Lindley & Body Liberation Photos

I used to think that I was too fat to be a professional photographer. I thought that no one would hire a fat photographer, that they’d laugh at the very thought. From the safety of my corporate job, I watched people in thin bodies make other thin people’s dream images come true.

In 2014, my corporate job turned toxic, and I knew that I could make a difference elsewhere. I took the leap and trusted that fat folks would want a fellow fatty as their photographer, someone who understood both what it’s like to live in a similar body and how those bodies look and move.

I launched Sweet Amaranth (now Body Liberation Photography) and began photographing people in all sorts of larger bodies. In 2015, I started Representation Matters (now Body Liberation Stock), a stock image website focused on depicting larger bodies as well.

But much of my work at that time was still caught in the paradigm of “acceptable” bodies. Many of the poses and techniques I was taught while I was learning to photograph people are meant to minimize physical bodies and force them into meeting our current cultural beauty standards.

As I’ve grown in my own body acceptance and become a strong advocate for body liberation and fat liberation, I’m no longer willing to dance around trying to fit my clients and models into a mold that doesn’t serve them. These days, I focus on capturing bodies as they exist in this moment — your joy, your light, your darkness, your story — with absolute minimal reference to “flattering” or “attractive.”

We’re going beyond beauty to liberation. Please join me. xo

Every Monday, I send out my Body Liberation Guide, a thoughtful email jam-packed with resources on body liberation, weight stigma, body image and more. And it’s free. Let’s change the world together. Subscribe »