Casual & Stylish Boudoir Session | Vancouver Boudoir Photographer

I try, I try so hard to keep up on blogging.

I had a client recently say to me in an email, "sorry for all the hand-holding" regarding outfit choice consultation. It was an interesting comment because I think as women, we are taught to apologize a lot when asking for our needs or requests to be met. Not all women are like this, of course - but we have been conditioned over years to feel guilt over asking for what we want; we are taught to put the needs of others first.

This, in part, is what makes women so interesting and beautiful - how selfless they can be. I can't not appreciate that quality in another person, selflessness. It's really amazing when, in our Western world heavily driven by capitalism, we see these little glimmers of purity and gentleness and integrity. Let's admire that quality for a moment, before we move onto looking at this from another angle - thank you to all of our beautiful friends and mothers who will put themselves aside and be generous with themselves and their hearts. Thank you to my mom, in particular for that as well. I have the best mom.

The downside to this, though, is that we as women, or some of us, can get confused about when it is "appropriate" to request help or support. In turn, we tend to not trust ourselves and our inner emotional lives. This can wreak all kinds of havoc on us, when we are invalidated in this way. It makes us run in circles trying to find the "answer" to the questions, "Should this be bothering me? Am I over-reacting? Am I being annoying? Am I over-thinking?" and clarity and balance becomes hard to find. If you ever find yourself in this position, I encourage you to hide out with yourself for a bit and just spend time looking at what you're feeling. Or, rather, spend time feeling it. Ask yourself, what does this feeling feel like? It's the first step to finding clarity and understanding within yourself. Also, if any of you have booked a session with me or are planning to, please ask me what I mean by this and we'll do the exercise together. I will teach you what this means, how to do it, and how it can help you (it's hard for me to describe here without sounding like hokey new-age babble - trust me when I say I'm results driven so I wouldn't teach you something that I didn't find for myself effective).

I'm a busy person obsessed with my work, and I try to reply to every email promptly and be there 110% for my clients. I'd like to say I'm fairly good at this, even though I get swamped at times just trying to keep up. But, one of the reasons I do this work is to help clients style their sessions, make purchasing choices, and to generally co-create their stories through photos. So, in short, I like all that "hand-holding" (I don't see it that way, hence the quotations!) and all that one-on-one consult time. I just think women are so goddamned awesome, I want to learn about everyone's stories and what's going on in their world. So, email away! Just don't be nervous if I don't get back to you for a day or two, you're not bugging me, I'm just trying to be there for everyone in this way. I love what I do, I think you're cool AF, and I'm here for you.

So what, do you ask, do the photos from this boudoir session have to do with anything I'm saying? Well, nothing, really, I'm just giving you some insight into my WHY because I myself am pretty private and know my clients are also, meaning that I don't want to give too much away about this beautiful woman and friend. You know, keep all that info low to the ground. But I will tell you what I admire so much about this girl - she's BRILLIANT, level-headed, emotionally together, and destined for a ton of success in her life. I'm so inspired by her intelligence, beauty, maturity, and strength. Thank you for sharing your inner-world with me, sweets! It was a pleasure to shoot your boudoir session and I hope we stay friends for a long, long time.