Poetry-Inspired Couples session: Representing a poem through Photos
As a former high school English teacher, I love poetry and I love a fun project. Poems and photography take our stories and make meaning out of them. They make you feel something.
Metaphors & symbols are things I love. Because of that, I love representing my couples in their photos by including their favorite activities and special places in their sessions. For example, my dear friends Jessica & Martin brought journals to their engagement session & wrote poetry together.
I had an idea to plan a session entirely around a poem. Rather than letting my photos create the story like I usually do, I wanted to intentionally plan each image ahead of time. Like creating a storyboard for a movie.
I knew just the couple to do this with me – Jessica & Martin. It was important to me that they chose a poem meaningful to them. Jess looked through her poetry books and narrowed it down to a few. We brainstormed ideas for each of them and sent photos of our handwritten notes back and forth over the next few weeks. We decided on “Everything That Was Broken” by Mary Oliver. Jessica shared a Pinterest Board of her vision and I put together a Google doc to begin planning a photo for each line of the poem. She left comments and ideas, and I loved how collaborative this project was.
The date of our shoot ended up being the same weekend as Jessica & Martin’s 1st wedding anniversary, so it all felt pretty darn special. We chose this poem because of the imagery of the “sky-house” and how naturally we could represent a sky-house at a greenhouse. We booked an hour at The Seattle Greenhouse so we’d have the space all to ourselves.
Jessica captured my feelings about this session perfectly in her Instagram caption, so I want to include this here, too:
“When Eva asked if I wanted to try and embody a poem through a story of photos, first I cried a little with gratitude and then I read a lot of Mary Oliver.
I am so lucky to have a friend that shares my love of stories and sentimentality. Poetry means a lot to hopeless romantics and heavy hearts. But beyond that, it gives language to emotional experiences. Poetry connects people and connects us to ourselves.
Read something, feel something, create something.
Thank you @evawaltzphoto for trusting us to be apart of your creative vision. This was so special.”
Everything That Was Broken by Mary Oliver
Everything that was broken has
forgotten its brokenness. I live
now in a sky-house, through every
window the sun. Also your presence.
Our touching, our stories. Earthy
and holy both. How can this be, but
it is. Every day has something in
it whose name is forever.
Everything that was broken
Has forgotten its brokenness.
I live now in a sky-house,
through every window the sun. Also your presence.
Our touching, our stories.
Earthy and holy both. How can this be, but it is.
Every day has something in it whose name is forever.
