GIRLS . GIRLS . GIRLS .
What’s going on?
My name is Joy, and I got a bunch of girls together to do girl stuff! For the next few paragraphs I’m gonna babble about how we came up with the concept and how the day went. If you wanna do this like an online recipe blog, now’s the time to scroll to the bottom to get to the good stuff! If not, hang around and see how we made magic happen.
“If you’re always trying to be normal, you’ll never know how amazing you can be”
Let me start by saying I’m appreciative of all the girls that agreed to join in this project with me. I didn’t take their time and efforts for granted, especially due to the nature of how this project came about. At it’s core, this was my way of gushing over as many different types of women as I could find.
“Women who support women are unstoppable”
I like the idea of being a girl’s girl. Being supportive, encouraging and loving just for the simple fact that it’s another girl. That’s why I thought it would be so cool to see different types of girls, some you’d never think would be friends in real life because they’re so drastically different, come together and just act like this is the norm. So that was the plan. Bring as many different styles as we could find in one space and see how they mingle. And trust and believe, they didn’t disappoint! After breaking the ice, I genuinely felt like I was shooting a bunch of long time friends. These girls absolutely dominated Dogwood Brewing during this session, and I couldn’t be more proud!
It was not random. Nothing about this concept was random, it was very intentional. The style the girls chose had to be their personal style. I shoot with an eye for authenticity and my camera feels it when something is forced. When you let go and be who you truly are at your core, it not only shows, it exudes. I needed each of these girls to ooze their own essence all over the place, and it's not my job to dictate how they go about doing it, but help them bring it out.
“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” — Amelia Earhart
You know who needs a kick in their ass every now and again? Every creative to ever exist. Some are so hung up on perfectionism or life is lifing or they're bound by their imposter syndrome. Whatever it is, they stop making art, and there's nothing more tragic than a world without art.
My kick in the ass came about when I was about to go through a cycle I had already gone through twice before. I had just had a baby (my beautiful sweet baby) and I was beginning to feel like I was losing myself, while on the opposing side her dad was rising in his career. I have watched myself put my craft aside for money, for a mental break, for the perfect moment, whatever excuse I could find and now it was time for me to put my foot down. If I was ever gonna get to photographing the type of content I wanted to, I had to go through the process of photographing literally anything. So pick up that camera and just shoot!! So I went through my inspo album I had been collecting along the way to pick a concept. I needed something not too difficult, so no studio set up. Something special, so it had to speak to me. Something weather proof, because Vancouver can change at literally any moment. And something fun, that's beneficial for all parties involved. All of these elements combined got us to "Girls, just wanna have fu-un" or whatever I choose to call it, it doesn't have a name yet.
view the full gallery below
