The baby stroller has become such a symbol of Hoboken’s gradual gentrification – it’s often the first thing people mention when they talk about the city’s changes, regardless of their stance – that it’s easy to forget that it is an object without politics or preference.
Strip away the designs and connotation, and a stroller is fundamentally a means of conveyance, crucial to a young mother regardless of her economic status.
Now a business in Hoboken has teamed up with a national charity that seeks to make sure that every mother who wants a stroller can have one.
For every studio session they book in February, March, and April of this year, Hartshorn Portraiture will donate $150 to the organization Baby Buggy, enough to buy a stroller for a family in need.
The donations are part of a special promotion by Hartshorn, which exclusively does portraits of families and children. For the next three months, a 30-minute shoot and one eight-by-10 inch standard print from Hartshorn will cost $250. Typically, the studio’s minimum sitting fee is $795.
Incentive-based buggies
Founded by Jessica Seinfeld, the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, Baby Buggy provides essential clothing, gear, and services to families in need. Since 2001, the group has donated over 8,900 strollers.
The charity works with over 100 community-based organizations in New York and across the country to identify the items most in demand by underprivileged parents and to deliver them.
“This place is a photographer’s dream come true.” – Mac Hartshorn
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The love you make
Mac Hartshorn, the owner and head photographer of Hartshorn Portraiture, said he is always looking for ways to give back to the community. Last November, Hartshorn offered reprints from previous studio sessions in exchange for donations to Covenant House, a center for homeless youth in New York City. To attract attention to the event and the cause, he slept on the street in New York for one night.
When it comes to charity, Hartshorn borrows his philosophy from The Beatles. “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make,” he said.
Still, Hartshorn’s new collaboration with Baby Buggy hits closer than ever to the focus on children and families that has defined his business, as well as his life in Hoboken.
The day they moved into Hoboken, Hartshorn’s wife Jennifer found out she was pregnant. Now their children are 12 and 13 years old and attend the Hudson School.
In fact, it was the beginning of Hartshorn’s own family that pushed him into family portraits.
“My first one was born in 2001, and I was taking pictures of my wife pregnant, my wife and the baby,” said Hartshorn. “It was really then that we decided to segue into this kind of a business and out of fashion.”
Staying put in Hoboken
Hartshorn started out as a fashion photographer. He originally moved to Hoboken in 2000 so he could be closer to the maisons of Manhattan, and so his wife, then an agent for advertising photographers, could be closer to Madison Avenue.
But shooting for catalogs and glossy magazines like Cosmopolitan forced Hartshorn to travel frequently, causing him to miss weeks of his young family’s life.
“The fashion industry in general is pretty corrosive on family life,” said Hartshorn. Doing family portraiture has allowed him stay in Hoboken and build a niche, not to mention a network of clients.
Hartshorn still travels, but only as far as Central Park or the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown, two of his favorite places to shoot during the warmer months.
Customers taking advantage of the Baby Buggy deal will be limited to their portraits being shot in Hartshorn’s studio on the third floor of the Monroe Center for the Arts. Luckily, the room has ample space, hardwood floors, and large windows facing the south and west, perfectly positioned to catch the setting winter sun.
“This place is a photographer’s dream come true,” said Hartshorn.
Hartshorn hopes his Baby Buggy promotion will have the added bonus of drumming up business during the winter months, traditionally the slowest time for his business.
“I go bonkers if I’m not taking pictures,” he said.
Hartshorn Portraiture is located in room E418 of the Monroe Center, 720 Monroe St. The studio can be reached by phone at (201) 610-1199 or by email at jennifer@hartshornportraiture.com. For more information, check out their website at www.hartshornportraiture.com.
Carlo Davis may be reached at cdavis@hudsonreporter.com.