BEAUTY & THE BRAINS

“Glamour photography? Oh, you mean women in boudoir shots, right?” I hear those questions nearly every time I tell people what kind of photogapher I am.

The first time I heard the term “glamour photography”, I instantly thought big hair, sequins and lots of makeup, (all of which I am extremely fond of, but rarely achieve in my personal life of yoga pants and pony tails). Well, I was wrong and so are most people who think they know what it means.

For me, contemporary glamour photography is all about capturing that special moment when a woman shows me who she really is. When the layers of self-doubt and insecurity drop away, I get a glimpse into her true personality. Her physical beauty is really just a happy by-product. I get the best shots when she feels comfortable expressing her joy and starts to feel proud of who she is in that moment.

So instead of thinking that “glamour” is only something sexy, I like to think of it as something powerful, smart, funny, strong, gorgeous, beautiful, fierce. Just because a woman looks gorgeous in a photograph, doesn’t mean she hasn’t got depth and isn’t capable of amazing things.

Take my client Kate (above), for example. She looks like a covergirl model in her portrait. Right?! She could probably make a very good living at modelling, and I’ve told her that many times. But Kate isn’t “just” a gorgeous girl. She’s a special young woman who is a competitive swimmer, gifted musician and a second-year engineering student, with dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer. In an industry made up mostly of men, that will be no small feat, but I have no doubt that she will do it. Considering that that only 30 percent of the engineering students in her program are female, she’s gotta be a brainiac.

We don’t need to be afraid of celebrating our beauty and appreciating the way we look (regardless of shape or size). It won’t diminish our strength, courage, ability. It just makes us “more”.