I love photographing women. Initially I thought I would settle into shooting family portraits and maybe an occasional wedding. Starting a new venture at my age I knew I had to create a balance between my business and my personal life. I sort of have an addictive personality, once I latch on to something I live eat sleep with it nonstop. I was taking classes at school and online, so one day I stumbled upon a class with Sue Bryce and I fell in love with her work and her philosophy on photographing women and I was hooked.
Working
I have always been a magazine addict as far back as I can remember, tearing pages out and filling binders up with my favorite glossy images of models, interiors, food, places I wanted to go etc. So fast forward, while at school I connected with Elsy my partner and we formed PS Couture, we both were interested in doing editorial fashion inspired style shoots for our clients. The past 9 months have been incredible, I cannot begin to express the joy I experience when I am looking through my lens and I connect with a client.
I have learned so much about my “species”. Ladies we are controlled by this thing called “body image”, including moi. Perhaps it comes from seeing all these altered images in the media, or perhaps that aunt who always told you “hmmmmm do you need that extra roll?” or in my case my great aunt had my mom get me a girdle when I was 10…or maybe you had a friend who was a size “0” and when you were out together you felt as if you could be mistaken for her bodyguard.
When I look at proofs from my own sessions, the monkey brain zooms into to what I feel are my “problem” areas ie. “does the butt look to big?” “hmmm what about my midsection?” “Arms?” “Hair?” or lately a new one “Do I look Old?” After I tear myself apart mentally of course, I become happy and glad that I did the session and happy that moment of moi is documented.
We have shot over 70 ladies this past year, from 16 to 80, size “0” to double digits, straight to curvy, and the one thing we heard over and over is “I want to lose some weight before my shoot” or “If only I could lose ten pounds before my session”. Yes I too am guilty of this, and I know that with good posing and proper camera angle everyone can look gorgeous, but I still wanted to drop a few before my shoot.
GIGI
Yes there is photoshop and you can alter someone unrecognizable, but our aesthetic is more authentic so that a woman still looks like herself. I love finding beauty in everyone and we all have something that makes us special. I came across this article the other day that I found fascinating about photoshop and how this unaltered image was sent all over the world to photoshop artists and they were told to make her “beautiful”. Check out the link at the bottom.
These are a few of my favorites from some of our shoots, there are so many–
Elsy
Molly
camille
Zuko
Jacqueline
Stephanie
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