Empowering Shoot

Well, I used to call these "Hottie" shoots, but I always said that I would change the name when I came up with something stronger. I met with a gal not too long ago, Sharla Vellek and the name of her company is Empowering Grace. After chatting for a while with her about what my shoots for women are all about, I thought the word "empowering" that she uses was absolutely perfect. It's all about accepting yourself for who you are at this time in your life...every flaw and all. We are always able to look back on ourselves in the past and point out our strengths and wished we could have embraced them at the time, but only saw them as weaknesses. I know I look back at college pictures and fall in love with my body, but you couldn't have told me at the time that I was smokin:) I know from experience that these types of shoots are in fact empowering, and even if it is for a moment, I want women to be able to feel beautiful and look fantabulous! I remember watching the video from this Dove Campaign years ago and it summed up what I want to show every woman in my life. What you see on TV and in the magazines isn't the reality of photography. The reality is in the eye of the beholder...how you feel on the inside and what you feel when you see pictures of yourself. Thanks 'A' for celebrating your beauty with this shoot and for letting me see a piece of your spirit. As you can tell from the outside...she has a beautiful inside.





You have to check out this other Dove ad that I just found on the campaign site...Onslaught video. This is what I am talking about with accepting ourselves...it seems impossible sometimes when we get wrapped up into the ads and Hollywood.