In a tiny town on the banks of the French Broad River, Emily and Josh Copus maintain a family tradition of growing blooms to brighten their community through their farm and floral shop Carolina Flowers. On assignment for Southern Living Magazine, Asheville, N.C.-based editorial photographer Erin Adams visited the serene mountains of Marshall, N.C. to capture the charm and intrigue of the Copus’ craft for their April 2021 issue.
As far as my photographic style; creatively, I love to tell a story, and technically, I like the quick thinking and planning that goes into capturing the story.
Erin was contacted by Jeanne Clayton, Director of Photography at Southern Living Magazine, to see if she was available to photograph a small farm in the mountains just outside of Asheville. In the wake of being cooped up in the house due to the pandemic, Erin was thrilled to participate in an outdoor project and capture Emily and Josh’s little slice of heaven in the rolling hills of North Carolina.
Fueled by her passion for farming — a family tradition that dates back to her great-grandfather — Emily left her desk job as a journalist at the age of 26 to get back to her roots and grow her floral business. After years of hard work tending to the soil, Emily and Josh now cultivate 8 acres of crops, along with growing their retail store and online grocery delivery business.
The aptitude to read about plants and understand them in the natural world comes from a line of people who grew things before me and all around me. -Emily Copus Southern Living Magazine
The 14-hour shoot began in the flower fields on a brisk morning where Erin photographed portraits of Emily surrounded by Colibri poppies, blush Butterfly ranunculus, and coral snapdragons. Next, they headed over to the Carolina Flowers shop on Main street in downtown Marshall to shoot the flower arrangement and instructional guide.
Finally, they hauled a ton of beautiful flowers up a bumpy dirt road to the top of the hill to capture Emily in the bed of an old pickup truck with a backdrop of the Appalachian landscape as sunset approached.
Sunrise to sunset made for a long, but fun, 14 hour day.
Taking cues from the farm-to-table movement in nearby Asheville, Carolina Flowers proudly grows the majority of the flowers they use in their designs on three properties in the mountains outside of Asheville. Honoring the notion that agriculture can offer a positive future for the town of Marshall, the city of Asheville, and the Western North Carolina region, Emily and Josh’s retail shop and online grocery business are two of the ways they create jobs and offer the public an opportunity to connect with local agriculture.
Emily is a lovely person and so passionate about farming and the flowers she grows.
Inspired by her hard work and dedication, Erin’s images depict the passion and artistry passed down to Emily from generations. Southern Living’s readers can easily recognize and appreciate the beautiful life Emily and Josh have cultivated for themselves in the mountains of North Carolina.
Credits
Photographer: Erin Adams
Director of Photography: Jeanne Clayton