The importance of unapologetically authentic boudoir photoshoots.
When I think of what boudoir means to me and why I do what I do, one statement kept popping up in my head. It was to be “unapologetically authentic.” At first, I didn’t know what this meant or where it came from, but it repeatedly popped up. Like when I was editing and when I went about my life. That thought was there. “Be unapologetically authentic.”
When I think of women and their daily experience. We’re always apologizing, aren’t we? In fact, back in the day at my corporate job, I installed a plugin that prevented me from writing “sorry”, and “just”, and “I apologize” in my emails. Why? Because I learned that those words make a person seem less assertive, less sure, and less confident. It can derail the point you were trying to make. It could discredit the rest of your email if you said, “I JUST wanted to…” or “I’m sorry for bothering”…
The thing is, at this stage in my life (when I installed that plugin), I was coming into my own. I was discovering that I was all those (good) things and people respected me. But my language didn’t match. I felt authentic in every way. FINALLY. I knew myself. I knew who I was and who I wasn’t. I knew that I didn’t have to apologize for it. I knew that I didn’t have to apologize for taking up space, for being in the room, for being in someone’s way on the street, for speaking up, for wanting a raise, for wearing what I wanted to wear. No apologies. None were needed. The tech world was very masculine and sometimes very brutal to sensitive types like myself, but there was still a place for me, and I didn’t have to apologize for being there. I don’t have to apologize for being here, either.
Now, almost two years since I left the tech world, I know what those two words truly mean for me and what I want other women to know too. BE UNAPOLOGETICALLY AUTHENTIC. Own it. Own the confidence that you have inside of you. Share with the world. You don’t have to be anyone else. Don’t apologize for your sexuality, your loudness, or your quietness. You’re you for a reason, and you’re the best at it.
When I dove into what it means to be unapologetically authentic even further, I learned something that gave me chills. Psychology Today says that “Being authentic means that you act in ways that show your true self and how you feel. Rather than showing people only a particular side of yourself, you express your whole self genuinely. That means to succeed in being authentic; you first have to know who your true self actually is. And this requires self-awareness, mindfulness, and self-acceptance.” Goosebumps, right? So to be authentic, it means to be ourselves truly and it requires self-acceptance.
Ladies, this is so important and so dear to me. You are enough, and you get to determine your worth. Again, you, yourself, decide your worth.
Now that we got that out of the way. I hope this helps you understand why I do what I do and why it is so essential for me to share it with you and other women. Boudoir isn’t just about pretty pictures (but yeahhhh, it is a big part of it). Boudoir is a form of self-acceptance. It’s allowing yourself to be vulnerable and authentic. I hope that through your boudoir photography session with us, you’ll experience how freeing and empowering it is. I hope that you’ll come to the place where you experience the feeling of being completely and unapologetically, you. This is why I feel that being unapologetically authentic is so important for boudoir photoshoots.
