A few months ago one of my girlfriends showed interest in photography. As Kevin will tell you, teaching never was my calling and I'm sure he has a slew of reasons why not. But I wanted my friend to learn so I did as all mother birds do and threw her straight into a session.
I had been asking Kevin to photograph my boudoir session for a few weeks now with no luck, so I decided that Hannah would take his place. She had no prior posing experience and minimal camera knowledge, but she had an interest in learning which was enough for me. We headed to the studio one afternoon when she got off work. I set the camera settings up for her, stripped down, and answered any questions she had. Come to find out, I am not a great teacher. Thankfully, she was a quick and patient learner and ended up getting some pretty damn good photographs.
When we got back to my apartment, I watched her cull the images (choose the good from the bad). This was eye opening for me because some of the photos that she saved of me were not photos I would have saved of myself. At one point I objected to her saving a photo and she exclaimed "why?? You look beautiful!" All I could see in the photo were my stretch marks and cottage cheese thighs, the illegible tattoo on my ribs I got when I was 18, and the muffin top from the Freshman 15 (more like Freshman 30 am i right?) that I can't seem to lose. But then I remembered the reason I am a boudoir photographer.
“You are so used to your features, you don’t know how beautiful you are to a stranger.”
I went back through my photos with a changed mind and actually ended up saving a bunch that I hadn't saved before. Months later, I love my stretch marks because no one else has those exact same ones. I'm confident with my body and wear what I want to wear when I want to wear it. I won't lie, I'm still working on a loving relationship with my ass. Shout out to Noah at Planet Fitness for helping me design a workout plan to target that booty.
Stay tuned for more on my journey with self love. In the meantime, check out the photos my girl took. Edited by GSPhotos.
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