Ermagerd. Miss K....oh, Miss K. This stunning beauty walked into my studio for her consult and I was beyond excited to work with her! Not only is she gorgeous, but she wanted to finally accept parts of herself that had been with her forever and represent them in photo form. She sent me a truly amazing, inspirational, and beautiful testimonial, so I am going to let her take over and tell you about her session.
I decided to book a session with Teri as a gift for my boyfriend; but also for myself, because I love the message Teri embraces and encourages with her work. I knew other ladies who had worked with Teri before and provided me with glowing reviews, so I knew I was in good hands! I was excited (and admittedly, a bit nervous) when I showed up for my consult. I've done a few photoshoots before, but this one was different for a couple of reasons. 1) Teri goes completely out of her way to make sure your session goes smoothly and is PERFECT. Seriously. She cares just as much about this project as you do, and it's clear immediately that this isn't just her job; it's her passion. 2) she's going to ask you some tough questions... I've never had those questions asked straight to my face before. But it really helped set a direction and mood for the shoot and personalized it to tell the story I wanted to tell. I knew right then and there that this was going to be an awesome project!
I showed up for my shoot, and it was perfect!! I took full advantage of the chance to be pampered with hair, makeup and girl chat, and when it was time to shoot Teri was amazing! She provided guidance through all the poses, and encouragement when things got a little.... Shall we say, interesting?? Lol!! Awkward facial expressions and hair-eating aside (she didn't have any, ps), we found our rhythm and nailed some seriously sassy photos! Like holy smokeshow, this woman knows what she's doing! I felt completely comfortable and confident the whole time!
I really appreciate the dedication and time Teri takes to make this photoshoot meaningful and even powerful. The decision to include my scar, and make it prominent in some of the photos, was a first for me. I have had this scar my whole life, and normally I think nothing of it. It's just another part of me. But any time it has been brought to my attention in the past, has usually been a negative or awkward experience. I needed someone I could trust to help me overcome that fear; even as accomplished as I am when it comes to accepting my body, this was a big step. And an important one for me.
For me, self acceptance came when I chose to change my perspective of what makes a body "beautiful." You know, the one that mainstream media tries to cement into your head. By those standards, my body shouldn't fit that term "beautiful" at all. I was in grade 5 the first time someone asked me if I would ever get plastic surgery to "fix" my scar. Grade 5! That's a tough thing to hear. And it definitely impacted the way I saw my body and how I felt in my skin, for a long time.
Teri gets that. She set out to capture my story, my person, and she nailed it! Getting to see these photos for the first time, I saw ME. Not just a body, but me as a person, and guess what?? I look hot!! Even with all my lumps and bumps intact, and that scar of mine - I think I pulled off the "sexy" thing pretty well. And I didn't have to change who I am or how I look to do that. Seeing that is such an empowering thing, because it really smashes through any idea that we need to fit ourselves within unattainable limitations to feel empowered and beautiful. We deserve to feel beautiful and deserve to see ourselves as beautiful too - just the way you are!
And to any lady out there who thinks you can't do it too?? You can. You can do boudoir, and you can do it WELL, and you can do it just as you are now. So when you're ready, give this babe a call!
Well, holy crap, I think she just said it all and nailed everything about why I do what I do. There is not much more that I need to add because this Boudy Babe know what she's talking about. Ready to have your own life changing experience and see what it's like to celebrate all the bits of your body? Give me a shout!!
I knew when I got to Vegas that I wanted to do some shoots that really pushed me creatively. Most of my traditional, classy boudoir sessions are very minimalist in nature and rarely do I ever use props, however, I have a sassy side and that means ALL the things come out to play and we go waaaaaay over the top! I had stumbled across this fringe bra/panty set at La Vie En Rose and knew it was perfect for a crazy ass shoot in Vegas. I contacted my boudy friend Amy and told her what I wanted her to do. She brought a kick ass military hat, pair with a pair of sexy gloves from my friend Lindsay, and my sparkly flogger and you have this sexually charged, fierce photoshoot. Not to mention I got to shoot in Amy's beautiful room at the Palms hotel....which I will look at staying in next year. It's amazing. Anywho, Amy brought it in her shoot, giving me the best faces a girl could ever ask for. The sassy shoots are about being over the top, exaggerating expressions and actions and being fucking sexy whilst doing so. I am now offering sassy sessions as part of my menu, so if you have a crazy ass idea you want to throw together let me know and we will create it! Without further adieu, check out Amy doing her thang in Vegas. Damn, she's a hottie!!
The first day we trekked to the desert we were greeted with the beautiful sun and some incredible wind, the second time, however, we were met with gorgeous blue storm clouds at the dry lake bed, just outside of Las Vegas. A handful of us piled into the SUV I rented (which was a real treat to go and get, btw) and headed out to Boulder, Nevada and played until the sun went down. We had 2 beautiful babes fly in specifically for this occasion to shoot with myself and Jana Roller, so we were excited to get them into nature. In addition to those 2 glamazons, there were other photographers and models that came along to play as well! Over all, we had killer photo shoots and everyone had fun playing in the stormy weather. I cannot wait to go back next year....SO MANY IDEAS!!!
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.
Over the next few weeks you are going to get inundated with sexy photos from my time in Vegas. Most of the beautiful babes I had the pleasure of photographing were boudoir photographers and specialists in their area. I love, love, LOVE shooting boudoir photographers because I find they are one of two people: 1)bad ass babes that aren't afraid to kill their shoot and give me over the top sexuality and emotion (LOVE IT!!) or 2)have never had a boudoir session done because of their own fears and insecurities. After talking to a ton of boudy photogs, I have found that many of us fall into this line of work in an effort to understand and empower ourselves through the goddesses that step in front of our cameras. I was excited when Miss A offered herself up when I posted about wanting to shoot ALL the things while in Vegas and for her the experience (I think) was transformational. She now knows what her clients go through and she was surprised at my method of shooting, in that I shot so quickly and with such precise direction that she didn't have a chance to second guess herself and what she was doing. Overall, Miss A. KILLED her shoot and I am pleased to share these gorgeous hotel shots with you!
