About

Thank you for checking out JOIE Photographie!

Hi! I’m Monique! The studio’s photographer and owner! So why the name JOIE? Well, I have always had an innate need to document life’s joys,  hence the name JOIE Photographie which means ‘joy’ in French. Technically, it’s pronounced \zhwä\…..but I just pronounce it ‘joy’.

My passion for photography developed in high school. I know it sounds cliché, but I really did find my mom’s old 35mm Minolta X-370 in the closet and I really did fall in love with photography at the click of the shutter. There is just something about that “cluck clink” that gives me the warm and fuzzies inside.

Most high school kids don’t really know what they want to do after they graduate or what their purpose in life is, but I knew. My junior year I took pictures for the yearbook when I didn’t even have it as a class. My senior year I became photo editor and spent the entire year behind the lens. While my classmates were making memories at the pep-rallies, senior serve, and football games, I was there preserving them. In college, I had a friend sneak me into the darkroom, because I couldn’t wait until I finished the prerequisites.

Like I said, I knew from the moment I clicked the shutter on my mom’s camera that this is what I wanted to do the rest of my life. This is what I was meant to do.

Oddly, I didn’t major in photography, I minored. I wanted to, but my father, always the voice of reason, convinced me that I needed a “real” major, so I chose accounting. But the darkroom was always my sanctuary and I probably spent more time there then I did in all my business classes.

The plan was to work as a tax accountant/auditor, pay off student loans, and create a nice nest egg. Then I could retire early and spend the rest of my days photographing the world. But that wasn’t what I was meant to do. Right after my two year mark in the accounting industry I got a phone call from my mom at work. She said, “Your brother was in an accident and he is being life flighted.” Thankfully he walked out of the hospital that night, but it made me think. It made me realize that I could die tomorrow and if I did, would I die truly happy? Shortly after, I decided to jump and put in my two weeks notice. I haven’t looked back since.

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