Vegas seems like a dream, even though it was just a month ago! I had the best time meeting other photogs, checking out the photo tradeshow, venturing around the desert, and of course teaching with Lindsay Rae. But one of my most favorite parts, of course, was PHOTOGRAPHING other photogs! This post is dedicated to ALL of the bad ass boss babes that jumped in front of my lens in an effort to remind themselves of what their clients go through!
What The Fuck Are Flaws? ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photography
"Love your flaws", "Flawsome", "Every flaw is beautiful." etc. What the actual fuck? (#sorrynotsorry for the swearing) I hear it far too often that someone says "I love all of me, flaws and all" and every time I want to shake them and say "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??" Nothing on your body is a flaw. It is what it is. The way you are is the way you are and THAT is perfect. Just because some fucking advertisement tells you that you can use concealer to cover your "flawed" skin or that a stupidly expensive face cream will give you "flawless" skin doesn't mean you are imperfect, my friend. Do not believe the bullshit hype. The things you think are negative....are not. I know this sounds like some sort of new-age bullshit, but I assure you that marketing and ad agencies have known this forever. The only reason you buy their shit is to fix "problems" you don't even have half of the time!! How can you be flawed when you are literally the only version of yourself? You may have a twin, but they are still not 100% YOU and never will be, so there cannot be a "flaw" in the perfect design that is you.
A Little Bit O' Witchcraft {Minneapolis Diaries} ~ Inspiration Boudoir Session
When we arrived at our gorgeous Airbnb we immediately fell in love with the owners excessive candle collection and got inspired to do a witchy-inspired session after reading our tarot cards (cuz that's how we roll). I had brought the perfect crop top and Nicole had the best hat and had just picked up the coolest lipstick so we threw together this late night session, shot in the sun room.
What Would Your Album Cover Look Like Right Now? ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photographer
I am the type of person that still listens to CDs (now, some of you may be asking what is...CD? It's a round disc, smaller than a recor- never mind....) and when I go on roadtrips, I will stop by whatever Wal Mart is in the area, scour the increasingly diminishing racks of CDs and purchase 1 from an artist that I know of, and 1 solely based on the cover art. It's kind of a fun game to see if the feelings evoked by the cover match the music. Anywho, that got me thinking about album covers and photography. Musicians will usually have art that matches their music and their music is a documentation of where they are in their lives/career/etc. therefore the cover art is just a representation of how they felt, existed, were during that moment in their legacy. Here's a collage of T-Swift album covers to give you an example:They are all of her, at different stages of her life, when different things were important to her - we see her go from big floofy princess dresses, to more of a polished vintage look, to dark and gritty, to pastel and glittery. Every album represents a collection of stories/experiences in her life and while you may think that one album is better than another for whatever reason, what you can't do, is deny that it was HERS. Regardless of what other people thought, Taylor decided that this music (and these images) were representative of the NOW (at that time) and worthy of showing the world. It's not good or bad, it's just a memory to live on.If we can start to look at photos of ourselves in the same way: each photo just being a documentation of who you were/what you were going through/how you were existing/what was important to you etc. and recognizing it as a marker on path to you evolving as a human, INSTEAD of hating what you see, I think you will enjoy our photographic experience more. If we could see our life experiences as just that - experiences - that hold no moral value of good or bad, perhaps we would shed some of the shame we feel around certain parts of our life story. Now, of course there are people out there who do things and hold no remorse, but if you have shame, chances are you have remorse about something you have or have not done in your life.But let's get back to this idea that IF you focused on the now. If you didn't wait until you lost 50 lbs before having a photo taken and IF you didn't wait until you have a significant other and IF you didn't wait until your tan lines disappear and you had your album cover photographed today - What would it look like? How would you want to be portrayed at this point in your life? Don't think about who you've been in the past or how you will be viewed in the future - who are you RIGHT NOW? What would you wear? nothing, a latex jumpsuit, a fur coat with bedazzled panties, a turtleneck and high waisted jeans, a vintage gown? What location would you be in? Would it just be you and a white wall? Against a wall of neon lights? Lying down in a bed of flowers? Perhaps coming out of a river? Lying on a bed of satin sheets? What would your makeup look like?How would your hair be styled? How would it be lit? What colors would be important to you?THIS is how I want you to prepare for your session with me (if traditional boudoir is not what you are looking for). The beauty of EMPOWERMENT PHOTOGRAPHY is that it can be anything and everything we want it to be as long as the end result is YOU, feeling empowered. You feeling like you've just released an album that represents a part of your life that will help you leave a legacy of who you were. This means going beyond JUST looking sexy and hot (though we can do that too!), it can be about showing your feminine side (regardless of your gender), it can be channeling your sadness and grief into emotive, raw images that translate the pain, or it can be celebrating your feminist rage at the patriarchy! Like, how awesome would it be to find images of your relatively conservative grandmother protesting the war and living out of a van in the 60s? All of a sudden, she becomes a much more rounded human. How cool will it be for future generations to see photos of you and know exactly what you were feeling/doing/living your life as? It just gets me so excited!The thing is, you ARE going to change. You ARE going to grow, adapt, move, shift, change shape and size, go through hardships, go through celebrations, experience loss, experience love, experience every little thing that makes up the human condition - EVERY stage of it has beauty, EVERY stage of it is worthy of being photographed, because YOU, my dear, are worthy of being photographed. So, I will ask you: What will your album cover look like?
The Succulent Saucy Fox ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photography
You will recognize this saucy fox from the babe on the main page of my website. I collaborated with this Toronto babe on a series of beautiful portraits while I was in Toronto, post Camp Do More. There is nothing sexier or more powerful than a woman owning all of her bits and all of her glory! We started her session off with a RAW session, which means no makeup & no photoshop - just her in her babeliness. Then we popped on some makeup to do some glam work and took advantage of the amazing Lovt Studios. Body confidence isn't something that comes overnight - Ms. Rachel is one of the bad ass babes from The Succulent Six, a troupe of plus babes doing amazing shit and proving that your body shouldn't hold you back from anything! As a model, former athlete, and mother of one, Rachel is kicking ass in all forms and looking fierce af while she does it!
