{body positive boudoir} You don’t have to smile to be sexy
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{body positive boudoir} You don’t have to smile to be sexy

Β  You don’t have to smile to be sexy. Or be sultry. No, seriously. Your natural expressions are what’s sexy. Some people are serious. Some people are giggly. Some people are both, or neither. And whichever comes naturally to you, without feeling like you’re “performing” sexiness, will be the perfect expression for you. At her…

{Body positive portraits} Adventure session with Ms. G

{Body positive portraits} Adventure session with Ms. G

Β  One of the most wonderful things about a Sweet Amaranth adventure session is that since we have a full day, we get a chance to take photos in really amazing locations around the Pacific Northwest. For Ms. G’s adventure session, we headed out to Lake Cushman, a gorgeous lake in the Olympic Mountains that…

{Body positive portraits} Ms. H + Curves in Bloom, Feb. 24
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{Body positive portraits} Ms. H + Curves in Bloom, Feb. 24

I was delighted to have Hannah Schnabel join me for a portrait session for Representation Matters.me, my body positive and diverse stock photo site.Β Hannah is the mind behind plus-size clothing line Belle Ampleur. Hannah Schnabel has over a decade of experience designingΒ clothing for stage and film. She’s designed and built everything from corsets, to a…

The Big List of Portrait and Boudoir Ideas
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The Big List of Portrait and Boudoir Ideas

Here’s an ever-evolving list of boudoir and portrait session ideas to spark your inspiration. Some are serious, some are silly. Use them as a launching point for your imagination! See an idea you love that seems more appropriate for portraits (that you wish you could do for boudoir) or for boudoir (that you wish you…

{normalizing bodies} double chins
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{normalizing bodies} double chins

A woman in one of the plus-size groups on Facebook made a really good point the other day: We rarely see women with double chins represented in images. Many, many women have double chins. It’s a completely normal thing. But we hide them in photos. We stretch out our necks, raise our chins, tilt our…

{body positive boudoir} Siren L’s Doctor Who and TARDIS-themed boudoir session

{body positive boudoir} Siren L’s Doctor Who and TARDIS-themed boudoir session

I’m a little ashamed to admit that I don’t know the first thing about Doctor Who. I only know that the TARDIS is a time machine/spacecraft/command center/vehicle of mystery because I looked it up. Siren L here has no such issues. In fact, she turned up for her Who-themed shoot in a corset of the…

{body positive boudoir} What do I get out of a boudoir session?

{body positive boudoir} What do I get out of a boudoir session?

Body-positive boudoir and portrait sessions are tons of fun. There’s the laughter, the silliness, the looking and feeling like the most gorgeous thing to hit this planet — it’s a pretty amazing experience. But what happens afterward? Yeah, everyone knows about digital photos — they’re great for sharing on Facebook and making physical prints from….

{plus size style} Curvy Lily collegiate sweater
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{plus size style} Curvy Lily collegiate sweater

Now that it’s colder, I’m looking for some nice fall and winter pieces. This is a new sweater from a brand called Curvy Lily. This is an unusual piece for me. I’m not a huge super-tight-sweater person and I’m not a β€˜crop top/barely-comes-down-to-the-line-of-your-pants’ person, so I’m not sure how I feel about this one. It’s…

Why I don’t Photoshop the life out of your skin

Why I don’t Photoshop the life out of your skin

I get a lot of questions about retouching and skin, so today I thought I’d explain my philosophy on retouching — especially regarding skin — and how I arrived there. Modern portrait and boudoir photography incorporate a startling amount of body alteration. So much of what makes up the story of our bodies gets removed:…

{plus size style} Reborn Collection long dresses

{plus size style} Reborn Collection long dresses

Today I’m reviewing three dresses from a line called Reborn Collection. I got these via Zulily, which is a daily deals site here in the U.S. All three dresses actually worked out pretty well, though they’re all very thin. This is the thickest-looking of the three. It’s sort of a marled fabric and it’s still…