Life behind the lens
 crosses the digital divide

Mary Ellen McGayhey, outside her Sunshine Road home, with Badya, her German shepherd.

Mary Ellen McGayhey, who was born in Brooklyn in 1960 and grewup in Valley Stream, Long Island, loved photography as far back asshe can remember. Her parents gave her her first camera, a Minolta,and as the years went on it became the first of many. She attendedSt. John’s University after high school and graduated with a degreein the science of photography.

She worked in Manhattan for a number of years, doing colorprinting for advertising agencies, where she met Tom Kretz, herfirst husband, who was living on Shelter Island.

After two years of commuting back and forth, they married andshe began working locally. “I fell in love with Shelter Island andstarted doing landscape photography,” and also spent the next yearsworking at studios on the South Fork, each of which builtcustom-designed darkrooms for her.

She had her son, Tom, in 1993 and left her marriagetwo-and-a-half years later. As a single parent, her career becamemore and more central. Fortunately, her skills were very much indemand.

“No one here was doing color printing,” she recalled. “There wasonly black and white.” At the Morris Studio in Southampton, “Wewere the first lab out on the East End to do custom colorprinting.” She went on to work at Reeds in East Hampton for thenext 15 years. “I did all their custom color work. I had customersthat used to come from the city and from Connecticut to bring metheir work to print. This is when the photography business wasbooming, before the digital world entered our lives” and everythingchanged.

She noticed she was getting less darkroom work because peoplelearned how easy it was to do it themselves, both at home and onthe computer. “I thought it was time for a change,” wantingsomething a little more secure. She married again in 1998 to GaryMcGayhey, who works as an electrician at Gardiner’s Bay CountryClub. When an opening for a town position opened, she decided toapply for it and was soon hired as secretary to the committees, alleight of them.

“But I wasn’t crazy about leaving my son and husband at night todo all the evening meetings,” so when a position at the BuildingDepartment opened up, she went for it.

“Working five days a week, from 8 to 4, was so much easier forme. I could still freelance my darkroom skills in East Hampton fora night a week, which showed you how little work there was, if youcould do it in one evening. Eventually the lab there sold off to anew owner and basically went all digital.” And so did she. “I neverthought I would but we all have to make changes, keep up with thetimes.”

When Alfred Kilb became supervisor, he approached her aboutdoing some work with Channel 22, thinking she had cameraexperience. “I’d never really shot video, so basically I’m selftaught. I read the books, figured it out on my own, really likedit, and found it very interesting, especially the editing part.That was a whole new thing and I really loved doing it; it’s verytime consuming, but I really enjoy it a lot.”

Hired as a subcontractor, most of her work was scheduled forafter-hours. But “Before you knew it, it was one meeting a month,then it became five meetings a month and now we videotape all kindsof things. I work with Chris Tehan, we take turns, if I can’t besomeplace, he’ll do it. We do all the Island events, parades,really anything that’s involved with the town or town business,ribbon-cutting ceremonies. We videotape them and then make a littleshort clip and it runs on Channel 22.”

She is also responsible for the town website, entering all thatinformation and keeping it current. “It’s getting busier andbusier, now there’s a whole new tab for senior citizens, withsummaries, the dinner bell menu, all the things scheduled forseniors.” When asked how many seniors she believes arecomputer-literate, she replied that she hoped to build in a counterto see how many actually log in to that section. She thinks Channel22 is really popular, noting what a different experience it is towatch than to read. She recently took the Civil Service exam toqualify as an audiovisual aide, if a town position ever opens up,and she passed.

Is she somewhat overloaded at the moment? Well, there’s a lot onher plate. “It’s very hard to do everything in my life, downloadingthe committees, coming home, putting something in the oven, goingback, it’s a constant back and forth.” Her son’s decision to attendMcGann-Mercy High School in Riverhead adds another dimension. “Heplays all the sports which is why he wanted to go there, butthere’s no bus so I’m there three to five times a week along withdoing everything else. I never thought I’d say “ËœI can’twait ’til he drives.’ I’ll be a nervous wreck but it’ll be a bighelp.”

She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 10 years ago, “ButI’ve been lucky, I’ve only had a couple of episodes. I’m not goingto sit back and say, “ËœOh, now I’m sick. I just keepgoing on and one day I might be tripping a lot, whatever, just alittle thing like that, but I’m not going to sit and dwell on it. Itake an injection once a week, that’s the only thing you can do forit. When my body says I’m tired I rest, I don’t have a choice. Myhusband is very good with me, “ËœTake a break, you’redoing too much.’ Some- times I’m in bed early but I’m up early,too. Everyone would have fatigue if they were doing everything I’mdoing, so that’s the only problem.”

She continues to shoot private work, weddings and portraits, onthe weekends. “I love doing weddings because everyone’s so happyand in a great mood. Portraits can be challenging, especially whenyou’re surrounded by crying babies or it’s someone who does notwant their picture taken.” But it’s the creative side of her lifethat keeps her happy, involved and on the go, along with thepleasure she derives from her family – husband, son and Germanshepherd, Badja, now six- and-a-half. “She’s my other spoiledchild. I can’t imagine life without her, she’s part of thefamily.”