It's okay to love yourself
Recently my husband and I traveled to NYC for a few days of vacay, and I felt inspired to have him take some boudoir photos of me. I knew going before we left that we would be staying in a historic art-deco style hotel and the pictures would be incredible, so I packed a body suit and away we went. When we checked in, we found something to take these photos up a notch, and that was the balcony of our 22nd floor room with views of the Empire State building.
It was breezy and a cool 55* and we had less than ideal lighting conditions at 10pm, and after working through half a dozen poses or so I was ready to get back inside. But, when I looked through the photos on the back of the camera, I actually liked what I saw.
I can be really hard on myself, especially when I work with women who have bangin bodies and mine is squishy and short, and stamped with stretch marks. But I don't want to feel bad about myself, I think that's the key. I want to celebrate my capabilities, my strength, those muscles, my fierceness. And so I do.
Of course when we came home and I loaded them onto my computer, I edited them. I cloned out my stretch marks, smoothed some lumps and bumps, but you know what? I thought these photos were badass. For a minute I downplayed it to myself, thinking “what if I was thinner/had bigger boobs/slimmer arms” and then a little voice told me to shut up and enjoy.
“You are allowed to love yourself and how you look in photos”
How many times have you heard that? If you’re like me, not many. Society preaches the need for plastic surgery and weight loss fads, push up bras and butt pads — and although I think if any one of those makes you feel better about yourself, go for it girl — but what if they don’t? What if you put those magazines, movies, and red carpets on mute and looked at yourself, like really looked, and you liked what you saw? Would you feel shame? Would you feel conceited or vain?
I SO often hear, "I am interested, but...(enter excuses here)”
“I’ll be ready once I… lose 20 lbs/ get my boobs done/gain 10 lbs/ workout for a few months/ grow my hair out/ get a tan”
And those are just some of the excuses I have heard over the past 4 years of shooting Boudoir photography in Columbus.
What if you could change the way you feel about your body, or better yet, just admit to yourself and others around you that in fact, you think you have a great ass— I do — or you love your hair, or you have great muscle definition, or your eyes can pierce someone’s soul. I
I want you to know, you can like what you see when you look in the mirror, you can like photos of yourself, you can think you look cute/sexy/beautiful, if you want to. And that is the first step, girlfriend. Do you want to?
