Why I Am A Spiritual Photographer
There is a void in the women’s boudoir photography market.
Boudoir photographers are only catering to one kind of person, the ‘perfect body’. And the rest of us are not only under represented but not understood. These photographers often dont know how to photograph ‘normal bodies’ and they don’t cater to those who want a shoot but are nervous to.
It’s not personable.
When you think of full nude or boudoir photography, is your first thought; ‘Oh heck yes, I’m stunning, sign me up!’ or is it something like ‘Oh, that’s beautiful but I’m not photogenic..’ or maybe ‘My body wont look that good on camera.’?
We have some fears, whether that be body image insecurties, not trusting anyone enough to be nude on camera, maybe being judged, or even shaming ourselves. Truth is, we are all worthy, we care on some level what people think of us, and we need to feel safe in order to put our walls down a bit.
As a kid, I grew up in a pretty conservative household with patriarcal beliefs. I never saw my parents go on date nights or self- indulge for themselves and I realize now that connects directly with how they disaplined me. I’ll spare you the details, but in a nutshell my parents projected anger. . . a lot. Here’s what I learned about this later as an adult:
Self-care IS NOT selfish, you present your best self when you feel energized and happy.
It is vital that we kudos our own accomplishments in order to contribute to feeling good about ourselves.
We have to cut ties with societies expectations of us to live a fulfilled life.
We are enough, no matter what we do or don’t do. What we look like or what we don’t look like.
Bringing together these things cultivated a business I have never seen or heard of before. I didn’t see photographers investing time getting to know their clients, validating their feelings and experiences in meetings with them, or taking anytime with them at all before or after the shoot . Why not??
It seems so simple, but it’s not practiced. Listening to someone, validating them directly contributes to people feeling much more comfortable, excited even, to having a photoshoot. I wanted to provide that for the folks who just needed to be heard.
Results of this included:
Being less stressed day to day.
More patience and compassionate for loved ones in our life.
Embracing themselves for who they are in this moment.
Being more assertive about their needs.
Cultivating loving and respectful relationships with others.
Stopping self-negating thoughts.
Ever hear ‘You can only love another person as much as you love youself?’ My sole motivation is to remind people who the f**k they are. We get sucked into others expectations of us and often forget our power. Sometimes we just need a reminder, someone to come along and help us see past the bullshit, listen to our concerns and then get after it. When I help people step into their power, there is literally nothing stopping them from creating a world they feel joyfull in. The world can change with confident, unapologetic, happy people. You deserve to be happy, full of joy and stress-free. That’s all I want for you, and it’s ok to have a little help. That’s why I’m here.
Self-Worth, Self-Love & Boudoir
2,305 Likes, 41 Comments - Stephanie Chinn (she/her) (@stephaniechinnart) on Instagram: "We are changing, our bodies are changing, everything is changing and feels uncertain. But your..."
When it comes to self-worth, it can be hard for a lot of women to find theirs. From childhood we are taught to have certain beliefs and expectations around what it means to be a woman. Be lady-like, don’t be too aggressive, be kind but not a door mat, be smart, but don’t intimidate others…
When it comes to finding our self-worth we tend to tie it to things like our looks, how productive we are or even to how others views of us. We somehow believe that it’s a destination we have to work tirelessly to achieve. We work hard and harder the next day to achieve that to-do list or reducing our pant size. Losing these love handles, making our thighs slimmer, or our booties bigger.
How do we find self-worth within ourselves? What does it look like to not be influenced by society or even family on how we SHOULD look? How do we listen to our own voices?? How do we truly embody it, in our head AND heart? And if it doesn’t come from these places, where does it come from?
You may or may not like the answer. You literally have the power inside you right now, right this second as you’re reading this.
I know I know, ‘Are you kidding Amanda? What kind of 90’s sitcom sh!t is that!?’ ‘It’S INsIDe yOu aLL AlOng’. BUT HEAR ME OUT. There is no power left for yourself when you’re giving it to others. When we give people the power to tell us how to live our life we relinquish it from ourselves. Have you ever seen that video ‘Be A Lady’? It is painstakingly apparent that we have these absolutely IMPOSSIBLE standards to meet, that it sounds absurd to hear them back to back. It might be a first step in the direction of cutting those influential ties and saving our own sanity.
‘Be A Lady’
When we starting cutting those ties we are creating a new energy like no other for self-love. Choosing not to listen any longer and say in the face of society ‘that’s not realistic and I’m not going to listen to that’ will create huge shifts in your life. Waking up everyday and finding something you love about yourself will do the same thing. What all these small actions are doing is building a stronger foundation of self-love and power to listen to your own voice and blocking out the negative ones trying to come in.
You can choose to continue on the long draining road of achieving your ‘dream body’ or can show it acts of love by going for that run as a show of gratitude not punishment. Have you ever looked back at a old photo of you and say to yourself ‘Wow, I looked amazing back then, now I’m troll.’ Guess what . . . the cycle doesn’t stop until you choose it to. You can continue on that round-about every few years never truly loving your body or you can start loving yourself and be happier today, here and now!
We need to start taking responsibility for our own well being, because frankly no one will do it for us. You are worthy of the hard work it takes to be happy, only you can give yourself that permission.