Island Park photographer spreads hope

Armed with a camera, Island Park resident Nicole Gubelli is making a difference while urging others to pay it forward.

With most people unable to leave their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic, Gubelli is visiting homes and using her passion for photography to organize photo shoots for residents in Oceanside, Island Park and Long Beach — from a safe social distance. She is not asking for pay, but requesting that those she photographs pay it forward with nice gestures or donations of their own.

“My whole thing is to really just create a trickle-down effect,” Gubelli said. “My hopes were that by me doing something good, everyone would then pay it forward.”

Gubelli calls her effort the Front Porch Project, which is based on the Front Steps Project, a national initiative in which photographers take pictures from a distance. Since beginning her project last month, Gubelli said, she has photographed more than 50 families, and people have donated to several causes that are meaningful to them and have purchased food from local restaurants for front-line medical workers, among other good deeds.

Gubelli shoots a few days per week from 4:30 p.m. until sunset. She goes to residents’ homes, leaves her car running, hops out and spends about five minutes taking photos from the street or sidewalk before returning to her car and sending the shots to the families digitally.

Dana Rush said that Gubelli photographed her family last week, and they were excited to have a distraction from all that’s happening. Rush said Gubelli took pictures of her, her children, Bella and Hunter, and her parents, Robert and Michelle Khoury. Michelle, 71, is a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, and Rush said the photography session provided her with a nice distraction. Michelle and Robert’s home was heavily damaged during Sandy, and Michelle is a breast cancer survivor, Rush said, and the coronavirus is just the latest obstacle for them to avoid, so the photo shoot kept their spirits up.

“My mom was like, ‘Oh, it will be so nice to get dressed up,’” Rush said. “We got to get out of the house and get some fresh air while taking pictures.”

Rush said she paid it forward by dressing as the Easter Bunny and driving to her daughter’s Brooklyn Avenue School in Valley Stream to shoot a video that she sent for families to enjoy, and donating candy to cafeteria staff at the school. She added that she has been brainstorming some more good deeds to perform in the near future.

Rush also used the Front Porch Project to lift the spirits of her friend, Rubie Lubold, and her fiancé, Mike Finck. The couple was set to wed in Key West, Fla., on April 4, but had to cancel their wedding because of the virus. Gubelli came over to the couple’s home and photographed them on what would have been their wedding day. Rush watched the session from her car and brought flowers for the occasion.

“I was so emotional,” Rush said. “Nicole is like a shining light throughout this darkness.”

Finck wore a suit and Lubold wore a white dress, while her children from a previous marriage, Maya and Charlie, also dressed up for the occasion. The couple is expecting their first child together in late July or early August, and plans to web on March 27, 2021, which is Rush’s birthday.

Gubelli said the wedding photo session was one of the highlights of her project so far, and that she also had a shoot in Long Beach, where a family put together art packages for children to pay it forward by giving them a project to complete while they’re stuck indoors. She also photographed a surprise 25th social distancing birthday party for Saige Amoruso, who works as a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Valley Stream.

With word spreading about her initiative, Gubelli said, she has received more than 100 inquiries.

“My whole thing is, I want it to be un-posed,” she said. “I want it to be real and the raw of the day-to-day life that we’re facing.”

Gubelli said she has also had photo shoots with three expectant mothers who had to cancel their baby showers. She noted that many residents have expressed their gratitude for having a chance to get dressed up and a reason to put on make-up and get ready again. “It’s giving them a purpose to get up and feel a sense of normalcy,” she said, “opposed to this crazy routine that we’ve become accustomed to the last few weeks.”

Gubelli’s mother, Darlene, inspired her to become a photographer because she is an artist in her spare time and taught her the basics growing up. Gubelli developed her company, Bella Voyage Photography, in 2017, and has been a part-time professional photographer for three years on top of her full-time job as a procurement specialist for the New York City Transit Authority.

Families or individuals interested in being photographed are asked to visit bellavoyagephotography.com and fill out a form, which asks them their contact information and to answer questions, such as why they love their community and how they plan to pay it forward after she takes their photos. Gubelli has put each photo shoot into a collage on her website.

  “I was raised in a household with strong family and community values,” Gubelli said. “Just seeing the smiling faces and the joy that is coming to the families when they see these photos, it’s been so rewarding. Hearing the stories about how they’re going to pay it forward, or how they already have been, for me, that’s been the reward.”