Joy Cherie Photography Blog

Keesha Shot on some unknown film a very literal year ago on...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:20:33 -0400

Keesha

Shot on some unknown film a very literal year ago on Nikon F4. Self-developed.

Sweet Keesha had just decided to embrace her very natural curl and we decided to commemorate it with a photograph. Simultaneously, I have been learning to embrace my own photographic style and have come to love the softness of this image and reject the idea that each and every image must be tack sharp to oblivion to contain beauty.

This is beautiful.

And I accept it.

A mantra I am learning to repeat to myself daily.

“They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never...

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:24:14 -0400

“They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise

I have been missing from this blog for quite some time. In short… life. One thing life has taught me this year though is even through adversity, through pain, through difficulty and confusion there is always love. Always something to love. Someone to love. Something to be grateful for. It’s the pushing through that gets you there.

That gets you to really live.

Te adoro my love.

Candace and Duane Samuels. Oct 8th, 2011. Richmond, VA

“But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be...

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:00:06 -0400

“But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise on your lips.”
— Khalil Gibran

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the...

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:01:06 -0400

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.”
— Khalil Gibran (The Essential Kahlil Gibran)

Sweet Alice giving Sugar Sadie a taste of a tickling feather :), 2011

I am off the rest of this week for a little R&R...

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:28:00 -0400

I am off the rest of this week for a little R&R sooooo….I’ll just leave you with a little romance.

xoxo

Dan & Allie, www.joycherie.com

“When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh...

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:46:18 -0400

“When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.”
— J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan)

Baby Belen. Child of a darling friend.

When love beckons to you, follow him,Though his ways are hard...

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:00:00 -0400

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.

- Kahlil Gibran

poem via http://www.katsandogz.com/onlove.html

friend Ashley via God.

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by...

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:59:00 -0400

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
— Confucius

Joel Ventura. Singer/Songwriter. 19.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as...

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:55:00 -0400

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
— Albert Einstein

Alecia H. Journal Session ending graduate school/before starting law school.

Here’s a small reminder to make art and beauty wherever...

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:06:00 -0400

Here’s a small reminder to make art and beauty wherever you are. And if you are just a little bit scared, find your strength in collaboration.

xoxo,

joy

“We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive...

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 16:00:06 -0400

“We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive...

How adorable are they??? Just looking at their photographs make...

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:45:00 -0400

How adorable are they??? Just looking at their photographs make me smile.

ah. love.

have a great day :)

Photo

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:43:57 -0400

Photo

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:42:22 -0400

Photo

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:41:15 -0400

Photo

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:40:43 -0400

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while...

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:40:13 -0400

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
— Laozi

Jenay and Brandon. Brandon and Jenay.

I love when people request a photography session from me “just because”. Just because they love one another, just because it’s a beautiful season and they feel joy bubbling over in their hearts, just because they do not have a portrait of themselves that captures them as they are…just because. Jenay and Brandon are not engaged (yet) and they do love one another deeply. They approached me with this portrait idea after the holidays in order to have the photographs before Brandon left to work in Iraq for a year. They have been dating for some time and before their brief separation they wanted to have something to remember each other by, a kind of stamp on this time of their lives that says “we were here and here we loved”.

Of course I looooved that.

So I hope that you enjoy the photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them.

xoxo,

Joy

as children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend i...

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:54:26 -0400

as children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend

i brought my broken dreams to God because he was my friend

but then instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone

i hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own

at last i snatched them back and cried “how can You be so slow?!”

He sighed, my child, what could i do?

you never did let go

-author unknown

My mother handed me this poem on some kind of trinket when I was a child. Like many truths of life, nothing quite sticks until you’ve gone through something that brings with it a sort of magnetism to the wise words spoken throughout one’s life. And when it comes, it comes silently, subtly but very persistently when one is still and this is what happened to me today.

Having control of one’s life is the sign of a mature and responsible individual however wisdom arrives when it becomes clear what areas you simply cannot have control over. In those areas you must let go. In many of my immature areas where I lack control, I’m like “screw it” but when I am sober minded I place them in a delicate parcel (b/c they are valuable to me) and I gently hand them over to God (rather than flinging it at Him).

What areas/situations of life do you need to relinquish control of?

**photo above shot on a Holga/Ilford b/w film/multiple exposure experiment***

Listening to.....

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:36:00 -0500

Listening to.....

You’ve got magic inside your finger tipsits leaking out...

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:00:07 -0500

You’ve got magic inside your finger tips
its leaking out all over my skin
everytime that i get close to you
your makin me weak with the way you
look through those eyes…

Colbie Caillat, “Magic”

* more love being served up soon