“The things that you love should be the things that you do, and the things that you do should be the things that you love. Love what you do, and do what you love. Don’t listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. Imagination should be the center of your life.”
-Ray Bradbury author of Fahrenheit 451
(Who lived every day with enthusiasm.)
Lisa Frey captures life, then frames those moments as a single image or as a string of moving images we know as film. Her love and passion for what she does reach far beyond the notion of a career or making a living. Her inspirations, her actions to pursue her passions, and knowing her true self allow her to wake every day excited for the adventure that is called Life.
I met Lisa Frey in 2004 when my older sister Perry was getting married. During the chaos of the wedding day, Lisa moved in sort-of a dance, effortlessly documenting my sister’s happiest of days. We gathered in front of our home, the bagpipes started up and we all lined up to process down Main Street, Nantucket, to St. Mary’s Church. All the while, Lisa was gracefully swaying in and out through the crowd, filming one of our family’s biggest and most precious days. She was intent on capturing moments of the days we might have forgotten altogether if not for her keen eye and open, enthusiastic mind. When our family was together again at Christmas, we watched the video. Each family member raved about our new favorite family movie, all of us a little teary. Some laughed after seeing themselves, others because of the sheer joy of the day. “Thank God we decided to have the videographer!” my mother declared, my father nodding his head in agreement. Lisa was able to give my family a precious keepsake, memorializing the days when we were all together for a grand, loving occasion. When we saw loved ones who are no longer with us, we are especially grateful to hear their stories, and laugh at their comments. It seems like yesterday, even though it’s been nine years since the wedding.
Months ago, when I approached Lisa about becoming a Nantucket Ally, she offered me her enthusiastic support and positive feedback. I left our meeting energized with a new-found love for life and the company I was ‘growing’ here on the island. Not only was her support and enthusiasm for my company contagious, her bright, effervescent presence and love for what she does for a living inspired me that day. If I had to choose one person to clone, it would be Lisa Frey. I’ve never met anyone quite like her. I could talk to her all day if she’d let me. Her voice is magical. I would happily sit at her feet while she read the ‘phone book! This seems to be the consensus of everyone who meets Lisa. “She’s just a great person! One can’t help but be happy when you’re around her,” a fellow Lisa-fan said to me. I couldn’t agree more, which left me thinking about, as well as wanting to learn more about, how to embody more “Lisa Frey” qualities in myself.
She’s able to live the life she wants through her work. “When I do a project, it gets 100% of my focus. When that is finished, I move on to the next project.” Often, and I see this for others as well as myself, we let the outside world distract us; emails, text messages, Facebook, family and friends…the list could go on and on. We don’t focus on the moment and have trouble staying focused on the task at hand. In my opinion, aside from her photography, videography and artistic skills, one of Lisa’s greatest abilities is being able to live in the moment and always be moving forward, embracing whatever life has in store for her.
Lisa has created an exciting, fulfilling existence for herself as well as a successful business. Lisa has always had a passion for photography but was introduced to video through her ,partner at the time. “we started Nantucket Event Media together in 2003 and I will be forever grateful to him for introducing me to this medium as I can’t imagine doing anything else now. Lisa doesn’t concentrate on one genre of photography or videography. Really, her specialty is capturing Life. She documents emotion, movement, stillness and everything her eyes glance at through her lens. “I don’t specialize in anything. I do everything.” I could sense her enthusiasm in the tone of her voice.
When I met with Lisa this year, she was between two very life-changing projects. She had just photographed a home water birth. “It was the first birth I have ever seen and it was beautiful. It was so peaceful, nothing like I had imagined. It was just amazing!” She was also able to go with a team of doctor’s to Ecuador on a medical mission. They performed fifty-eight operations in five days. She was to document everything she saw, in photo’s and film and capture the sensational magnitude of this event. If she had been nervous about the intensity of the trip and experience, you wouldn’t know it. “There’s a pair of scrubs down there with my name on it!”
Lisa hails from the UK, and as a wash-a-shore, she has become a part of the island. You may see her photographing at various island wide events. You may have seen her name tagged to the photos in the Mahon About Town Newsletters. She’s very much a part of the island’s community and helps various island organizations get their message out. From the Dreamland short feature to shooting a video for the clothing drive lead by Geoffrey Smith & Arlene O’Reilly for the New York Communities hit by Hurricane Irene.
Every day is an adventure for Lisa Frey. She is lives in the moment because she’s capturing the moment. Her photography and videography capture a slice of history with the viewer. She memorializes a glimpse into an experience, and into the emotion of an event. She continues to amaze with her work, dedication and passion. With all that she has accomplished in her lifetime, she continues to work toward a big beautiful dream she would like to achieve: to do a world trip and document everything she sees. Now, that would be an amazing story I can’t wait to hear (and see!). May we all live Life with as much enthusiasm and joy as Lisa Frey does.
Please click here to view a sample of Lisa’s video.
Please click on the images below to view samples of Lisa’s photography:
Lisa Frey
Nantucket Event Media, Inc.
2 Greglen Ave, PMB 77 Nantucket MA 02554 Phone: 508-325-0557 Cell: 508-901-1557 Email: acklisafrey@gmail.com Email: lisa@nantucketeventmedia.com Web: www.nantucketeventmedia.com