Love and Passion . Blog Carousel

In an effort to force myself to blog more often and to share the work of some of my wonderful colleagues I invite you to view our blog carousel. It is a network of blogs belonging to some truly incredible photographers where we choose a monthly theme and all post based on that theme, it’s fantastic to see other amazing photographers interpretations. This month’s theme is “Love and Passion”, a topic I could write endlessly about. Once you’ve read my blog post be sure to click on the photographer’s link I’ve posted to read theirs, you’ll be able to do the same on her blog and can keep going until you’ve come full circle. It’ll be an amazing journey, I promise.

My business name, Innamorata, means “One true love” or “A woman in love” (depending on translation) in Italian. On the back of my iPad you’ll find “L’amore è tutto” engraved. In Italian, it simply means, “Love is everything.” It’s my not-so-silent reminder that love truly is everything. It the grand scheme of life it’s all that matters in this world. No matter how many “things” you collect or how much money you have love is the only thing that carries on. When you’re no longer a part of this earth the people who love you won’t remember you as having a great car or a beautiful home, they’ll remember how they loved you and, more importantly, how you loved them.

Being a photographer it’s my job, most of the time, to capture love, to portray emotion, to document your love story. Whether it be the love story of your family, or the love story of the person you are marrying. In order to accurately capture your love story I have to study your relationship, learn it, know what drives it, what makes it special and what makes it work. I’ve discovered over the years that there are types of love, so very many types of love. All relationships are very different, the way you love is unique, the things that draw you together are individual to that very specific relationship. Even the way you love your children is unique to each child. No love is ever the same. I believe that’s why it hurts so deeply to lose someone that you love, because you’ll never have that exact love again with anyone else.

Love is a choice you make. Love is the decision to care deeply for another human being. True love is the decision to invest your heart, your mind, your soul, in to another person, regardless of the outcome. Love is everything, it is joy, it is sadness, it is exhilaration, it is pain, it is life, it is death, it is every emotion and every feeling imaginable.

Passion isn’t love. Love doesn’t require passion and passion doesn’t require love, but they work beautifully together. Passion is an entirely different emotion, a yearning, a longing, a chemical connection that drives you to want someone or some thing, to think about them when they’re not around. It’s the longing to feel their lips on yours, their hands on your skin, their arms around you. Passion is a completely otherworldly force that, I believe, is often mistaken for love. Passion is not a choice, it simply envelops you, drives you, sometimes comes out of nowhere and takes you by surprise. It’s that “I can’t live without you” feeling. I am passionate about my work, I am passionate about my children, I am passionate about my goals, my travels, flying lessons, friendships, life…

I can’t imagine a life without passion, or without making the choice to love the people who are close to me.

I choose to love my children, my family, my friends, many of my clients…And I love them in entirely different ways. For me, saying “I love you” doesn’t mean “I want to own you” or “I’m in love with you” it means “I care deeply about you, you matter to me, you are an important part of my life and I hope that you always will be. I choose to care about you on another level, one that leaves me vulnerable and open.”

Passion and love are both incredible on their own, but finding that special someone that combines the two is what makes life worth living. That’s what dreams are made of, that’s what life is about. I’ve been fortunate enough to capture hundreds, probably even thousands, of love stories through my lens… Here are a few recent ones that truly capture what love is to me…

(After you visit my page be sure to visit the fabulous Atlanta Family Photographer, Corey Sewell. you won’t be disappointed!)

And, one of my own little family taken by the talented Andrea Joki… because having our love captured is more important to me than anything except for them…

Next up in the blog carousel if the fabulous Atlanta Family Photographer, Corey Sewell.