exploring, expressing, sharing, celebrating how we find and engage with joy
I want to hear your stories around JOY - what do you do when you want to find it? What does it feel like? What activities do you explore around it? These stories can be big or small. When I look for joy, it’s connecting and creating with others in big ways (like this project!) - but it’s also sitting outside in a rainstorm listening to the birds in my yard. It’s reading a really great thriller book under the coziest circumstances. It’s when you’re talking with someone and time just melts away. Listening to music that makes your heart sing. Getting really engaged with art. Weeding an overgrown garden bed and seeing how beautiful it looks after. Finding an animal who becomes your best friend. Feeling heard, feeling seen, feeling treasured - engaging with things that feel aligned with your purpose. There are a thousand ways to explore joy - this series is about creating small individual photo essays telling those stories.
Here are the details:
There is no cost to participate in this project, but you can support it and other creative projects by supporting me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/sarahsovereign
Each story will be told by you - either in your own writing, via interview, or my account based on what unfolds in our session. There are lots of accessible ways to explore this process & I’ll be there to support you the entire time. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if there are ways I can support!
Once our session is finished, at some point I’ll post a selection of images as a photo essay. To participate, you’ll need to sign a model release & be comfortable having these images shared online & public spaces. You’ll receive the Internet resolution images from our session, if you’d like extra images shot during our time together and/or high resolution printable files, there may be an additional fee - but there is never any pressure to purchase from your gallery.
This project is still developing and unfolding, so some of these things may shift and flow as things begin moving but I’ll always keep you in the loop.
All stories are good stories! If a lot of submissions come in at once, I’ll select just one or two to start with. This project will move at its own pace - I’ll respond to every submission, even if its not chosen for the project. Thank you for sharing joyfulness with me!
If you’d like to sign up, just fill out the form below! This project strives to be inclusive, everyone is welcome to submit - I’ll always respond to your submission within one week, so please be sure to check your junk mail. This project will be slowly unfolding over the next year, too - rolling at its own pace, just like me.
Tips for good examples to submit: Submitting activities or processes that can be photographed is a good space to start. For example, quilt making, volunteering with rescues, making art/crafts, writing, buying flowers, working on cars, meditation, woodworking, spending time with family, gardening, — the list goes on and on. Feel free to submit as many examples as you’d like and I can help choose a story from there, too.