Category Archives: Photo Sessions

March 17, 2017

Photo Session with Summer Innanen

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This fall I had the total pleasure of doing a photo shoot with Body Image Coach Summer Innanen.

We had such a blast. Body compassion is such a pivotal part of ALL the work I do both in my classes and photo sessions and most often my photo sessions focus on creating safe space for you to feel supported and empowered in front of the lens. To help you feel like you are standing in your power in your body right here right now, and have that reflected back at you in images that let you shine.

It was such a treat to get to do a photo shoot with someone else who also lives and breaths body acceptance and who really practices what she preaches. She radiated the same kind of compassionate body confidence that she helps other people find in themselves. It was such a delight to get to capture Summer through my lens.

She’s as kick-ass, empowering and authentic in person as she is through her work!

Summer had also brought along a scale to smash for her photos and it was seriously exhilarating to photograph the sledgehammer breaking a scale. I had broken my scale accidentally years ago (and took it as a sign to never get one again and step full force into my own ditching-diet culture path) but hadn’t had the chance to smash one and so I said “Heck YES” when Summer passed the sledgehammer my way too!

I wanted to share the photos with you now, as Summer just launched her brand new website and all of the images used on the site are from our shoot. It’s SO amazing to see the images used in this way and to see her empowering photographs all over her site.

I also wanted to share them today in particular because right now on Summer’s site she is giving away the audio version of her best-selling book, Body Image Remix, for FREE. It takes you step-by-step how to feel more comfortable in your body and stop caring so much about what other people think Get your free audiobook and check out Summer’s new site here!

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October 28, 2016

Entering back into the Conversation

We are all in conversation with ourselves about our bodies, aren’t we.

But for many of us it’s a one sided conversation where our inner critic leads the dialogue. So much so that we think it’s our own voice. But it’s not.

Often our voice has been silenced. Or we haven’t given ourselves permission to hear it, to dare to contradict our inner critic. Or we don’t know what else to say, our inner critic has been telling us one thing for so long, we can’t see the possibilities outside of it. Or at least that’s how it was for me.

Before I found the camera as a medium I remember feeling like I knew that I could change that conversation, even if I didn’t know what to say yet. But I needed a vessel for the conversation to happen. I needed a tool.

Little did I know that the camera could be that, would be that. I just thought a photo was a photo, and honestly…was a place where I felt the opposite of self-compassionate.

But it was. And I became the narrator of my own story and slowly began to hear my own voice again, loud and clear. And when we can hear our own voice, our own self-perception…our inner critics voice doesn’t hold the same power over us that it once did.

That’s the thing about this work…it might look from the outside like it’s all about getting good photos. That it’s all about our external self, how our body looks, how we are seen by others. But once you’re in it (whether it’s an arm’s length selfie, a reflection, a shadow selfie or a full body selfie) you get that it goes far beyond just the photo.

The photo is a doorway to this conversation. A place to find our own voice again even if at first all we can say is “I don’t know what to say to you dear body”.

But that’s how we invite ourselves back into the conversation. We begin. We get curious. We invite in compassion when we can and show up anyways when we can’t.

So yes, the Embody E-Course that is about to begin is about taking full body selfies, but it’s about so much more than that too. It’s about starting a conversation about our body, and inviting our own voice to be heard. It’s about not letting our inner critics voice define how we see ourselves in photos and inviting ourselves to be seen. It’s about YOU making space to recognize yourself in photos again and take images that feel empowered and embodied.

Come spark this conversation with yourself. Class starts Tuesday but over the weekend you’ll get a pre-class PDF with tips for the technical side of taking our self-portraits. The activities themselves aren’t focused on the technical side, as that often keeps us in our heads and a pivotal part of this is conversation is inviting ourselves back into our body. Of course, alongside the technical support PDF I’m also available to help you with the technical side while class is in session!

Come join me for the Embody E-Course. We get started November 1st but I recommend joining in today or over the weekend so you can have time to explore the Pre-Class PDF before class starts.

September 20, 2014

Reclaiming our Power in Front of the Camera

Their camera is aimed at me.

Be it a total stranger, a family member or a portrait photograher, the same thing happens for me. I feel awkward and outside of my skin. I feel like I need to pose. So I stay as still as I can and wait for it to be over.

But when my camera is aimed at myself it is different.

I set it down and while I push the timer button or get ready to press my remote, I take a second to do a little silly dance to shake out the nerves. I adjust my clothing and then move in a way that feels like me. I press the button and settle into the experience. I may close my eyes and move or look right into the camera.

I am in my own body, not outside of myself.

I am in control, not out of control.

I am the narrator, not just the subject.

I am embodied, at home and enjoying the experience.

And the photo shows it.

So does the one that someone else has taken. I can see my stress, thoughts of ‘What are they going to do with this photo’ and I didn’t take a moment at all to check in with my body and I can see it in my body language. Sound familiar?

I know this isn’t just my own experience. Except I think it is easy to think that because it is so vulnerable to be in front of someone else’s camera, that aiming our own camera at ourselves would be even more scary.

The more I’ve been using self-portraiture as tool for healing, the more I find that I can remember to take a second while they are getting ready to take the photo to just notice my feet on the ground and take a deep breath. Often that is enough to change the experience of being photographed and put me at ease again.

The difference between the two does feel like it is about power.

That somehow when someone else is holding the camera we hand our power over to them.

Yet that is the same reason why taking the camera into our own hands and taking a photo can be so empowering. It is a reclamation of personal power.

I see it so often in Be Your Own Beloved when the participants get to that one activity which for them flips that switch and they realize they are indeed in control of how they see themselves. I can see that embodiment and reclamation of personal power start to appear in their photos. They stand taller, they get braver and I start to see more of them appear in their photos, without apology.

Now, I do want to share that most portrait photographers I know…you can absolutely see in their photos that they put the client at ease, that they are deeply aware of this power and create a space where the client feels deeply safe.

I guess the thing I want to really share is that we can also create that experience for ourselves too. We can create that sacred space with our own camera too.

I want this for you, for me, for all of us.

Let’s transform the experience of being photographed from a place of fear or discomfort to a place of playfulness and openness, starting by doing this for ourselves!

We’re going to be exploring this in How to Rock a Selfie Photo Shoot starts soon, October 6th! The next session of Be Your Own Beloved starts November 1st! If you have any questions about which class would be the best fit for you, don’t hesitate to use the contact form and connect with me!

July 19, 2013

Amulet Magazine

A few months ago I headed out on a photo adventure with Marybeth from Amulet, the incredible prop-goddess Jennette Neilson of Smashing Rubbish along with some of their kindreds and kids.

We travelled from west coast forests over rainy mountains to unexpected desert sunshine and set up a truly divine picnic in the forest. My role there was to document the picnic for Marybeth to use as she needed in the summer issue of Amulet Magazine.

These few months later it is finally here and oh my gosh…Amulet is such an incredible Magazine…I’m devouring the digital copy and so can’t wait to have a print copy in hand! I’m beyond honoured that one of the photos from our adventure ended up on the cover as well as others in a variety of places throughout the magazine.

I so recommend getting a digital copy of this gorgeous magazine and here are a few shots from our adventure (and you’ll see more within the pages of the magazine)!

November 2, 2012

A Serendipitous Photoshoot with Jane Siberry

Last week I was away at a photography retreat in Palm Springs and something truly serendipitous happened.

Here’s how it began.

It was day 2 of the retreat in the evening and I was gathered at the little bar that the fabulous folks at the Ace Hotel Palm Springs had set up for us when this woman came up to me asking what the event that we were having was.

I immediately knew who she was. I’m a big fan of music, especially supporting Canadian or Indie musicians so I was totally aware that the woman that just came up to me to ask a question was Jane Siberry.

I shared that it was a photography event and that we were there for a few days.

“You look familiar” I said.

I was also totally aware that she had changed her name a few years back and not sure of which name she presently went by (and not wanting to refer to her with the wrong name, ‘You look familiar’ seemed like the way to go).

“I’m Jane Siberry” she shared and offered that if I needed someone to practise taking photos on while I was there, she’d be happy to be the subject of a photoshoot.

“I’d love that.” I said.

And off she went.

I was in shock. Did an incredible Canadian musician just come up to me, likely the one person in the crowd standing there at that moment who knew she was a musician and just offer to be a subject in a photoshoot?

Oh my.

But then the fear appeared (as it has a way of).

Yet it seemed too serendipitous to pass by out of fear so I contacted her and on my last full day there we met up for a photoshoot. She was truly as wonderful, kind and unique as I hoped she would be. It was fabulous to hear a bit about her life and travels. We then wandered around the grounds of the Ace finding some fabulous spots to take some photos.

Here are some of the images I took of Jane. It was truly an honour to photograph this fabulous artist and a day I won’t forget.