Helen Joy’s Photography Blog

Helen Joy George 9/8/15 Helen Joy George 9/8/15

christopher + emily | hickory nut forest

“Seeds germinate in soft soil. I plant my seed of love in your weaknesses, not your strengths.”

- Avatar Meher Baba

It's no secret that hands on, intimate weddings are my jam. I love them and truly, I feel like that's how a wedding should feel. They should feel like you're being embraced by all of those closest to you, either by pie baking or dress fluffing or a thousand other things that loved ones love to do on your wedding day. I find a lot of weddings are like shows that everyone shows up to with anxiety of things not being perfect and there is a detachment emotionally between people when that happens.

I met Emily several years ago at a doula training. She is just completely genuine and thoughtful and totally the type of person that you would want to have along side of you while giving birth. Emily was almost my labor doula with my 3rd baby. 2 of my 3 prodromal labor hospital runs she was there talking to me on the phone, sharing in my excitement or swinging by the hospital room to adjust my hips. Emily wasn't there for my actual active labor, but just as I was being wheeled in for a very unexpected c section after more than a day of labor, Emily came to relieve my labor doula and went into the OR with me. Her presence was just like her wedding, a warm, sweet, genuine embrace. She took pictures for me, held my hand, rubbed my temples with oil and laughed and cried with us as we brought our baby girl into the world. So Emily is kind of like family to me and I will always treasure her.

I was honored to be able to be there for her on her wedding day and capture the sweet love she and Christopher have for each other.

They were married at Laughing Waters Retreat Center in Hickory Nut Forest, NC. When I pulled up I was in love. Everyone was cheerfully bustling around decorating and spreading buckets of wildflowers all over the grounds. Special women in their lives were dropping off desserts and laughing as they set up. Mama's were nursing babies and children were everywhere. It just felt so very warm and nice.

They were married in a Jewish ceremony with lots of thoughtful traditions. The whole ceremony started with a traditional Mexican blessing. My very favorite part of the ceremony was hearing person after person stand up and share a blessing or advice about marriage, from deep and beautiful poetry to jokes about figuring out who washes the dishes, it was all so encouraging and it just felt so uplifting to hear such positive words in a culture and time when there aren't a whole lot of positives being said about long term relationships.

Emily and Christopher had set aside some special time after the ceremony to go right into doing pictures of just them. It honestly felt as intimate as a birth as they whispered and giggled and recounted their experience of the morning. They were totally up for taking off shoes and climbing river rocks to get the shot and those candids of them are some of my very favorites.

Christopher and Emily, thank you both for letting me be there and for the honor of telling your story through photos.

www.helenjoy.com

Helen Joy George 8/26/15 Helen Joy George 8/26/15

married in the clouds | michael and jill`

On the 4th of July, on a beautiful cool morning at Ceasar’s Head State Park, Michael married Jill and their families joined together as one. Jill used to come to Ceasar's Head as a child with her father, they scattered his ashes there after he passed away, Michael proposed to her there and so this was the exact spot that they wanted to get married.

These two have a quiet, strong love.

I’ve been photographing Jill and her extended family for years and last summer she had an extra sparkle in her eyes and her cheeks were youthful with a happy blush and then I met Michael and it all made sense. Michael is strong and protective and the way he wraps Jill in his arms makes me just sigh with happiness.

The day of the wedding was perfect. This overlook is usually crowded and I was worried that tourists and the hot weather would make it hard to photograph well and even then I was wondering how they would pull it off. But Ceasar’s Head was in the clouds that morning and a dewy drizzle covered everything in the most beautiful and sparkling haze. The groom and his men wore kilts and I swore we could have been in the highlands somewhere. It was straight out of a fairy tale.

One thing I loved about Jill was her unfaltering joy as she waited to walk down the aisle. It was raining on her wedding day and she was not just dealing with it, she was dancing!

For a few seconds after they were declared husband and wife, the clouds parted and you could see the outline of the mountains. And then the beautiful fog rolled right back in as if it was a soft embrace around the day.

www.helenjoy.com

Helen Joy George 8/25/15 Helen Joy George 8/25/15

the need for community

A few weeks ago a couple of friends suggested we take our kiddos (13 to be exact) camping for a night. Sometimes, actually often times, the wind up and let down of such events don't quite seem worth it when you're elbows deep in getting everything together...and then there's that moment when cell phones don't work, when distractions are gone and all that's left is the beauty of the outdoors and the company of those around you. And then you breathe in and sigh a huge exhale of something that doesn't come around often...contentment. I was feeling the beauty of community so strongly. So much that I broke out my big camera instead of relying on my phone to capture it. When I got home and saw the images I just felt so strongly that these are pictures of community. Children draped on people who aren't their parents, watchful eyes, playful parents, distraction free, tweens cooking breakfast and that sense of everyone pitching in. And it felt so dang good. Real, raw conversations took place and children were let loose to discover and dream and I thought, why don't I get here more often? Why don't I make the effort to arrive at this simple place more often?

In many of my conversations with dear friends lately, the main theme between them all is the longing for community. I realize how very special it is to have it and I feel very grateful that we are surrounded by the kind people we are surrounded with, but I also realize that community is also allowing yourself to be loved and lifted and cared for, and returning and doing the same. I think it is just as much asking and allowing as giving.

I wrote this for myself and for anyone else who has that longing for more.

Also, our pastor has been preaching on community the past few weeks and how we were created for it. If you have the time, I very much encourage you to listen.