“Don't you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you can't be exactly who you are.”
― Lady Gaga

This wonderful client booked me to get this session done as a gift for her partner, but also just as an excuse to do it for herself (which is always my favourite: but babes, you don’t need an excuse to treat yourself!) After searching for the perfect outdoor location for her vision, we decided to do the session at her beautiful home (heck yeah: I do house-calls!). I rolled up to her place, and in her yard I saw the most ADORABLE vintage dune buggy just waiting to have a glorious human laying all over it. This session was such an absolute treat! I just adore when clients really lean into who they are and bring all aspects of their personality to a shoot: it just makes them SHINE! This babe really let herself come through in this session, just fully embracing her wonderful country nature! I adore her upbeat energy and am so thankful we got to meet and work together!

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”
― John Lennon

These two came into my life through the good-ol’ internet. After chatting with them in my studio for a couple minutes I realized that I had also been following their photography page, and was smitten with their art. It was a whole lot of fun creating with two magical humans who share my deep appreciation for intimate portraits + creating through vulnerability. We made some serious sizzlin’ fine-tuned magic (I think we shot this set in less than thirty minutes), and I can’t wait to collaborate with them again in the future. This community never ceases to amaze me!

There’s 7.53 billion people on the planet. 7.53 billion unique voices, heartbeats, one of a kind fingerprints. The most sensational and inspiring thing in the world is the people that inhabit it – the power that we each hold to offer the world what no one else can offer it: ourselves.

““Being different will always threaten the institution of understanding of a closed mind. However, evolution is built on difference, changing and the concept of thinking outside the box. Live to be your own unique brand, without apology.”
― Shannon L. Alder”

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to discover our true selves – how truly daunting and difficult that task can be. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately because I’ve been meeting a lot of strangers lately who have seen my work, read my words, been touched in someway by what I do. (I say strangers: what I mean is friends I didn’t know I had yet). It baffles me that by being my silly, weird, naked self I’ve managed to create a brand and community that helps lift others up… something that 4 years ago, I could never have imagined would have gotten this far.

But… my favourite part of this whole wild ride? Is that by marching to the beat of my own drum (which, by the way, is regularly off-beat and a little hard to follow), I’ve had so many other unique individuals march their way into my life and dance beside me for a while. We’ve shared laughs, growth, giggles, silly dance moves, and a dream for the future where people celebrate themselves unapologetically.

Here’s to all of you: dancing your own dances, prancing along your own unique path, and touching hearts as you do so. Thank you for dancing along with me, even if just through internet-land.

And without further ado… a session from a few months ago with one of the most magical + unapologetic self-drummers I’ve had the chance to meet. This babe and her session will always have a dear place in my heart (seriously: anyone who comes in and asks if they can cut up their clothes for sensual art will always get me jumping for joy ~hint hint nudge nudge let’s cut up your clothes for art~)

*content warning: this blog post contains a woman in all her glory unashamedly celebrating the natural body she was born in. It features photos of what our culture has determined are evil parts of the natural femme form: nipples. Viewing these images may cause you to question the beliefs our culture has taught us about our anatomy, and make you exclaim 'whoa, what a badass’. Proceed with caution.

“There is a need to find and sing our own song, to stretch our limbs and shake them in a dance so wild that nothing can roost there, that stirs the yearning for solitary voyage.”
― Barbara Lazear Ascher

This was a creative project that has been percolating in the back of my mind for a while now – waiting for the right location + collaborative model to help bring it to life. Enter: Madeline. Professionally trained on pointe and in contortion, I knew Madeline and I would be able to make some weird, spooky, other-worldly magic.

“Gamache knew people were like homes. Some were cheerful and bright, some gloomy. Some could look good on the outside but feel wretched on the interior. And some of the least attractive homes, from the outside, were kindly and warm inside.

He also knew the first few rooms were for public consumption. It was only in going deeper that he'd find the reality. And finally, inevitably, there was the last room, the one we keep locked, and bolted and barred, even from ourselves. Especially from ourselves.”
― Louise Penny, The Cruelest Month

I wanted to create something not focused on beauty – I spend most of my time creating art for others that helps showcase people in their best light, so that they can use those feelings to draw inspiration from and channel into their daily lives. Beautiful, important work that I hold close to my heart and cherish beyond measure. However this time, I wanted to focus on the opposing darkness. If I spend most of my time casting people in their best light, this time I wanted to cast someone in their best dark. We spend a lot of our time as women, as humans, as people, putting on a mask and showing the world our best face. The vision of ourselves that we have subconsciously been curating for acceptance. Painted walls and facades that we, usually unknowingly, are constantly creating and destroying in order to excel in our culture. But we all hold crumbling buildings inside of us: pieces and parts we’ve long neglected the upkeep for, that still stand in our hearts as a decaying building stands forgotten in the wild of the forest. We are each a story of light and dark. And sometimes we need to celebrate those last rooms that we keep locked and barred from the world, and ourselves. Openly dance in between the crumbling walls and peeling paints: each room in our hearts is a piece of us. Our best light, and our best dark: working together to create ever evolving masterpieces.

“Loving yourself isn’t vanity. It’s sanity.” – Andre Gide

I see quite a few clients who initially think of boudoir because they wanted to get it as a gift to their partner for birthday, wedding, Christmas, etc. One of my favourite parts of these sessions is watching as the initial concept of a gift for someone else inevitably becomes a gift to themselves. Boudoir photography is such a fun and sexy surprise for a lover, but it’s so much more than that. It becomes an experience that changes each client, either in a small way just for a temporary amount of time, or significantly for life. I’ve seen every side of the spectrum. It always fills me up to watch a client see their photos and gasp as they realize just how much power they hold inside them at all times. This amazing woman was no exception. She came into my studio to get photos as a gift, and ended up gifting herself as well. (And I also got to steal her into my heart as someone I admire and adore because she’s a super rad adorable nerd and just all around rad lady!)

Every client has a different story. Every person has a different struggle with their body. We all have unique vessels, and therefore it’s no surprise that our own individual journeys within them vary hugely. Toxic culture and body shame affects us all – not one of us is immune to it. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from this job so far, it’s that society wreaks havoc on all of our psyche. So when I get to capture these photos with people and we work through deconstructing that toxic narrative together… it means the world. When the amazing people I get to work with choose to share their story and what their photos mean to them, it adds fuel to my fire to keep persevering and sharing this message with the world.

I met this amazing woman while I was in Nicaragua working with Momentom Collective. Instantly, I was drawn to her bubbly and positive energy. She had a way of talking to you that makes you feel heard, supported, loved, and understood. I tried acro yoga for the first time with her as one of my partners, and it was an amazing experience being physically supported by her while also feeling like she had me emotionally supported as well throughout that process. Just an amazing woman with an infinite heart.

I am going to let her own words and images speak through the rest of this post. She has a special part in my heart, and I know she will have one in yours as well.

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When I was in Nicaragua, I did a thing. I (a little nervously) stripped down on the beach with [Molly] and it was a lot of fun. Sharing this photo today, I had something in mind to say, but in this moment something totally different wants to come out.

My 37 year old self is at long last loving and celebrating this incredible collection of muscles and skin and bones it gets to call home. I sob writing this today for my 22 year old self, trapped by anorexia, bulimia, and anxiety. That hard, determined, young woman who was more like a child- 99 pounds, wearing children’s size 12 jeans, with fleece pants underneath because she couldn’t ever stay warm. Because she didn’t know how to love what she saw in the mirror. She didn’t know it was ok to be imperfect. She was lonely, and ashamed, and masterful at controlling what others perceived. I remember the overwhelming feeling that it might all fall apart, that the wall I built so methodically would crumble and reveal me. That this person or that person could see through the cracks and would find out my giant secret... I resolved then, that even if it was hard, I would have to keep it up. Forever.

I didn’t know how to feel safe in my body. I certainly didn’t know how to feel safe and accepted in the world. It all started to loosen it’s grip on me when I was 26... By then, I had been tangled into disordered eating for 6 years, and body dysmorphia for much longer.

But like a fist that’s been clenched shut for too long, the softening and healing took years. And the ability to talk about that time in my life has only come recently. Like it’s finally far away enough in the rear view mirror to admit that it was real.

And I am kinda terrified to share these words here... but the ability to name what I experienced and connect to the emotions I still hold around that time... I believe shines a light into that dark space inside myself. Allows the healing to keep spreading spreading like wildflowers. From my yard to the yard of anyone that needs this healing too.
And so I share [this] today. Because I’m laughing and not only at ease, but HAPPY in this magnificent body. And the light is just so beautiful in this photo -shining behind me, like every part of my past until now. Illuminating the person I am today. A person who is committed to growing and loving and being REAL, imperfections and all.

Onward with LOVE.