Earlier this year, my 83-year old aunt passed away. She lived a full and beautiful life and so her parting was more of a celebration of life than a burden of death. As my family emptied her grand old home in historic Snug Harbor, Staten Island, they found, among many old treasures, a box of love letters. These hand-painted love letter cards were from her husband, my very artistic Uncle Joe, who had been overseas in the Army, fighting the Korean War.

We have been astounded by these letters. They tell us not only about the signs of their times, but tales of a profound romance and the raw emotion of their relationship. We have now made a plan to each pass around this box of letters, read them in their entirety and relish in the emotional legacy two lives left behind.

Living in a digital age as we do, the preservation of emotion is a lost art form. What will we leave behind for future generations? What artifacts will they discover about us? Yes, we all capture images, some of us even blog… but do we preserve our feelings? Document our hearts?

Together, Natalie and I decided that we don’t want to just be photographers to our clients. We want to be their partners in preservation. We want to use our images to write the visual stories of their lives. And now, we have begun to use the words to tell them.

As our art has always been inspired by Literature, now our Literature is also inspired by our art! We are proud to introduce our Love Letters Collection as the latest addition to our client offering.

Combining the power of visual and literary arts, we use an image to stimulate one’s senses and the intrinsic power of words to captivate the heart.  A signature (copyrighted) concept, clients will now have the option to commission an original epic poem or timeless prose (written for them specifically) to accompany their image presentation. Whether an album, image box or our beautiful signature fine art pieces, a love letter will take memory keeping back to the days of old.

Whether it’s a bride to her husband on their wedding day in a Beauty Portrait album; A woman looking for her own inner self, affirmed through a unique poem to accompany her Intimate Portraiture; A mother’s expression of hope and wonder to her unborn child in a keepsake image box, or even an enchanted story about the special love between siblings, the lost art of letter writing and personal literature is reinvented through the Je Revele Love Letter Collection.

Using Natalie Licini’s award-winning images from the recent Professional Photographers of America International Image Competition, we demonstrate here  how the impact of words can immortalize an image in our minds, while the image can stir our soul.

We hope you enjoy our new collection, and please let us immortalize your legacy in picture and in words!

(Please note these original works, of product concept, visual and poetry/prose are protected under U.S. Copyright Laws and may not be duplicated or copied under penalty of the law.)

As she waited for him

There he stood; silently stunned in the doorway.

As the light and shadows danced across her back,

He saw a new religion of beauty and drama unfold

So unapologetically beautiful,

This epic moment to bring him to life again

He could do nothing.

He just stood in silence, waiting for her to turn.

To my dear baby girl,

It’s me, your Mommy. I am waiting for you, counting the hours and minutes until I can hold you in my arms as steadily as I have been holding you in my heart these past months. You were born from a moment of love, when I felt my heart and my soul stir inside of me to bring you to me. Before I even knew you were there, I loved you. Within a deep breath I could feel the longing blossom of maternal love planted, like a flower I would nurture until the day I die. My life was full, with love and happiness and exploration of all that is good. But the void was you, my sweet girl, and I could cry thinking of how incomplete my life was before I felt you stir inside me. I want to keep you here, to love you and warm you and keep you safe forever. But the thought of holding you in my arms in a few short weeks to and give you my life and my love gives me unspeakable consolation. You are Mommy’s girl, my everything. I promise to give you the world and more you could ever hope for. You have held me in your heart and grown with me, as I have with you. I will kiss every part of your tiny little being the moment I see you, to let you know how much you are loved. I am your Mommy, you are my everything;  I can’t wait to meet you.

In these final moments before I give myself to you

Wholly and eternally,

without fear or doubt or inhibition,

I sit in the darkness

Waiting for the sun to rise

As the light warms my face and illuminates a moment

I realize that it is you, the light who brings clarity and warmth to my world

And shines upon me to make me the most beautiful I have ever been

Or ever will be.

You are my love, my light and my inspiration

And I use this final moment to cherish

My Past, because it has brought me to you

My Present, because it has gifted me your heart

And Our future, because it is composing our dreams in light.

I love you and I give myself to you today, with all my heart.

Our life is just a journey

Paved in light and darkness

And looming shadows that lead us to light.

But I will never have fear,

I will never be broken

Because my sister

Walks beside me, with her hand open.