Definition of self -acceptance

The act or state of accepting oneself : the act or state of understanding and recognizing one's own abilities and limitations.

Self-Acceptance is the perfect definition for boudoir photography or as I would like to call them #positivielybodied. Doing a photoshoot of this nature is not something that everyone jumps at the chance to do. But let me tell you, it's so rewarding and fun.

COVID has allowed me to sit and think about what I wanted to offer as a photographer. I want to offer confidence and this is the perfect arena to make it happen.

I did a trial run of a boudoir marathon back in July while visiting family in St. Louis, MO. I booked a hotel room and solicited a few women that would be interested in a body positivity session. I was able to capture four women. And I loved everything about their images and the experience. It helped that I knew each of them personally but it also made the experience worthwhile because I was able to tap into the confidence with each of them. Some came in like let's go, I'm ready....then you had others like whew ok breathe i'm going to still do this. No matter the confidence level once the music started going and the camera started shooting the ladies became models almost instantly.

With this weekend it made me want to really push in this genre to create the platform for women to be expressive with their bodies and be confident with their RIGHT NOW bodies.

I of course never done a session like this thought it was important for me to lead by example. I can't expect to tell women to be confident about their bodies and book me for their sessions without having my own session right???

So I contacted my mentor and we were able to make it happen. I had the most exhilarating time during my personal boudoir session. I don't show my body to many people. So the fact that I felt 100% comfortable in front of the camera says a lot. I took a "this is me" perspective...."this is all of me." I'll definitely be doing this again and more often.

This allows me to create the platform for women to walk in their confidence. Walk in their confidence and not be measured by some man made rule, but their own rules and their own perspective of what self-acceptance and confidence is for them RIGHT NOW.

So as I push for women to accept themselves in the right now....enjoy a few of the shots of me during my session getting #positivelybodied