Hi! I’m Lindley.
I help people in big bodies see themselves.
I’m a photographer, body liberation activist, writer, cat mom and houseplant collector. I’m into unicorns, the color teal and sour gummy candy.
Photography sets my soul on fire because through my work, people who don’t see bodies like theirs represented anywhere else get to reclaim their self image. It’s pretty amazing stuff.
I fight weight stigma by giving larger-bodied people a safe place to explore how their bodies look on camera and by increasing the representation of large bodies in photography, advertising, fine art and the world at large. I’m also the creator of Body Liberation Stock, the world’s only stock photo site dedicated to fat-positive images.
In addition to my photographic work, I offer equity reads and consulting for business owners on how to make their businesses more body-size inclusive for employees and customers.
I live outside Seattle, WA with my husband and feline overlord.
Offerings
My story
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. I never saw fat photographers, and I never saw fat people being beautifully and respectfully photographed.
From the safety of my corporate job, I watched people in thin bodies make other thin people’s dream images come true.
In 2015, I took the leap and trusted that fat folks would want a fellow fat person 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 Body Liberation Photography and began photographing people in all sorts of larger and marginalized bodies. In 2017, I started Body Liberation Stock, a stock image collection focused on depicting larger bodies, as well.
*Like many other fat people, I’ve reclaimed the word “fat” as a neutral descriptor for large bodies, just like you might describe a person as “tall” or “brunette.”
Framework
I have the privileges of being a cisgender, straight white person. I live in the United States. I’m married and have a college education. Though I live with physical and mental chronic illnesses, I can pass for able-bodied.
And finally, though I am oppressed for my body size, I am nowhere near the largest possible human body size. It’s important that I keep this in mind every day and continue to find ways to center and give opportunities to people with fewer privileges.
I live and work on land belonging historically to the Duwamish, Muckleshoot and Coast Salish peoples. I support the Duwamish tribal council monthly and you can, too.
I believe that…
- people who live in large bodies are just as valuable, beautiful, and worthy of being photographed as people in smaller bodies.
- lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual, polyamorous people and every other wonderful variation of humanity should have access to nonbiased, supportive, beautiful photography.
- trans women are women. trans men are men. period.
- black lives matter.
- there are no rules when it comes to photography. ANY person of ANY identity in ANY body deserves to feel beautiful, sensual and sexy without shame or fear.
- anyone with a body is inherently beautiful, and that capturing that beauty in my work is a sacred trust.
- you, too, are worthy of being photographed in exactly the skin you’re in today.
- each curve and roll and angle of your body is beautiful and worthy of being celebrated.
- people in large and very large bodies have aspects of their bodies that are not only beautiful, but uniquely so.
- anyone from a marginalized or oppressed community deserves a safe, nonjudgmental place to be vulnerable and explore what beauty means to them.
I focus on capturing bodies as they exist in this moment — your joy, your light, your darkness, your story — without worrying about or catering to “flattering” or “attractive.”
No retouching. No hiding. No shame.
We’re going beyond beauty to liberation. Come join me.