Local photographer’s equipment destroyed after June crash
Six weeks ago, Mitchell Joyce was plotting out a big summer for his burgeoning photography business, as he booked weddings, senior photos, personal photo shoots and other events. Then, on a sunny June afternoon, all of that changed in an instant.
On June 9, the New Scotland 19-year-old suffered serious injuries when he crashed his car into a tree on Depot Road as he drove home from dropping his girlfriend off at work.
I was thinking, ‘I’m a little tired, I’ll probably take a nap when I get home, he said. `I just remember waking up in an instant, and they were tearing the car apart. It was crazy.`
Joyce had fallen asleep at the wheel, drifted off the road and slammed into a tree. Firefighters and medics had to cut his Suzuki to pieces to get him out of it, and he was airlifted to Albany Medical Center with deep cuts, shattered bones and a collapsed lung.
A month later, he’s still in a wheelchair but is slowly regaining mobility. Luckily, perhaps even amazingly, his injuries are expected to heal after several surgeries and over a week in the hospital, though he still has a lot of rehabilitation to get through. Despite all this, he’s taking everything in stride.
`I’m looking at another month of not being able to put weight on my feet, but things have gotten a lot better,` he said recently. `I’ll be back to 100 percent hopefully in a couple of months.`
Mitchell Joyce
Less fortunate was that Joyce’s hobby, passion and livelihood was riding along with him in the car: thousands of dollars worth of photography equipment.
Joyce first got into the visual arts as a student at Voorheesville Middle School, and after graduating in 2010 he launched himself full-time into photography, starting up his own studio and freelancing on a whole variety of jobs. He has photographed every Voorheesville graduation since 2007 and become fairly well known in the community. In fact, after being wheeled into the ER, Joyce recognized one of his doctors because he shot his wedding.
A lot of his gear somehow survived the crash, but a four-figure camera lens, a $300 flash and other pieces of equipment were damaged beyond repair. Though insurance is covering the car, it’s unlikely Joyce will ever recoup the cost of the equipment he bought by reinvesting the earnings from his photography projects. It added heartbreak to injury.
That’s when a friend of the Joyce family and fellow Voorheesville grad stepped in. Liz Funk has launched on online fundraiser to help Joyce replace at least his camera lens.
`I think the best thing about living in a small town is that people know each other. … People always come together and try to help in some way,` she said. `Because he had this photography gift, there’s a decent percentage of homes in Voorheesville that have pictures that Mitchell has taken of Voorheesville graduations in their homes on their walls.`
Joyce was discharged from the hospital after several surgeries
Even while he is wheelchair bound, Joyce is still managing to take photos in and around his boyhood home, and is itching to get back to his business. Though the accident happened just days before the 2011 Voorheesville graduation, he was still able to have another photographer cover the event. His work can be viewed at icantakeyourpicture.com.
To donate to the equipment fund, visit miyo2272.chipin.com to make a secure gift. You can also find the fundraising effort on Facebook. Joyce’s studio website has more information on all of his services.“
