Oh, beautiful Miss T! This lady's soul is just as beautiful as her sparkling, ocean-blue eyes! This has been her third experience in front of my lens and every time we shoot, I feel that we uncover another layer of this babe, getting her one step closer to recognizing her awesomeness. You can check out her first shoot here, second shoot here, and now her current one below. Even more awesome than the images, is the dissection of her feelings towards every boudoir experience she has had, so take a read below:
I have been blessed to have had three shoots with you now, but each shoot has been so different – physically and emotionally.
The first shoot I booked after working with a Health Coach, particularly in regards to self confidence and self esteem. After our six months together, she recommended that I continue working on myself by going outside of my comfort zone (VERY outside of my comfort zone) and book a shoot with you. I did and was so extremely nervous that I didn’t sleep for two nights before the shoot. I did not tell my husband what I was doing, which made “sneaking around” even more stressful! We did the shoot, and in all of Teri's professionalism, she made me comfortable and relaxed. When I received my book, I was very happy with the pictures, but honestly a little embarrassed that I had done that.
The second time was initiated by Teri when she asked me to be part of her New Year's photo shoot. I was truly honoured to be a part of that, but was unbelievably nervous as I was meeting and working with other unbelievably gorgeous ladies that I had admired on Teri's website. They were all professional, knew what they were doing, and were about 20 years younger than me! While I was getting my hair and makeup done, I was thinking of excuses I could make to escape the photo shoot! It ended up being tons of fun, but I continually felt like the odd one out (nothing to do with Teri at all – definitely all in my head!).
So here comes the third shoot. This was spurred on by Teri's Leap Day special – completely a spur of the moment decision on my part. I told my husband what I was going to do and it was really special to have the two of us involved in the prep – what type of pictures, outfits, etc. I was really excited to move forward with this shoot and ended up having an awesome day in the studio. I felt comfortable and confident that day, mostly thanks to Teri. When I received the link to my gallery, I was nervous. I didn’t know if I wanted to see the pictures, let alone have my husband look at them. It took a couple of days for me to get up the nerve to tell him that I had them and asked him if he wanted to see them. We sat down together and opened the link. The first few shots I felt myself being critical – noticing the rolls here and the wrinkles there. I felt embarrassed to have my husband seeing this and questioned myself on why I did it. But as the slideshow continued, my mindset started to change and I began remembering the actual photo shoot day. I found myself telling bits and pieces of our shoot, little things I remembered or things that we said. As the conversation continued and the slideshow kept going, I felt myself overcome by the feelings that I had on the shoot day. Fun, laughter, confidence, self esteem…………it was almost a surreal moment, as I felt that I was reliving that day. As we continued through the pictures, I started picking out positive things on the pictures and feeling proud and confident that THAT WAS ME! After the first look through, I had to leave the room to take a moment, as I was feeling quite overwhelmed. My husband went through the pictures again and flagged his favourites. When I came back and looked through again, my favourites were almost identical to his. He suggested that we should frame some and put them up in our bedroom. Amazingly I agreed………my first album is hidden in a drawer in our room so this is a HUGE step for me.
So again, Ms. Teri – you have brought me to another level in my journey to self-esteem and confidence………and you have given me the journey in photos…………where I can look back when I am not in a good place and remember how you helped me to feel on that day………..and where I can look back when I am in a good place and be proud of the woman that I am!
I believe that the women I meet are never by accident and there is a reason they come into my life or I, into theirs. Miss T is no exception and now that we have been through so much soul searching together (and even joined her and her family for dinner!), I feel as though we are more than just client-photographer. Miss T, Jill and I are working on something super exciting for the Boudy Babes in 2017 so stay tuned for that! And remember, your first boudoir session is really just the beginning to peeling away those layers.