If you've been following along for the past few weeks you know that there is a pretty special personal boudoir project that I'll be embarking on for 2018. The project is centered on scars

While my personal photography project has been an idea in my creative locker for a while, I needed an extra push for me to really set out and start. Enter this gorgeous woman. She came to me with excitement and confidence; a woman who truly knew herself. I was so in awe of her demeanor and beauty (she has the warmest eyes and smile). It is often that clients approach boudoir from a nervous angle, but with her I felt like this was going to be a very natural act for her. The session went beautifully, and shout out to the ladies at Trashy Diva Lingerie here in Atlanta for outfitting her with fantastic lingerie. As she told me her story about who she was and how she got to this point in her life I KNEW that she needed to let her story be seen and heard. She was the kick-in-the ass that I needed to start my 'Scars' project, because her scars are the last thing that you notice about her. Read along for her client interview and check out how insanely sexy and in control she looks throughout the entire gallery. Love love love. 

-Sarah

1) How old are you... or if you prefer, who were you listening to at age 14 :)?

I'm a ravishing 31 years old. (Bonus response: In 2000-2001, a true golden age for popular American music, I would run out to the school dance or skating rink floor for Jagged Edge feat. Rev Run's "Let's Get Married" remix.)

2) What do you do for a living?

I'm a full time PhD student in English literature. 

3) What/who made you decide to book a boudoir session?

My gorgeous friend booked a shoot and debuted her photos on social media with an inspiring caption about self-acceptance and self-love. She's brilliant, and her pictures were super dope! So, after consulting my friend for more details and looking through Sarah's website and Instagram posts, I was sold on booking a boudoir session. I like having professional photos taken, but had never even considered taking boudoir pictures. I guess i just needed the recommendation or invitation, and I'm so glad I received it.    

4) Did you have any obstacles or fears about boudoir?

I'm a size 20/22, and I have scars from a serious motor vehicle accident that happened when I was younger. While I've done my own work to be okay in my skin despite the ways having visible scarring or a fat body make you vulnerable to other's judgement, ignorance, or pity, I did have concerns about looking pretty in a boudoir shoot without having to obscure or edit these qualities about myself -- would the angles look good, would lighting be okay, would I be okay seeing the body I carry around proudly when it's stripped down and reflected back to me? The answers were all yes thanks to Sarah's vision and skil! 

5) Why did you choose OWN? 

My friend's enthusiastic recommendation and Sarah's beautiful work! Plus, Sarah and her staff impressed me quickly with the quality of their customer service when I reached out to inquire about a session.

6) How was the actual session different from what you expected (if at all)?

The session was different because I was way more comfortable than I thought I would be for my first boudoir shoot. I laughed with Sarah often and felt confident in the poses she taught me to do.

7) What was your favorite part of the entire experience? (priming, the shoot, seeing images, giving the images..etc)

Sarah is awesome and affirms you so much during the session. Our interaction during the shoot was my favorite part. The only down side was that I kept smiling and giggling so much that it was hard to keep up a smize or sexy smoldering look. :)  Seeing my images was a very close second. 

8) How has the response been to your images?

The friends I showed my images to were wowed and interested in doing their own sessions. The response has been extremely positive!

9) What is your advice for women interested in such a session?

My advice is to do it! If you're interested, then have some pictures taken of your beautiful self! Do your research, consider which types of looks you want to try, and study Sarah's work online for inspiration and ideas.

10) Did anything change about the way you see your own beauty as a result of this session?

No changes, but I do have these beautiful reminders now of my beauty, strength, softness, and sexiness! They remind me of who I am at my best and who I'm working to get back to when I'm having days when I feel less than fabulous.

This year's personal project surrounds a subject that I encounter in each and every boudoir session, no matter if I'm here in Atlanta or elsewhere in the world. 

Let's talk about Scars.

While my breasts (I feel like that's the term I should use here) started to come in when I was around 11 years old, outside of the stretch marks from a young body growing some mega-boobs, my physical body doesn't have a lot of scarring. Sure, I also have one or two chicken-pock scars but that's it for my epidermis. 

My mother gave birth to me when she was 32 and I was a lil bitch in the womb. So much that she needed to surgically remove me (what can I say, I was 1.5 weeks late and comfy AF). We call that a C-Section. I grew up constantly seeing my mom's scar, but she never mentioned it and to me it seemed just like another part of her beauty. In the 80s the scars were more aggressive... picture a vertical scar down the abdomen. Include the staple marks. Now add stretch marks. 

This is normal for me. 

Fast forward to the purple stretch marks I began to have as my boobs came in. We spent a lot of money on scar cream (Mederma anyone?), but time was really the healer. If I have to be honest, my scars didn't really bother me because I knew nothing different. I had no Instagram models to compare myself to, TEEN magazine was mainly documenting makeup trends, boy bands, and romance quizzes– not body types.

As I began my career as a photographer I was immediately drawn to people. People in their element, people not in their element, people in general. 

When I started boudoir photography I immediately fell in love with the stories of my clients.

Of course each story isn't written with one page. 

Our client's' stories are written page after page. They describe experiences. They describe joys. They describe very painful lows. They describe very painful highs. 

In our clients I began to see a pattern of scars. We have physical scars that we'd like to cover up, yet the reason behind wanting to cover them is most often because we feel like we have to. 

We have emotional scars that we would like forgotten. Those scars are harder to visually see, but they cut just as deep. 

The thing about scars is that nearly 100% of the time a client comes to me she will request for me to remove any trace of her scars. There are of course exceptions, however a common request is to rid the images of all stretch marks, C-section scars, childhood wounds, beauty marks, adult battle-wounds, etc. We want to be seen as perfect. 

Why do scars make us imperfect? 

These are the thoughts and experiences I've had over the last 10 years as a photographer. About a year and a half ago I had a wild thought in my brain to bring boudoir clients in and photograph them with their scars. This would mean that those very scars they decided to hide would be brought to the present. These scars would be visible for all to see, and for all to love. 

In January 2018 I introduced the 'SCARS' project. We'll bring you in for a personal photo session in order to beautifully document you and the scars that grace you. I have no idea how this project will evolve, but I knew that I needed to start somewhere. I knew that I needed our clients and all people everywhere (women and men) to see the power and beauty and personal strength that comes from scars. 

Are you interested in participating in the 'Scars' project? Get in touch: Sarah@Ownboudoir.com