Sometimes I find it hard to put into words why I chose boudoir photography (or did it choose me). To me, it is so much more than sexy photos. It’s about self-acceptance, knowing your more than enough, and art. It is about getting to see the best version of yourself all glammed up and laughing your {butt} off. It’s about the transformation that takes place between the time you walk in my studio and walk back out that door. It is about feeling beautiful, and that is something I believe every person deserves.
I started shooting boudoir photography because I saw the beauty in everyone that came in our door. I believed I could show any person see what I see through my camera. Women tell me they feel they can’t look “that beautiful” because they feel they weigh too much or have too many stretch marks with little to no time for themselves. I love showing them the photos from their shoot and showing that they CAN, in fact, feel beautiful. Seeing their reactions to their transformations changed me. From that moment on, I knew I had found my passion.
I do not photograph naked women!
I mean...I do, but when I think deeply about what I consider my duty to capture, the naked body doesn't come up at all.
I photograph the shift. The "a-ha" moment. The lightbulb. I photograph those very first few moments where you are exploring the meaning of your true beauty. Those moments where you've set aside all of your titles and expectations, and spent some precious time fostering the relationship you have with yourself. I photograph you accepting and celebrating your truth and your imperfectness. I photograph you challenging yourself to be vulnerable and raw, in front of a stranger.
I can't promise that you'll walk out of this experience and never again have a doubt about yourself, or that you'll never shake your fist at your stretch marks again. What I can promise, is that you'll learn that you aren't drowning. That even though you may ride the hot-mess-express every day, life isn't about having it all together. That the number on the scale doesn't define your worth. That there is no high in this world like the one where you know you don't have to change to be beautiful. That if you want to change the very course of your self-love journey, you can.
You'll leave feeling undeniably beautiful and confident; two things you can use as a shield and wear like battle scars, because you paid dearly for them. You fought for them, you rose up for them, and you won.
The Power
In spite of that truth, I choose to go to war. It was always my destiny to lean into the hard; to fight against the lies that we tell ourselves as women. Despite what I believed much of my life, women are incredibly wonderful and beautiful forms.
Even with the tough-as-nails exterior we try to build around us-- our spirits are raw and sensitive, our confidence (no matter how hard we work to sustain it) can waver when someone tampers with it, and sometimes we just don't feel worthy....of anything.
I photograph women because I have witnessed first-hand the transformative power of a photograph. I've seen all of the lies a woman has told herself fade into the background as she sees an image that negates everything she's ever been told she was (or wasn't). I photograph women because I want to provide an experience and a place where I can tell a woman how beautiful she is, and allow her to feel safe enough to believe it.
Even if you aren't right where you want to be right now--with your body, with your relationships, with your job, or with your life in general--it doesn't mean that where you are isn't worth capturing, celebrating, and appreciating.
The Truth
Our boudoir experiences are an invitation for you to be just exactly who you are are, in this moment. I do not photograph "sexy pictures", "porn", or "naked women." I photograph raw, honest portraits of the shift.....the truth of the very moments you realize you can loosen your grip on the lies you tell yourself, the moments you realize you can do anything.
I can't leave without giving Karla Mason the credit for reminding me how much power I truly had. My confidence was rejuvenated on this day in April. I made a huge investment in myself and I couldn't be more happy. I lost a little of myself with each child and almost 15 years of my relationship with Buddy. I didn't realize it until I looked in the mirror last year and saw this exhausted woman trying to put on a forced smile to please everyone but my self. I can tell you know that my cup is overflowing with undeniable love for my family! I have my days when momma needs a break but don't we all??
Thanks for reading and I pray you got this far!
xoxo,
Myesha
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