Once you become a mother, you go through so many changes. Your body isn't the same as it once was. Your goals and priorities change, sometimes drastically. It becomes easy for us to get "lost in the sauce!" as my most recent client/ mother would call it.
When shooting with women, especially mothers, I feel an obligation to make them special. To make them comfortable and to allow them the opportunity to see how beautiful they truly are through motivation and honesty! I am there to be a cheerleader behind the lens. With constant affirmations that they are killing it!
"Yaassss Aliya!" was what could be heard over the beat of the music. We were vibing. After showing her a few photos I captured and giving a few simple posing tips we were cooking. Aliya, worked the camera like a seasoned model. I told Aliya once the shoot was done. Girl you are so beautiful, you are a total MILF! I was extremely happy and I needed her to know how great of a job she did. Aliya, like many of us moms, needed a reminder that she was a queen.
My own experience: At 2 months post par-tum from my 3rd child, my sister and photographer, Zina Franklin came to visit me and captured me in what I felt to be my most vulnerable state. We did a boudoir session right in the security of my home. I will never forget the feeling the images gave me as I scrolled through the album weeks later. This is the exact feeling I want all of my clients to have when they see images of themselves.
The morning I sent Aliya her images, it was clear that I had accomplished just that:
"Yeeeessss you get it!!! With all the changes with being a mother and in a long term relationship, its easy to get lost in the sauce. feeling obligated to put everyone before yourself. Its so easy to fade away from beauty that was so recognizable in the beginning. Then lets not forget the women that are flaunted around that just look perfect. But this right HERE, THIS RIGHT HERE gave me a piece of me back that I thought I lost. And Im happy I decided to do this for me! Finding me again is a journey and YOU gave me something here. Thank you for helping me on my journey to getting back to me and falling in love with myself again. IM FEELING MYSELF FEELIN FEELIN MYSELF * YONCE VOICE*" - Aliya