Trigger Warning: eating disorders, bulimia, etc.Miss C has the features and body that young women on Instagram and other social media platforms, quite literally, die for. But it doesn't come easy and it definitely comes with a price....and that price is her freedom. Miss C has given me permission to share the story of her eating disorder with you, in hopes that it will inspire OTHER young women to face these issues and take them seriously. I am doing my due diligence to learn more about eating disorders and why they happen, how we can combat them, etc. and the research I have found implies that more than 80% of documented cases of eating disorders are genetic, usually following closely to depression, anxiety, and OCD. What does this mean? It means eating disorders are usually the result of a cocktail of brain chemicals and environmental factors and every case is different enough for there to be no "one answer" to fixing the issue.
So, where does Miss C fit in to all of this, aside from just "having" an eating disorder? Well, she came to me in response to one of my casting calls and told me about her progress in her recovery program. I was hesitant to put up images of her on my social media (not just because it would get me banned from Facebook) but because I know the internet is a crappy place and people would say some extremely demeaning things about her petite body. So, before anyone comments on the fact that she "needs to eat a sandwich" or "put some meat on those bones" or implies that "men like women with curves, not bones" please note that you have NO FUCKING CLUE about someone's journey. For Miss C. she has made great strides from where she was a few short months ago and has not only started making gains to get to a healthier weight for her frame, but is also battling with the mental game that eating disorders provide EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
For me, it is extremely important that I represent women of ALL shapes and sizes and journeys because ALL women deserve to feel good about themselves at whatever point they are in their journey and I am very happy to have met Miss C because she can shed some light onto a different part of body image that I have no experience with and hopefully her own journey to self love will help change even one girl's life.
Now, my reason for sharing Miss C's story is not so that you will take pity on her or say "awwww, poor girl" but rather, so you will think twice before wanting to achieve a particular "body type" which is deemed perfect by stupid social media challenges and society and also, so you will think before commenting on a woman's body that she is "too much" of this or "not enough" of that. 
So, even though the casting call for Miss C's session was supposed to be an inspiration session, it ended up being more of an empowerment session. Boudoir sessions for Miss C are a good way for her to express herself and get in touch with her body at whatever stage in her journey she is at. Photos are a fab way to document her life changes and see the progress that she is making, because sometimes it may seem slower than she would like. In any case, Miss C is one hell of a young woman and she is extremely bright, beautiful, strong and full of spark and I will continue to walk beside her in her journey to understand her self. {Ps. scroll down to the bottom to watch our behind the scenes video from this shoot!}
Here is what Miss C'story and experience with boudoir:"During my session I felt on top of the world I felt like the sexiest women alive. Teri made me feel so comfortable with showing off my body that I worked hard for. My fear of seeing my photos was not even that my body was going to look bad, it was that I would have weird facial expressions and be unhappy but when I saw my photos I felt beautiful. I felt perfect I wanted to show them off to everyone. I've been bulimic for half a year and my confidence is at an all time low. There are days when I feel beautiful and confident in the skin I'm in but other days when I want to lay in bed all day and not look at myself. I needed a confidence boost and I knew that Teri always gave me the best ones. And I was right. She made me beautiful and confident just like she did the first time and whenever I'm feeling insecure I look back on those photos she took of me and just smile. Thank you for all your help, Teri!"
Fierce ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photography
It is no doubt that Miss Nikita is a force to be reckoned with and when I combined her personality with my attraction to a fun style of shooting inspired by Ellen Von Unwerth, we create magic. Fierce magic. Throw some animal prints at this blue eyed babe who gave me some of the best faces I could ask for and you get this killer shoot! Sometimes (all the time) it's fun to play, to make mistakes, and to enjoy the pursuit of something new.
Hands to Myself {Inspiration Session} ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photography
As soon as I had seen Selena Gomez' video "Hands to Myself" I was immediately inspired! Not just because of the catchy song, but the entire video was glorious and I wanted to do a session based off of it, so I contact Miss M because she had the perfect look for the shoot! Right down to the super straight hair (and willingness to let me handcuff her) she killed this inspiration shoot. The video is at the bottom if you haven't seen it yet. Nicole Velasquez of Envy Beauty Makeup Services did a fab job on the hair and makeup for our own "Selena." (If you want a smokey eye that doesn't make you look like a panda, contact this babe.)
What The F* Is a "Body Standard?" ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photographer
This is the story of my boudy beginnings and my attempt to influence the world, one woman at a time. (Also, be warned, there's nudity and quite a bit of passionate swearing ahead, so enjoy the message below, but then click away if you want no part of that)
'Twas the year 2014 when I embarked upon a journey that would forever change and shape my life, career, and focus of passion. For a long time it bothered me listening to women say "I need to have Kim Kardashian's ass" or "I need Cara Delvigne's eyebrows" or "I wish I had her body" OR WORSE YET: " I wish I had the body for xxxxxx." I am not saying I have never said these things, because I am pretty certain that it is a fact that 93% of your twenties is spent on not knowing what is the right way to do or be anything, but the problem with this mentality is that we are searching for the "perfect body type."
So, one day I was perusing a Cosmo magazine (which I never read anymore because it's filled with a lot of mindless drivel that does women more harm than good, tbh) there was a survey they had done where they interview men and I think the title was something ridiculous like "What Body Type Men REALLY Prefer" or some shit like that and I read it because God knows, every woman needs to know what SHE can do (contort, change, improve, shave, etc.) to land the "perfect" man (please note my extreme use of sarcasm). Anywho, the results of the survey were so diverse that you wouldn't really know what to do if you DID want to try to land a "perfect" man. It was like 13% of men surveyed like big boobs, 24% of men like women with a big butt, 21% of men like a woman with a sense of humor, or some horse shit like that. The percentages were not high enough for you to say "ALL MEN LIKE XXXX." So, that got me thinking....why do we, as women, feel the need to fit into a particular shape and size? Because, clearly, it's not because of something our men want. (Also, just stop trying to do shit to please men....be yourself and your person will find you.)
So, after reading that information and thinking about it over some time, I decided to throw together a project to prove my hypothesis right: that there is not 1 set "body type" and that we all should stop trying to achieve something that is not us. So, I did what most people did in the year of 2014, I took to the ever loving Facebook and posted a casting call on my page asking women to come forth and wear as much or as little clothing as they wanted, but the trick was, they had to let me photograph them with no Photoshop. They would be a 100% authentic representation of their babeliness. I thought maybe I'd get 20 people. I received emails and messages upon messages from over 75 women in both Winnipeg and Regina and over the course of the month of September in 2014, I had the pleasure of photographing each of these babes for like 5 minutes each to get 1 shot that told their story the best!
Every woman that came in had a different reason for wanting to be part of my Body Celebration Project and I loved hearing their stories, but what really changed the focus of my life, was the emails that came AFTER they had their little photo sessions.
I received countless FB messages and emails with words of confidence and excitement that they had done something so incredibly empowering. That was when I realized that if I could do that in 5 minutes, imagine what I could do with a half day or a full day with women! How much further along their journey to self love and appreciation would they be if they came to see themselves in a totally new and accepting way.
Now, these days, body positivity is all the rage and I think that is absolutely phenomenal because it means our voices are getting louder and fashion agencies, marketers, and the media are getting on board with the fact that, hey, all bodies ARE different and all bodies ARE beautiful, but we still have a long way to go. The women that came in for this project probably had no idea that they were going to change the course of MY life so drastically. After September, I ditched everything else that I normally shot (weddings, portraits, families, etc.) and focused my mission on empowering women as much as I could in whatever format I could, whether it be through speaking, writing, photography, philanthropy and just general silliness.
But, this isn't about me. This is about women coming together to celebrate their bodies. One of the questions I asked during their 5 minute session was "What is your least favorite body part?" and women responded with about 5 answers in less than a second. Then I would ask "What is your favorite body part?" and they would stop and have to think about it before answering with something like: eyes, lips, hair, face. Most women (of all the different sizes) were not a fan of their tummies. So, I asked them to show their tummy some love, because it is a part of them (and to be honest, without your tummy you would be at least a foot shorter). The funny thing about the human body, though, is that it is going to change, evolve, grow, shrink, move, contort, get scarred, get hurt, and so forth continually throughout life. So, maybe we should just be thankful for the stage that our bodies are at right now because they are moving us from point A to point B and letting us go about our lives and do our earth work.
It's interesting because we tell ourselves over and over not to compare ourselves to other women, but in order to showcase the reason why we SHOULDN'T compare ourselves, I had to compare all these images together by putting them into one large print. (Let's just say it's for science.) The thing is, the grass is always greener, my friends. You will always want the thing you cannot have and maybe that is part of the journey. I had to come to the dire fact that I am not meant to have pastel hair...if I was, I would have been born blond and patient. So, I shall rock this brunette like it's going out of style.
Women influencing and empowering women is really important to the world and it happens so far and so fast that if we stop focusing on the little bits of ourselves that we deem "undesireable" because 1 person said something to us 15 years ago, we would be able to take the world by storm. Let. That. Shit. Go. YOU are what's important. Your HEALTH (mental and physical) is what's important. Stop trying to become someone or something other than yourself because you were designed to be beautiful and magnificent and spectacular. Below is one of my favorite images found on Pinterest because it is true (I am not sure of the artist):
So, instead of saying "I need to look like {insert celebrity or non-celebrity name here}" start to look deeper into yourself and ask "Why do I think that? What will achieving those lips, those eyes, those bewbs, etc. change so drastically in my life?" Look at all those babely babes above, not a single one of them looks exactly the same but they all looking so damn beautiful and happy. And remember: All bodies are beautiful but beautiful bodies aren't everything. So, yah, fuck the body standard and remember that one woman's beauty has absolutely fuck all to do with your own.
All That Glitters ~ Personal Boudoir Photography
One evening I was sitting in my studio and I noticed how gorgeous my tub looked with the lights sparkling behind it. Miss Jay Rose had just posted that she had her hair dyed pink again and I knew what had to be done! I messaged her and we set up a time to get together at the studio so I could cover her in glitter (shocking I know!) While this shoot was short, it was gorgeous and some of my favorite images to date!
