Glamour Blog: A Boudoir Shoot Solved My Body Image Issues
Naturally I was intrigued when I saw that Glamour had a blog post about boudoir shoots! I love it when my niche industry gets a bit of coverage on a big platform. Especially an article with such a positive message about a woman improving her body image. This aligns perfectly with what I strive to do with every woman who comes into the studio. My goal is to boost self-image and empower every woman!
The blog writer, Jamie Friedlander, shares her general anxiety about her looks, which I suspect resonate with just about every woman:
To say I struggle with my body image would be an understatement. I have generalized anxiety disorder, which seeps into every aspect of my life, including my appearance. In the past I’ve weighed myself compulsively, overly focused on the number on the scale. I dieted and exercised excessively before my wedding, and have considered getting breast reduction surgery several times. I spend ample time obsessing over my curly hair being frizzy, my dry skin and scalp being flaky, and my stomach being puffy. I have patches of vitiligo (pigment-less skin) under my eyes, and I’m often preoccupied with how they look. But over the two years since my wedding, I’d made significant strides in therapy; as I got a better grip on my anxiety, it translated to every area of my life—including my constant criticism of my body.
She waffled between going ahead with the shoot, booking anyway, and then seriously considering backing out. It’s one thing to want to do something bold, but it can be hard to move ahead when you have time to think about it!
The day of the shoot arrived and Jamie decided to be brave and go ahead. She had a photographer who just pumped her up!
But I slowly began to relax thanks to the awesome photographer, her team, and their endless stream of compliments. You have a great butt! That outfit is to die for! Your hair looks amazing! I got so confident in front of the camera that I even had the courage to put on my most risque outfit: a thong-style, black lace teddy.
From a boudoir photographer’s perspective this is the point in the shoot when both photographer and model hit the state of flow; in other words when comfort level, confidence and competence converge!
At the end of her shoot, Jamie summed her boudoir photoshoot experience like this:
What these photos did, more than anything, is help me accept the bad days—the days when it’s humid and my hair is insanely frizzy, the days when I have a giant cystic pimple, and the days when I’m super bloated.
All women should experience this acceptance! I love the way that boudoir can help women see their own beauty and give the a confidence boost!
Click here to read the full post on the Glamour blog: https://www.glamour.com/story/taking-boudoir-photos-made-me-less-anxious-about-my-body
