Being undressed in front of someone while they take pictures of you may sound like a literal nightmare. And I hear that. But here's the thing. In my later 20s and now that I'm a wise 30-year-old, I've slowly been learning and practicing self-love. For me, self-love isn't easy. It's a daily struggle. Heck, it's even a minute-by-minute struggle some days.
My dearest Emily is an outstanding human being and an equally amazing photographer. She started doing boudoir a couple years ago but more recently started doing mini sessions. If you're ever interested, she has a Facebook group (The Underwear Diaries by Emily Isakson Photography) for women only where we all can be real, talk about struggles, lift each other up and be badass babes.
Are you on the fence and need a little convincing? Here are some reasons why I booked my boudoir photoshoot:
1. Fake it 'til you make it? I feel like I often go by this mantra. On days I'm not feeling entirely cheery, I force myself to be until I get in a better mood. There are days I don't love my body and I only see the flaws. On those days I change the narrative and force myself to give the person looking in the mirror 3 compliments. These are the days I can look back on my day of the shoot and I'll instantly remember how good I felt and how fun it was.
2. Timing. I had been toying with the idea of doing a shoot with Emily, but a big reason I finally did it was my turning 30 this year The mini sessions were literally booked on the day of my birthday party so I figured it was a sign and I knew my hair would be looking fly already ;)
3. To celebrate women. The best part of my day was being Emily's assistant after my session was done. I got to be the hype girl for the rest of the day's sessions and I just LOVED it. And what I loved, even more, was to see how different each woman was, and how undeniably themselves they all were.
4. Because the game was changed. When I say "boudoir," what pops into your head may be a pin-up style girl in heels, right? The thing I love about Emily's style is that she takes what people think of boudoir should be and makes it real. She encourages people to wear what makes them feel amazing and that could be anything. Yeah, you could go buy a matching lingerie set. But how about just wearing something you already own? If you only feel comfortable wearing sweatpants and a bra — go for it! I didn't want pictures of me dressing up as someone else. I wanted photos of me, being me, looking like me, wearing things that I own and are comfortable. And that's what I got.
5. Because I wanted to. I mean, this could really be reasons 1 through a million.
If this felt like one big ad for Emily, sorry not sorry! I am all of my friends' biggest, loudest fans and rightly so. Here's a peep at some of my photos. No, you don't get to see them all because they're not for you or anyone else, they're for me.
