A native New Yorker, Hartman found her true calling for photography while working for the SoHo Weekly News. Her first glitz assignment was the 1976 wedding of Papa's granddaughter, Joan Hemingway, to New York restauranteur Jean De Noyer. Hartman's coverage was published on the cover of the Daily News Record; a prominent fashion publication.

For the past four decades, Hartman has photographed fashion and celebrity icons in some of the most legendary settings of New York nightlife, from Studio 54 to the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute Gala.

Hartman's work appears in The New York Times, London Sunday Times, Vanity Fair, Vogue (US, French, Dutch, and Italian), New York Magazine, Marie Claire, Alllure, Elle Magazine, BBC.com, Grazia, Le Journal de la Photographique, Colette, The Daily Beast, W, Rolling Stone, among many other international publications including books.