Every time I post an image or blog post of some bad ass boudy babe, I get comments or acknowledgements like "OMG, you are so brave" or "I would be so scared to do that" and while I am not denying that getting in front of a relative stranger is scary as shit, it is one of those empowering experiences that you look back on and say "I don't know why I was so worried" and "I am SO glad I did this!" So, while I can sit here and go on and on about why you shouldn't let fear hold you back from anything, most of all a boudoir session with moi, I will let my past boudy babes share THEIR fearless stories. {Remember, fearless isn't about the lack of fear, but rather doing something DESPITE the fear!}
"I would tell him/her to remember that there is fire inside him/her and to try and remember how bright it burned before it was stifled with doubt. Then pour some gasoline on that bitch and gitter done.""I tell my kids all the time that it's ok to be scared because it means you're going to do something really brave. Also, you have so much to gain from the experience!""Don't be hard on yourself. Being uncomfortable is part of the journey. It is necessary for you to feel what you are feeling, freely and without judgement from yourself first and foremost. Be trusting to those around you, and be vulnerable. Society teaches us to fit a mould and to nitpick at ourselves if we don't fit it to it's entirety. Your session allows you to break free from that, so embrace yourself for all that you are, and all that you are not. It's both rebellious and empowering to do so!""There is something so reassuring about the way Teri runs as session. I felt more at ease, more comfortable, more free with Teri just by the way she interacts with you. You know she's "a safe place", you know she "gets it", and you've seen how amazing Teri's work is..... The session is about you, how beautiful you are, and how truly transformative and empowering the session can be. Just be honest with Teri about how you feel, and she'll bring out the amazing woman in you that everyone else sees."
"Trust in teri but more importantly trust in yourself! She is the artist but remember you are the canvas, a work of art. I understand being nervous or scared but just let it all go. Close your eyes, breath out the crap and breath in the gold and let yourself transform!""Let loose and embrace yourself and your body. Bring that outfit that you feel amazing in and I guarantee your confidence will shine through. Don't think about what others will think about your photos. Just keep in mind this is a time to get dressed up and treat yourself! It's an amazing experience. You'll have the jitters at first I am sure. Just remember that your beautiful,sexy, smart and intelligent! A woman who is strong and powerful!""There is something amazing about being vulnerable and then realizing that the person you're with is only there to make you feel amazing. I didn't realize how much it means to have another woman tell you how beautiful you are until I was mostly naked with Teri Hahaha. It was so cool, and an experience I'm always anxious to share with others."
"Just do it!! Embrace being scared and nervous and trust in Teri! She knows what she is doing, and you will look amazing and feel so confident after the photoshoot! Trust the process and just put your trust in her and have fun!""That allowing yourself to be vulnerable is the birthplace of innovation, change and growth. It's the cornerstone of confidence and to quote Brene Brown, "we are wired to be brave; that's why we never feel more alive than when we're being courageous".""Best thing I ever did for myself! I was almost sick with nervousness even though I knew I was in good hands. The excitement from the reveal boosted my energy and lasted weeks! It's a great feeling to be excited about yourself for a change. Absolutely love my pictures.""You will rediscover yourself. The whole time I'm standing there talking to a woman I just met while wearing lingerie and all I could think was, why don't I feel weird right now? Like I could just drink a coffee and chat with Teri in my underwear like it was the most natural thing."
" I would tell that someone that sometimes you need to let yourself be vulnerable to someone else so that they can see all the beautiful incredible things you are for you to see them. You are strong enough, brave enough and fierce enough for this and soooo much more. Believe in yourself and the rest will fall into place. Best thing I ever did...forever grateful....""It's exciting and nerve-wracking which is perfectly normal , within minutes of Teri snapping pics you forget the nerves disappear your doing things in positions you've never would have thought striping your clothes off with ease to change outfits and then your done and you think that's it that wasn't so bad. And you will be nervous again once it's time to reveal Teri will give you the low down ..you will be 100%convinced you won't like 1 picture ...then they are on the screen , you will need to pick your jaw up off the floor and you will say Shit! Is that me that bitch on the screen is Fierce and beautiful and sexy and it's you and you will be wanting ALL the pictures .. and then you will be an hooked and will want to take pictures all the time !!!""Grab life by the lady balls and be fierce! Teri will be your spirit guide and you will feel so empowered!! 
❤️ no regrets.""And on those days in the trenches raising toddlers where I haven't showered or shaved or worn makeup for days, I just open my boudy book of photos to remind myself that I'm a god damn GODDESS!"
"1) It's okay to feel scared.2) It feels so great to be brave.3) Teri is magical and makes you feel so at ease it's crazy.4) You will feel empowered and like a total boss for a very long time after the shoot. (Possibly indefinitely)5) You only see the good photos.6) Again, Teri is magical. (Like a Teri Godmother or something)7) You get to look at your awesome babely photos of yourself later and be like "Holy shit, that's me, I'm a mu'fuckin' babe!"8) You are beautiful, and strong, and worth it, (and all the other good things) and you should go for it!9) Seriously, just go for it.10) Doooooo it.""You are worth it. Regardless of how much you love or hate your body features, Teri goes beyond the physical aspect. She gets ya in the feels. Inside you feel fierce. You come out seeing those physical features in a different way. The environment is safe and empowering. Teri truly invests her time in you. Shouldn't you do the same thing?"
While these are just a few of the stories to come out of the Boudy Babes, I promise you that every woman who experiences an empowerment boudoir experience emerges with renewed self confidence, a wee bit of pride, and an acknowledgment that she is one sexy, bad ass babe ready to take on the world. I hope the words from these babes will quell some of that fear that stops you from pushing the contact button or lets you procrastinate until "one day when..." So, when you are ready to give the middle finger to fear, I am here and I am ready to give you one of the most empowering experiences of your life!
It's Personal {body positivity, that is} ~ Winnipeg Body Image Activism
While this post may be better suited for my other page, iammorethanjustabody.com, the website isn't up yet, so you get to hear about it here. There has been a lot of chatter on my photography page and within my VIP group in regards to body positivity and all that jazz, especially since I posted the advertisement below, so I thought I would expand on my feels in this post.
I was called out by a fellow photographer for "not really promoting body positivity" with this ad because it features a relatively muscular man. So, first of all, the ad was NOT looking for men of all body types, but rather for someone who wants to photograph men, so the dude in the photo is just there for an example of the kind of work that I do. Secondly, body image is not reserved for the unfit only. Let me say it again: BODY IMAGE IS NOT RESERVED FOR THE UNFIT ONLY. Men like to feel bad ass, hot af, and feel confident so I am not to say who is or isn't allowed to enjoy a body positive experience. While I tried to get these points across to the gentleman that decided to hijack my post, he still remained pretty certain that only "fat" people can be body positive. Sigh.
Body positivity & self image are extremely personal, so with the intent put on "fixing society" we are never, ever going to accomplish this. This is like assigning a colored t-shirt to a particular day in an effort to "fix the problem" but in fact, people continue to bully because the problem is not the color of the shirt a bully wears, it's in their mental attitude. So, when it comes to fixing society to stop marginalizing certain groups, we literally have to start within ourselves and become the leaders and champions of our own lives, which in turn will inspire others. Is this easy? God, no. Is it worth it? Of course.
So, what does this mean? This means that if I, as a person OF society, want to make a change in the way body image is perceived, then I have to start with myself. Why is it okay for me to call myself disgusting, but as soon as someone else does it, SOCIETY needs to change? If every person did the inner work necessary to heal themselves and get to the root of their problems there would probably be a lot less hatred in the world. But people don't. Because it's hard. If we stopped pushing ourselves down, then maybe we could move forward from all of this bullshit.
Something I refer to a lot in my talks, is that women ARE to blame. Who keeps buying the magazines that tell us we look and feel like shit, so buy this product to feel/be/look better? We do! 85% of the diet industry is funded by women hoping for a quick fix to achieve an "idealistic body". So, yah, when we say it's society that's the problem...it is...because society is US.
When I stated that body positivity was not reserved for fat people, I had a few people speak up about how while it is not reserved for fat people, it came about due to the fat acceptance movement. My interpretation of that comment was that because the fat acceptance movement played a part in body positivity, it means that fat people should have the recognition for it, so when promoting body positive things we should showcase "fat people". But body image goes way beyond size, shape and so on. Body image encompasses how each individual perceives himself/herself within society (whether or not it is a factual representation of their body, it is their PERCEPTION) and bodies are made up of more than just fat and skin. It just seems that our preoccupation with body image in this day and age is surrounding sizeism. The fat acceptance movement didn't really happen until a few years ago, but I believe there were people fighting for body positivity well before then: people fighting for skin color and the right to be seen as equal, people fighting for gender equality and the right to be seen as equal, and people fighting for disability rights and the right to be seen as equal, etc. All of these things started LONG before the fat acceptance movement, and were different aspects of BODY IMAGE & EMBRACING A PERSON'S IDENTITY. I am certainly not taking away from the work that the fat acceptance movement has provided in terms of body positivity in the most recent years, but I think that we need to understand that by making it seem as though body positivity has to do with size only, we are neglecting the other marginalized groups of people and disrespecting the people that are perceived as being "normal" to society when they do have body image issues.
The thing, I think we forget, is that we all come to the table with our own "glasses" on. Essentially, the way we have always seen our lives, the way we look at our pasts, the way we compare ourselves and others, etc. will play a big part on how our body image reflects in our minds. (Again, this is why it's a personal thing). For example, someone who is 105 lbs and suddenly gains 30lbs due to an unknown reason, may find themselves comparing their new body to an old one and will probably feel fat. So, to this person, she may think of herself as fat, but to someone like me who is 250lbs I would be more inclined to tell her otherwise. But again, I CANNOT TELL SOMEONE HOW THEY SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT FEEL.
Then people say "HEY! Fat isn't a bad word" and this is correct. But, what has happened is that we have conditioned ourselves to use the word fat as an umbrella term in place of how we actually feel. For example, perhaps you eat a lot of salty pizza and lots of ice cream (which is delicious in the moment!), but then the next day you feel bloated and uncomfortable. We would standardly say "uuuuuugh...I'm having a fat day" when in fact you KNOW you can't possibly have gained fat that quickly, but instead you are probably feeling: lethargic, bloated, uncomfortable, dehydrated, maybe guilty because you have an unhealthy relationship with food, etc. but we sum that up with "FAT" because that is what WE, as society, have bought into. Every time we watch a commercial, read a magazine, or scroll through our newsfeeds we have reminders telling us how shitty we must feel when we are "fat" and if we don't stop to critically think where those messages are coming from, we internalize it and then believe it as true, and we continue to spend the money on the establishments that "promises to save us" from ourselves.
So, I got a bit off topic there, but I needed to explain that body positivity is for EVERY body. I cannot tell someone who is 10lbs thinner than me that they are not allowed to be body positive because they aren't as fat as me. That just doesn't make sense to the phrase BODY POSITIVE. I cannot tell someone if they fall into the fat category or not, because that would be just as terrible as going to the doctor and telling them you have to "fit into this particular category" in order to be deemed healthy (and this fatty know how shitty that feels). As a boudoir photographer and body image activist it is NOT my place to determine someone's level of body image acceptance. 
If someone comes to me and tells me they have struggled with their body image their whole life and they are 110lbs I am not going to say "Girl, you have nothing to worry about" because she DOES have something to worry about...she has to worry about the unhealthy relationship that she is having with her body and that it is resulting in preventing her from understanding her worth because her confidence is so low. She has to be concerned that over 13 times a day she is saying negative shit to herself that further compounds her feelings. She has to worry that she is developing an eating disorder because she feels she is "not allowed" to talk about her body image issues because of her petite size. My job as a body image activist is not to turn her away because she "isn't fat enough"...it's to embrace, understand, and be an ally to her as she works on herself to understand that even though her body IS good enough, her body is only a fraction of the awesome equation that makes her her. If a woman weighs 210lbs+ and and says she hates her body, I am going to give her 100% of the same treatment, respect, and understanding. It is not my place to tell someone how they can and cannot feel about their bodies, nor should it be yours.
We, as individuals, can only work from within and work on ourselves. We can critically think about the mass messages and not buy into the shit we are being fed. We can stop buying waist trainers, cosmetic surgery procedures, and products that are aimed to "fix" us...because as a business owner I know, that if there is no $$ coming in, you will go out of business---supply and demand and all that. The only way to change society is to ultimately focus on yourself...are you being judgemental? Are you pushing other people down to help yourself? Are you buying products in an effort to increase your self worth? Are you sharing memes online that promote shaming in any capacity? Or are you calling people out for doing this sort of shit? I promise that once you start to focus on your own contribution to society, you will start to see that the change may actually begin with you.
After that long-winded explanation this is why I firmly believe that body positivity is for every body and should not be reserved for a certain "type." Essentially, in order for us to change the society that we curse so much, we must look within ourselves and start the change from there. After all, as Ghandi says "Be the change, you wish to see in the world."
Empowering Emerald {curvy inspiration session} ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photographer
EEEEE!!! I am beyond stoked for everything that is coming down the pipe for 2017! One of the coolest things, is that myself and my cohort Lindsay Rae of Lindsay Rae Photography in New York are co-hosting a variety of workshops specializing in photographing women with curves and creating curves for those babes who are more athletically built! A side effect of our awesome niche, is that we also both utilize the same premium album company to provide our clients with gorgeous, long lasting products for our clients to preserve their gorgeous images and therefore, we have created our own album line coming out next year called Confident Curves. To get one of the samples made, I threw together a kick ass shoot with the gorgeous Miss C (who has been featured a few times on the site!) to celebrate our Empowering Emerald cover - a gorgeous "crocodile" looking leather cover in emerald.
This is only ONE of a multitude of gorgeous covers that will be coming in the new year with a variety of confidence-inspiring names! But anyhow, let's get to the goods! Check out this epic inspiration session shoot with Miss C, inspired by the dark hues of the winter season: burgundy, eggplant, and emerald. A lot of the outfits you will see come from Adore Me!! PS. You will also see Miss C as the cover girl of our 2017 Welcome Packages!!
She Finally Saw Herself ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photographer
For years my sister and I have been told we "look so much alike" yet we couldn't be any different if we tried. She is a curvy, petite babe and I am a rectangular, tall babe, she is feisty (we called her Taz when she was little) and stubborn and I give no fucks and am a bit more relaxed. The one thing we do have in common, though, is how much we need each other in our lives. The quote "You keep me wild, I'll keep you safe" is one that resonates for me when it comes to our relationship. I have always been the free-spirited hippie and though she is chronologically younger than me, she acts older, making me eat fruit instead of cookies and all that. Like any sibling relationship, it hasn't always been rosy. There are times when our Barbies would be hurled across the room at each other, she got creative with my Macauly Culkin poster, and I passive aggressively made her do my bidding. I wouldn't change it for the world. As the years have gone by and we both "matured" into the adults we are today, there were times when we definitely didn't understand each other. One of those times includes our views on our bodies. From a young age I was bullied and had to find out who I was and become confident in myself as a PERSON and not just as a BODY, but my sister was popular, had lots of friends and was more stereo-typically pretty...but this led to her own dissatisfaction with her body, comparing herself to other girls, and just not recognizing how awesome or beautiful she truly was. Fast forward to today, where she has birthed 3 children (which are fucking adorable btw) and realized she had to become a different role model. She started to see her body for what it helped her accomplish and that was when she FINALLY let me do a boudoir session for her. Her shoot was awesome for me because I finally got to direct her and take control, whereas normally she conducts the family gatherings, but more importantly, I saw her confidence come out during her session. When asked to describe her session, she chose the following: Powerful, Exhilarating, Out of my comfort zone . Take a look below at her story and images (and yes, yes, we DO look alike...she just got all the bootay in the family.)
I was extremely nervous going into my shoot. I'm a mom of three and have always been self conscious of my body. In the past I've used eating disorders to help combat what I thought was "fat & ugly" (let me interject and say that fat does not = ugly, fyi). After having kids my body was never the same but I knew that I had my kids watching me so eating disorders wasn't something I wanted them to see. Instead I've been trying to accept that my body is beautiful and it has provided me with three healthy babies and I've earned these new curves with hardwork. However, it hasn't been an easy road accepting it. This experience was more than just pictures. It made me realize that just because I'm a curvacious "mom", I'm sexy, I'm beautiful. I'm confident. I saw myself in a light that I have not seen for many years. I feel more beautiful and happy with myself in these photos then I did the day I walked down the aisle 30 lbs lighter. I have given life, I have started a company, I have fun with friends, I live life and that is what I'm finally seeing in myself. This experience helped me see all this and more.
With her remarks about being happier now than 30lbs lighter when she got married, I know what she is talking about because I was there for it all. I remember how stressed she was about her body prior to her wedding and while she looked beautiful, she now has sun shine beaming out of her face and it doesn't come from being a certain size or achieving an unrealistic ideal, it comes from living a life that one could only dream of: She has created a ridiculously successful bakery, a gorgeous, down to earth family and is laughing and loving herself a lot more....I couldn't be more proud of my sister...(I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING).Are you ready to change your life? To appreciate for what it is right now? Then hit me up with an email and let's chat about your dream session!
Her Life Was Never the Same ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photography
You may recognize this babely babe from a previous shoot (as well as our sample album in the studio!). We invited Miss S back into the studio to help with our latest video because she is a perfect example of how a photoshoot can change your life and affect the way you see yourself in the world (that, and she is a stunner, so that's fun!) One thing Miss S taught myself (as well as the other boudy babes) is that you can use swimsuit bottoms as panties for your shoot!! They are usually higher waisted, can come in some awesome colors and patterns, and bit better than panties for curvy babes. What did I teach Miss S? Well, she might say things like how to take a selfie, or to love yourself, but really, I also taught her about the awesome clothing selection at Boohoo.com for us plus size chikkas (sorry for your bank account, Miss S.)
But seriously, while I may have inspired Miss S in regards to body positivity, ultimately it is her decision to choose love for herself every day. She speaks openly in our video about her affirmation cards and her journey to continually falling in love with herself. Here's what she has to say about her experience through boudoir:Teri is your own personal affirmation card, she builds you up , she shows you how to see yourself as others see you NOT how you see yourself through judgment .
In the entire process of your shoot from consultation to reveal she teaches you how to love yourself believe in your self and gives you the confidence to see and believe your beauty in whichever shape or size it comes in . Teri is a beautiful soul and everyone needs to have a Teri experience your life will never be the same , you will never see yourself the same way again.
You can check out Miss S' story and video below: