate with people. And so Bonnie Say hi, first. Good morning. Hello, everybody. You didn't say hi. You had to say good morning, you change the rules didn't you. I'm on the right podcast, Ray. Yeah, I know. And you're good at changing those rules. And Bonnie certainly is one of the luckiest people in the world. And if you want to know more about Bonnie, we've had several podcasts with her and you can go back into our archives. And it would just take me too long to say too much. So Bonnie, why don't you introduce our guest today. And I'm excited about this particular interview in zoom land because it's really an exciting story.
Bonnie Shay02:30
Excellent. So I am introducing to our podcast listeners, Michele Heftman. And I want to explain how I met Michelle, a mutual friend introduced us because she realized that both Michelle and I have our own businesses, and we curate large photo collections. And we happen to live in neighboring suburbs in the Chicago area. I personally work on large printed photo collections that are my clients, personal family photos. So they are the family's specific photographic story and their history. Michelle, on the other hand, works on large photo collections that are her clients. And they have purchased these photos, typically, and she'll share lots of good information with the basic summary is her clients collect photographs, mostly done by well-known photographers, and or that they follow a specific theme, like a collector of anything collector of antiques, right? They have a theme, and they have what they love. But all of the photos, intrigue, and interest, Michelle, so excuse me, her clients, so they collect them, and they love them, but they need some help on these curated collections. So that's where Michelle steps in. And the overall arching similarities that we both work on large photo collections. And we both do a lot of detective work. So Michelle will share some of the detective work that she does. As we chat with her. So Michelle, can I ask you directly, what is your story? How did you get to this point where you have your own business called the best light? And you do some extraordinary work?
Michele Heftman04:16
Of course. Well, thank you so much for talking with me today. I've really been looking forward to the conversation. Um, my background, a little bit about me, I'm from the Detroit area. And my mother was an artist and my dad was a computer guy and I kind of landed somewhere in the middle. So when I went to school, I went to art school, I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and I focused on photography, that's my own passion, and also arts administration, to work in museums. That was my drive as a young adult. And I started my career right around the time when museums were moving on from their old card catalog systems and starting to embrace these large museum databases to manage their collections. And that's really where I found my niche. It was really my computer skills that got me into this very competitive career. Or it opened the door for me, I should say.
Ray Loewe05:18
You know, Michele, it sounds like you were bred for this job. I mean, here you are. You got a mother. That's an artist. You got a father who's in a databases and computers and stuff like this. I mean, what else could you be? Right?
Michele Heftman05:32
It really did feel like it's a very unique niche, but it was made for me. Cool.
Bonnie Shay05:37
And I need to ask you, Michele, what did your parents get you for your 13th birthday? They built me a darkroom. Yeah, I mean, what a gift, right? Yeah.
Michele Heftman05:49
I've always loved to like hands-on making photos like working in the darkroom, the way, the way it should be done back in the day, you know.
Ray Loewe05:59
So you have this background in photography. And I think for a while you, were a photographer, and then you kind of did some museum photography. And then you kind of got where you are. So what does a museum photographer do?
Michele Heftman06:15
Well, primarily, the museum photographer works with the objects in the collection, documents, their condition, any restoration processes, they might go through, and works with the database manager to pair those photos with any information associated with the pieces. Museums usually have a larger staff where the photographer can just focus on photography. Now, I kind of my umbrella is much larger than that I need to manage both sides of those things, the database, and the photos.
Ray Loewe06:50
Okay, so we're gonna get into where you're going a little bit. That will further tell the story about what you do. But let's take a minute and go back and talk about you specifically because you took a break from all this, you started this exciting career, and then you took a break to raise a family, right?
Michele Heftman07:07
Like so many people do. Right? It was time and I had my son. And I wanted to stay home. So I put my career on pause.
Ray Loewe07:18
You know, and like most or many moms do. And yet you're able to work your way back into the industry in a way that made you happy. And this is something that a lot of moms don't get to do. So why don't you talk for a minute if you're willing to about how you made this transition? I mean, because you still have young children at home, is that correct?
Michele Heftman07:43
Yeah, I mean, my son is now entering high school, and my daughter entering Middle School. So about five years ago, I was looking at my life, and it was time to focus on me, my kids were old enough, and they're independent. And it was really time to turn that focus back to myself and how I wanted to return to my career. I started by working in arts education, teaching some art classes. But the museum world is very competitive, and how was I going to do that. But on my own terms, that was something I always grappled with. I was working with a friend and they had an opportunity that they wanted me to be involved with, it was for a larger organization. And so in order to apply, I had to fill out an online job portal application, which was not something I had done or really intended to do. So I filled out the profile. And as I was doing that the system bleeped and brought up a job posting, and it was very obscure language, part-time, flexible hours, so that piqued my interest. And looking for a photo file, someone who loves photography, and database management, and all these things, but there were really no specifics surrounding the job. But I just looked at the skillset, and I thought, hmm, that kind of sounds like me, that sounds like what I do. And without really thinking about it, I just hit Send and I sent off my newly formed online resume. And I got a call and it was my first client. It was a private collector who was looking for some way to help manage his large collection. And I felt that was very serendipitous the way this all happened is and I'm so grateful to this person for helping me get started in this industry again, and really sharing my good word, and letting people know what I'm all about.
Ray Loewe09:51
Well, you know, we all get breaks, but I think the people that are lucky enough to find those breaks really have a sense of what they want to do and I think you've defined early in your life, this whole concept of categorizing things, the photography, all the pieces kind of came together. And, so now you're a happy camper, you're managing young children at home, you're able to get out there and work and you're building back, you're a business that you have control of, what can we do better than that? Oh, I don't, not much. Okay,
Bonnie Shay10:27
And I want to outline Ray, I just want to pause for a moment, because I think, as our listeners are listening to the story, I want to sort of declare some universal strengths and choices that Michele made that I think were key in this whole process. She said, Yes, instead of No, you clicked on that, you know, that pop-up message that came? And she's like, Oh, yeah. And she said, Yes, instead of No. And I think she follows the signs of the universe. I think those are her words, actually, that she was sharing with us.
Michele Heftman10:58
I do know, I meant to add to that little story is that when I started to realize, Hey, this is really my niche, this is something that I can really do. I sat down and I wrote on a card, I am going to make this happen for myself. And I put it upright in front of my door that I pass every day. So it was like the first thing I saw in my mind every morning. And you know, I worked to make it happen.
Ray Loewe11:28
Absolutely outstanding and this is a key, I think, to other people who are listening to this who want to get out of, or make changes in their life and redesign their life that you have to do. Take some time, figure out what your strengths are, figure out what you want to do, and then put up the sign that says, I'm going to make this happen. I think that's a great idea. I think I'm going to have to do that now. So I can get my life under control. Anyway, Michele, so that was the past. And I'm sure we'll kind of get back to that at some point in time. But let's talk about the future. Let's talk about what you do. And what you want to do. And where are you going because you have a business when where you can control it? And, and I love the name of your business, by the way in the best light. It's, just such a great way of focusing on what you're trying to do. So tell us about your future. Where are we going?
Michele Heftman12:25
Well, what I've done with these large collections. These collections are 1000s of photographs. So I have some collections more than 5000 photos large and they need accessibility. So what I've done is create computer systems, databases, and apps for my clients where they can scroll through their collection, they can flag, and determine what they want to donate or what they want to loan to a certain place. And they can easily access these photos and engage with them. In you know, some of these photos, they spend their lives in storage. And this is a way for my collectors to see them and enjoy them. And so really, that's where I started was building these systems just simply for their needs. And each system is different based on what my collector wants to use it for. Now, what I'm pivoting, that's the word right. What I'm doing is taking these systems and we are now granting access to the public, and creating accessibility to use these photos as a tool for education.
Ray Loewe13:47
Okay, so talk more about this. So first of all, this whole world of private collections is kind of strange to me, because especially when you have 5,000, 10,000 photos, and they're kind of bundled, then hidden away. How do you enjoy them? And I think you're saying this is how you do this, but talk a little bit about making them public for education and what you do there? And is this anything I can access? Can I get online and Google Photos by theme and find out where they are?
Michele Heftman14:24
Well, sure, we're working towards that. Some of my clients do have their own website up. But right now what I'd like to do are we are starting to partner with universities or nonprofits, like-minded organizations that might be interested in using these photos, maybe exhibiting them in their offices or using them to teach students about current events or past events. I mean, Bonnie talks a lot about storytelling through photos and I love how our jobs are kind of like two heads of the same coin. And I do a lot of storytelling with photographs. But I also think about history telling through photographs. So one of my clients, he's very passionate about social justice initiatives. And so we are partnering with the university to share some photos from the civil rights movement in some of their classes, and they're using those photos to teach about the march from Selma to Montgomery, and I think that's very exciting.
Ray Loewe15:35
Okay, so you're doing these projects where you're bringing photos out of the closet? Can I use that word? Sure. Okay. And, you know, I think one of the other things that Bonnie mentioned that I want to get into a little bit about you guys think you're detectives here, right. There is detective work for sure. Well, and you mentioned this thing about James Joyce a while ago when we were talking earlier. So there's a whole story here and I don't know how to begin it, but I think you do. So why don't you talk to us about this? Because it's one of the reasons I think you get excited about what you do.
Michele Heftman16:11
Absolutely. This was kind of just exciting research. I love research. Some research is not as exciting as others. So we acquired this client acquired a series of portraits by the photographer, she's El Frond, and they were some beautiful portraits, one of James Joyce, one of Simone de Bouvier. But there was also a photo it just tucked into the room, which was a bookshelf and a chair. And I thought, well, you know, what is this about? And I don't know why I was drawn to this photo, but I was there were a lot of knickknacks on the shelf, I spent a lot of time looking very closely. But there was also some notations from the photographer on the back. So these were handmade photos from 1936. And the photographer had made them in the darkroom and had written certain things. And the on the back, it said, shae Lucy Leon. And I was like, well, shae Lucy Leon, like, Who's Lucy Leon. And the, you know, it said James Joyce's chair, and I was like, Well, why does she have James Joyce's chair? And so that's kind of where I started. And I began to research Lucy Leon, she was very interesting in her own right, she was an editor of French Vogue. She was a child, prodigy, pianist, and also the subject of a painting as a child. I could go on and on about her but her husband Paul, had a friendship with James Joyce, and they wrote together, and every day he would come to their house in Paris and sit in this chair, and they would write and they wrote Finnegans Wake and, you know, well Joyce did, Paul Leone helped him with languages and that sort of thing. And they had a very good friendship. So, in 1939, Nora and James Joyce and Lucy and Paul Leon fled Paris together, they fled the Nazis to unoccupied France. And James Joyce lived his final years with this other couple out there. And after he passed, it was Paul Leon, who stole back into Nazi-occupied Paris, to rescue items that had been left in the Joyce's apartment because they had fled so quickly. And he boxed up all these papers, the original papers of Finnegans Wake and portrait of an artist, his very early writings, and he put them into 19, brown Manila envelopes. And he brought them to the Irish embassy with the proviso that they should not be open for 50 years. And they sat there for 50 years. And he rescued all of these writings for James Joyce. But he was in danger. And so before he returned home, he was captured by the Nazis and he was murdered in the deportation of French Jews. But this photo was taken after the war, not in 1936. Like we had originally thought it was taken in the 50s by Giselle Frond she had returned to the house at Lucile Leone's request to document the items for which Paul Leon gave his life. And the story is a long-forgotten story. It was actually the story how I found this story is kind of funny too, and another indicative of me following the signs of the universe, if you want to call it that, I was with my son who was pursuing Eagle Scout, he's going to, he's doing his Eagle Scout project and to that end. And he was volunteering at a local library after a flood in their basement helping them clean up. And I was there just waiting for him to finish. And I was in the basement and I saw just like, it was almost like a beam of light shining onto a pile of books. And there was a book about Giselle Frond. And I picked it up because I was that photo was in my head. And I started paging through. And the last photo in the book was the photo of the chair. And it had the story and the photo in the book had been out of print since the 60s. So I never would have found it, I never would have unearthed that story. And it's still one of my favorite little piece of detective work.
Ray Loewe20:52
I think, Michelle, you found a way to have a blessed life here. Okay. I think you found a way to, you know, stay interested. I mean, you know, talk about the power of a story that came out of a picture. Now, you know, you had to do some work to get the story out of the picture. But it's there. And I am envious in a way of the fact that you've got a career right now where you get a chance to follow these passions. And, o these things that you're excited about using skillsets that, you know, were ingrained in you from the beginning of your life. And I think you're a very, very luckiest person, a lucky person. And welcome to being one of the luckiest people in the world.
Michele Heftman21:34
Oh, well, thank you so much. I feel very lucky.
Ray Loewe21:37
Good. Yeah, we're almost out of time. So let's do two things. First of all, Michelle, do you have any last-minute statements that you just want to make about what you do or where you're going or anything?
21:50
Well I, guess it would be about you know, this outreach. Now, you know, I'm lucky enough to look at these photos. And I think other people should, too. I, you know, I said before these photos spend their lives in storage, and isn't that a shame, we should bring them out to the public? And so that's where I'm moving right now.
Ray Loewe22:11
Okay, you know, how do people reach you give us your website, and then we're gonna post this with our podcast notes, people will be able to find you.
Michele Heftman22:20
Okay, so my personal business page is inthebestlightpossible.com. But if you'd like to see what I'm working on, and the photos that I handle day to day, Instagram is a great place to find me at best light collections.
Ray Loewe22:37
And, Bonnie, your turn, any last-minute comments you want to make before we showing off here?
Bonnie Shay22:44
No, I just think Michelle is such a great representation of putting the pieces of a puzzle together for what she wanted to do with her life. And I think I thought about for a lot of my life, you know, we go to college, we go to become a stockbroker, a lawyer, a doctor, a museum, you know, specific things. And we think that's all there is out there to do. But Michelle was able to piece together parts of different professions, quote, unquote, and figure out what made her happy and where she is strong. And, Michelle, I want to thank you for what you do. Because now with your outreach, you're really making a difference not only in your client's lives, because you're helping with them with their challenges or what they need help on. But you're helping our world in education and outreach with people that will learn from these projects that you're doing.
Ray Loewe23:36
Well, you know, thanks to both of you for being here. And there's a lot of thought that's going to go through my head on this a lot of thought about the journey that you're taking Michele, where you're winding up, the things that you're doing is all very, very exciting. So, unfortunately, we got to sign off. So we want to thank our listeners for being with us today. And join us next week, we're going to have Bonnie Shay back as a co-host. Again, we're going to continue with this theme of the power of a story and different ways that you can tell it and Taylor it's that time.
Kris Parsons24:11
Thank you for listening to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best life and how you can figure out how to do that too. Join us with your lively host Ray Loewe, better known as the luckiest guy in the world.