WHY DO WE EVEN NEED CLOTHES AT ALL?
Accepting your body doesn't happen when you have the perfect body. It happens when you stop caring about what other people think about your body and start choosing yourself regardless of what stage you're in.
Women are always being told they need to look a certain way or they need to dress a certain way and the only way that they can be desirable is to be skinny and the only way they can be as good as the women in magazines is to fix something about themselves.
But if they think they're pretty then they're seen as vain and arrogant. It's a toxic cycle.
So for a lot of these women, seeing an absolutely stunning picture of themselves is the first time that they're able to say 'wow I actually am beautiful'.... and that feeling, that emotion is worth an infinite amount of money. It can literally change someones life.
Is this you? …
She's been told her whole life, she isn't as pretty as the women she sees in magazines.
She's exhausted because all of her time and effort is put towards her kids.
She's been told that women are put on this Earth for the pleasure of men but if she decides she wants to show off her body, she's shamed.
She's been conditioned to pick apart evry single part of her body
and then she sees a photo that challanges all of that and finally she has the strength to love the person that she is.
This moment is a moment that will stay with her forever.
This feeling is worth thousands.
WHY DO WE EVEN NEED CLOTHES AT ALL?
I asked this question in our Facebook group earlier this week and answers ranged from
“To stop Suzie the spaniel scratching my legs” to “Because it’s bloody chilly” to “Because I don’t feel comfortable with people seeing me without clothes” - I wondered how many women use clothes to hide behind rather than to protect themselves from the environment.
Of course clothes have practical uses, for warmth and nettle protection and for fashionable looks etc.... but after talking about this to dozens of people and photographing many more, even in ideal, warm, dry conditions we would still wear them.
Largely because of 'shame'. That negative emotion associated with negative self evaluation.
We feel we're not quite perfect enough somehow and don't want others to see our imperfections.
Teenagers are shamed with naked pics of themselves on social media passed around via mobile phones. Taunted by their class'mates'.
Plus, all the messages from every quarter of society telling us what's perfect and what's not, clearly sending out the message us that 'we're not perfect'! We’re told that celebrities such as Kim Kardashian are 'perfect' (Hello, with that much plastic, she's actually giving the ocean's fish life palpitations! )
Why are we so scared of being seen naked?
Shouldn’t we should try and improve our body image and accept our flaws and realise every 'body' is perfect?
If parents like us can be more forgiving of ourselves then maybe some of that acceptance will trickle down to our teenagers.
In a nutshell, this is why we love the art of Boudoir so much despite being told we should shoot more weddings and family portraits.
When people see their boudoir pictures they often cry with joy.
They realise, sometimes for the first time, that they do look beautiful.
It's like a kind of healing process that doesn't happen in other forms of portraiture.
It really is so empowering for so many.
