Photography & Digital Art,RelationshipsFEB 3, 2023

I Took Pictures Of Couples In Love, And Here Are The Best 20 Photos

175

For over three years, I have been working on a personal project that comes from my heart. While photographing 102 couples - all married between 34 and 72 years - I asked them to share their wisdom and their secrets to a long-lasting marriage. They honored me with honest, funny, heart-warming responses. Photos of these amazing couples, accompanied by their meaningful words, are inspiring for anyone searching for direction on how to navigate life or who simply wants to appreciate the many faces of love.

My hope is to honor these couples and all couples who put in the hard work to maintain a lasting marriage. Without exception, every couple told me it was not easy, but worth the effort to sustain a lifelong love story.

It was such a gift and an honor to spend time with these couples while I captured their portraits and learned about their lives and marriages. I hope that you too will feel the love captured in these portraits.

Having been married for 28 years myself, I know it's not easy, but spending time with each of these couples renewed my faith in marriage and helped me remember that love is worth the hard work. My wish is that looking through these photographs will help you remember that too!

I’m sharing 20 photos from my coffee table album featuring 102 couples and their wisdom. The link to my Kickstarter campaign can be found on my website.

More info: jodiswarephotography.com | Facebook | Instagram

#1 Married 53 Years

107points

My journey as a photographer started off with taking a photography course back in 1996. The lessons would be mailed to me and I would complete them and mail them back. My instructor would give me feedback on a cassette tape. I was shooting with film back then - things have changed a lot! I started photographing my kids and friends and family and my business just organically grew from that.

I love photographing people - my favorite subjects are couples in love and new parents that are so completely in love with their new babies - so I guess LOVE is what I enjoy photographing.

#2 Married 49 Years

99points

#3 Married 64 Years

99points

I came up with the idea for this project while attending a photography workshop in Palm Springs which was hosted by Jesh deRox. Liz Arcus, a photographer from Australia, was speaking about having personal projects in addition to your regular paid work. I had lunch with her after she spoke and The Wisdom project came to me over that lunch. I wished I had better photos of my grandparents and some words of wisdom from them, and thought that most of us don’t realize and appreciate what an amazing resource our grandparents are until they’ve already passed. I thought perhaps I could document seniors and elders through photos and words for other families. I have been working on this project since 2012 and have published 2 hardcover coffee table albums as a result.

#4 Married 65 Years And Still Dancing

91points

#5 Married 56 Years

85points

For the photographs, I have asked my social media followers to recommend inspirational couples and mostly I just ask couples that inspire me. It has not been difficult at all to find amazing couples. I just wish I had more time and resources so I could include more people in my project and make more books!

#6 Married 66 Years

81points

#7 Married 40 Years

80points

I find making time for this project challenging as I run a photography business full time and this project is unpaid so it sometimes gets put on the back burner when I wish it was my full-time job! That leads me to why I wish it was my full-time job - this work of photographing and collecting wisdom from elders is such a joy! I get to spend time with people that have lived such amazing and varied lives and have gained so much insight into life having lived it for so many years! I have learned so much and been gifted their time and wisdom by spending time with all of the participants! It does not seem to feel like work at all!

#8 Married 51 Years

74points

#9 Married 55 Years

70points

When people look at these photographs I hope they see that every person's life has great value! It doesn’t matter what job they did, or how much money they made - they have made an impact on the world and their friends and families. These couples in Wisdom of Marriage have modeled to their friends and family and community that love is worth the work! They have stayed together for over 40 years even when it was hard - and without exception, there were hard times in the relationships of every single couple featured, but they persevered and are growing old together.

If you're interested in seeing more of my photographs, check out my website page with the link to my books here.