Jamie Love expands her Newfield photography business to include somatic therapy
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MAY 18–24, 2022
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ART & MIND
her psychologist role she often does narrative work, helping her client to rewrite their story through the photographs. Someone who went through a traumatic event in childhood might take a fairytale scene they associate with that time in their life and recreate it with the client starring in a more empowering role, Love guide them through ways to get their body explained. to settle down so they could be more “It could be for anybody present, which inevitably resulted in a in any situation in life,” she better picture. said. “You don’t have to be a Another time, a woman who just trauma survivor to do somehad a double mastectomy came thing like this. Maybe you’re to Love for a portrait that would coming into a newer part of honor the current time in her life who you are as an adult… and help her work through her life transformations — we recent trauma. don’t honor them, necesThis all makes sense when sarily, and what I could you know that Love has her say is that this is acundergraduate degree cessible for anybody in psychology and is who wanted to mark B y J a i m e C o n e currently furthering a time in their life her education in where they want to feel that area. ongtime local photographer honored.” Combining Jamie Love has been serving the Just as she thought, Tompkins County area for years, her two loves, taking photos and photography infusing life into the stereotypimental health work and psycholocally stuffy genre of corporate were a natural pairing. gy, came secheadshots, and breathing “They are intrinsicharacter into personal branding for company ond nature to cally linked,” Love her, she said, websites. said. “There is so Love has been honing her craft for about 20 but it wasn’t much psychology until she began years and has been working out of her home behind a portrait.” pursuing her master’s studio in Newfield since she moved there in Love calls the degree in mental health 2014 — though much of her photography is work she does counseling that she got a done outdoors on the rural land she describes with these clients clear picture of how the as her own “slice of heaven.” somatic work. She Over the years, she started to notice a trend two could fit together as a explained that specific type of therapy. in the responses she received from clients. “soma” means body, “I never had it listed “Part of the feedback I get is that they say to so in psychology as a service,” she said, me they’ve never gotten a headshot quite like somatic work is a “but just this past year my this — ‘this was a transformative experience practice of the body psychology supervisor for me.’ and mind and learnsaid I should start offering “I started noticing how I was organiing how to be in your this out to the community cally integrating [mental health work] into body and reintegrate as a service… so far, the my photography sessions with people,” Love Jamie Love has introduced somatic therapy to her photography offerings. (Photo: Provided) parts of yourself in response has been great.” added. As a specific example, she said that a new way. It can She decided to call when clients had the all-too-common problem involve different movement practices and the new business Elevated Alchemy, and in of freezing up under the camera she would body scans, allowing people to gain insight into what is happening in their nervous system and helping them to befriend their body again. Though many therapists use somatic work in their sessions, Love said she is not aware of other counselors who use photography in the way she does. “I am trying to invent something new for myself because I don’t think it exists, at least around here, to my knowledge,” she said. “Just the portrait session itself — that alone is transformative. The photos are the icing on the cake.” To view some of the resulting images, visit Love’s Instagram at instagram.com/jamielovephotography. To learn more about Elevated Alchemy, visit elevated alchemy.life. Examples of photos by Jamie Love.
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