ABOUT ME

Hey, I'm Jemima Joy, the face and heart behind JJOY Freelance. Aka "your mum friend with a camera".

​

I'm a mother, wife and sucker for the small moments in life running on coffee and chaos. I live in St Leonards and spend my (very rare) days off doing whatever my toddler decides, which is usually outdoor adventures, which I live for!

​

'This' isn't what I planned when I started this business if I am honest with you. But it's blossoming into something I could never even have imagined, very naturally... I blame motherhood for that. I started this to be a social media manager who merely just 'had a camera' and today I don't 'just have a camera' anymore - I have quite a few, with a stock room of props to go with them!

​

It began back in 2021, running socials for a friends business, after delving into network marketing and going from being a silent surfer on socials to building a community in the depths of lockdown learning what it truly means to build connection on social media - because at the end of the day, that is what it's all about. I quit my job to dive in the deep end with no savings and then Lola, my daughter came along, and something shifted. I was the one crying behind a lens at my own daughter's first smile, first steps, first foods, first words..... and I haven't stopped reaching for my camera since. Suddenly I wasn't just posting on behalf of other people's brands, and what started as a innocent amateur cake smash in my back garden with absolutely terrible lighting has grown into a real business built around real families, real milestones and beautiful chaos, alongside the social media management I started out doing in the first place. I haven't just found a new path, I have found my purpose. Ok, two purposes!

​

Adventure's always been part of who I am too. Off-roading, jumping out of planes, saying yes to things that give me butterflies, living in the moment to create memories that mean something, including a one way tickets to Australia when I was 18! I bring that same throw-yourself-in energy to a session. I'm not hovering at a distance waiting politely for a nice smile. I'm right there in the moments with you, playing around, having fun and just embracing the moment there and then.

​

I'm painfully soppy, if I haven't already given that away. I well up over the moments most people scroll straight past: a hand reaching for another, a tired laugh, the second everyone softens back together after a tantrum. Those little in-between moments are the ones I can't help but snap away at, because they're the ones that would otherwise go completely unseen.

​

My own journey into motherhood was a hard one, and I know plenty of mums will relate. It's part of why kindness matters so much to me, in life and in my work.

 

However you feed your baby, however you gave birth, whatever your parenting looks like: you're doing amazing, and you're welcome here exactly as you are. and come to think of it, that might be why I tend to work with lots of family run businesses on the social media side of things, because we share the same values in daily operations.

​

Basically, I'm the photographer and social media manager I wish I'd had for myself. Someone who'd have caught all the in-between bits nobody thought to capture, not just the posed ones... the real stuff that we all love and adore.

​

What's next? I'd love to step into the world of birth photography.​​