As a creative, I really recharge and thrive on personal projects that allow me to try out/practice new techniques or types of sessions that I otherwise wouldn’t normally do with a client. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE photographing boudoir clients and couples, but sometimes it is nice to throw in a project that allows me to be completely driven by an idea I’ve had or a message I want to convey through the portraits. This was one of those projects for me. This project was one I dreamed about creating over and over for about year when it was finally brought to life. The women involved in creating these portraits are such inspiring women who truly know what is meant by “empowered women empower women”. I am damn proud to know them, to support them, and to have their support myself.

 

With this particular project, I chose to focus on the beauty that lies within diverse women supporting one another, empowering one another, and acknowledging equality amongst each other, as well as embracing their physical attributes that make them who they are. I am constantly inspired by the women around me and I want to make sure that my brand and my little corner on the internet is an empowering place for women and people from all different backgrounds. Each of the women in these photographs comes from a different background, they are of different ethnicities, different religions, morals and ideas. Together we’ve created portraits bringing light to what female empowerment means to us. It is about respecting and supporting another woman and her RIGHT to have different faiths, morals, and ideas. It is about women omitting comparisons amongst themselves. You’ve probably heard sayings along the lines of, ‘real women have curves, muscles, morals, etc…’ but we are ALL REAL WOMEN and we have to show appreciation for ourselves and for other women exactly as we are.

 

The things that make us unique are the things that make us powerful, and if we just joined forces with those strengths and chose to empower ourselves and the women in our communities, can you imagine what a difference we would make? I’m motivated by the simple fact that I have the ability to make a difference, even if it is seemingly small. I’ve decided to use my brand to focus on female empowerment, body positivity and equality. I no longer agree to client requests to remove things like stretch marks, or beauty marks, or body “reshaping”. I instead learn of my client’s favorite parts of themselves, wether that be their smile, their stomach, their collar bone or booty, and we focus on highlighting those parts of them in their portraits. But I also encourage my clients to try and embrace the parts of them that they have been taught are “not ideal” and I refuse to remove anything from them in their portraits that isn’t a permanent part of who they are. I photograph women with all different skin tones and body types, from all different backgrounds, of all different faiths.

 

As we all know, social media is such a powerful thing and I am striving to make my little corner on the internet a place of love and acceptance, a place where women can feel supported and be supportive one project/portrait session at a time <3

 

 

HMU: Victoria Barta, Rae Artistry // Najahre Martin, independant makeup artist

Models: Margaret R. // Keli R. // Dominique M. // Carmen M. // Brandi G. // Yuan Yuan //