Need a little more self-love in your life? Check out these 5 ways to practice self-love during boudoir photo shoots. 

More and more, we hear about the power of self-love and the way it can change our lives for the better. But at the same time, no one’s really quite sure how to go about finding that elusive sense of self-love. 

It’s true, yes, that the journey to self-love is a lifelong one that takes time, baby steps, and trial and error. There’s no linear path or how-to guide that can teach you self-love in an afternoon or even a semester. Rather, it has to be found within you and outside of you, as you live each day with compassion for yourself and others. 

But what does that actually look like? And where do you even start?  

Well, we’ve been doing boudoir photo shoots for a while now, and we’ve noticed — through our experiences and the testimonials of others — that it can be quite the transformative experience. 

Of course, like with anything, you get out of it what you put in. But that means, if you set out with the intention to find a new layer of self-love through boudoir photo shoots, you’ll most likely walk away with a beautiful, heaping dose of it. 

In honor of the recent holiday, we wanted to formalize the experience by creating a list of self-love experiments for boudoir photo shoots. Check it out. 

5 Ways To Practice Self-love During Boudoir Photo Shoots 

1. Love every bit of yourself — even the imperfect parts. 

We all have the bits we love about ourselves and the bits we’d rather not draw attention to, right? Well, when you’re dressed to the nines in lingerie, those “trouble spots” can feel pretty exposed. That’s when we, as women, really start to pick on ourselves. Whether your thighs are your lifelong nemeses, or you feel the need to point out your cellulite so others don’t do it first, we all have those parts of our bodies that we’re extra sensitive about. Unfortunately, that sensitivity usually comes with a whole mess of negative thoughts about our self-image. Think about it — every time you say you hate your stomach, you’re re-affirming that your body is worthless, ugly, problematic or embarrassing. But you still have to live in that body every day. So you’re carrying around that negativity all the time. 

The Experiment:

What if — just for your boudoir shoot — you tried to accept your imperfections and love yourself anyway? What would that feel like? How would it change you? What if you even decided they were beautiful because they’re imperfect? Changing the way you perceive your own imperfections could change the way you treat yourself and others. After all, we love others the way we were taught to love ourselves. Isn’t it about time we love ourselves right? 

2. Stop hiding from your own body. 

You know when you’ve hit a really great streak of eating healthy and working out, and you’re feeling really good? You start noticing the results and others do, too. Suddenly, you’re wearing more daring clothes, showing a little more skin, and you even start checking yourself out in the mirror. You catch yourself looking at your reflection in a window as you walk past, or you catch a glimpse of your new slender face in the car mirror. It feels good to see yourself. 

Now think about the opposite — when you’re not at your physical best. If you’re like the rest of us, you probably layer on the clothes, avoid dressing rooms like the bathroom scale, and stop looking in the mirror unless you absolutely have to. At some point during this self-image downward spiral, we stop wanting to see ourselves at all. And honey, that’s just tragic. Because you are so beautiful! And if you stop comparing yourself to the idealized image in your mind for just a moment, you’ll notice it, too. 

The Experiment:

When we start hiding from our bodies, we create an image in our minds that’s so much worse than our very real, imperfect, beautiful bodies. All we can see or think about is the pizza from last night and the donuts from Friday. But in reality, our bodies are still pretty much the same as when we were eating salads just a week before. What’s worse is, when we start hiding from our bodies, we also begin to hide our bodies from the rest of the world. We take up less space. We hold less confidence. And the world doesn’t take notice of the 7 pounds — but it does take notice of the change in our confidence. By shooting boudoir, there’s really nowhere to hide. You’re asking to see your body in all its very real, uncovered beauty. And babe, I promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you see. 

3. Embrace your age. 

Here’s the thing about women and aging: As we age, we recognize our value and power more and more; however, at the same time, society tells us we’re less and less valuable the older we get. So how do we cope with that massive contradiction? Usually by becoming a contradiction ourselves. One minute, we’re speaking our minds more boldly than we ever have in our lives — because, um, we’re 60 now and we don’t care who hears us — and the next minute, we’re obsessing over expensive skincare and trying to find a dress that hides our “flabby” arms. It’s impossible to live outside this double standard, so inevitably, we internalize it. 

But what if we didn’t have to? What if, even just for an hour, we could take the world’s expectations of us and throw them straight out the next open window? What if we could decide what our age meant to us? 

The Experiment:

Think about how you feel in your 20s — unsure, uncomfortable in your skin, and awkward. You’re trying to figure out if you’re a girl or a woman, and everything feels like uncharted territory. Now think about a woman in her 40s, 50s or 60s. She’s found the confidence that comes with surviving life’s challenges and thriving anyway. She knows who she is, what looks good on her body, and what makes a woman truly sexy. She’s accepted that she doesn’t look like other women because that’s the best part of her beauty. So for just one hour, when you’re in front of Lindsay’s camera, why not throw out every single completely untrue thing you’ve heard about an aging woman — and just be the incredibly sexy woman you know you are. 

4. Tap into a sense of sexiness no can take from you. 

The thing about sexiness is, according to the rest of the world, it’s evasive, constantly changing and impossible to embody in any kind of sustainable way. One day, size zero is the Holy Grail of sex appeal, and the next, you need a booty shaped like a peach thanks to emojis and the Kardashians. The definition of sexy has already changed countless times in my lifetime, and it’s not even the same from one culture to the next. In fact, sexiness is so fickle that most women only feel its presence in fleeting moments and impermanent phases. So how do you make that last? How do you find a sense of attractiveness, sex appeal and desire that’s yours — forever? 

The Experiment:

One of the things that’s truly incredible about boudoir photo shoots is the way the feeling lasts. Not only do you feel sexier than you ever have in your life during the shoot, but you also walk away with the pictures to prove it. So part of the experiment of loving yourself through boudoir is how that love stands up over time. Whenever your sexiness feels absent or stolen from you, you can always return to those photos, and the feelings come rushing back — because after you put yourself out there like that, you’ve created an undeniable sense of confidence that now lives in your memory forever. And no one can take that from you. 

5. Love yourself — even when you’re vulnerable. 

It can be easy to love the way you look when you’re all dolled up and perfectly posed, but that’s not the only way boudoir teaches you to love yourself. That’s just the final product. The process of shooting boudoir, however, requires you to be somewhat vulnerable. During the shoot, you’re stepping in front of a camera and a photographer with nowhere to hide. You might even get into some poses that show a lot of you, and that experience can feel quite vulnerable to some women, especially if it’s out of your element. 

But — after the first few poses are over, and you begin to feel comfortable in the camera, you’re inevitably overcome by a feeling of sexiness, strength and beauty. Lindsay will even show you a couple shots in the back of the camera, and guaranteed, you’ll be shocked by how good you look without any editing whatsoever. Through the process of becoming vulnerable, you find confidence, beauty and strength. And that’s not an experience you forget. 

The Experiment:

When it comes time to drop your robe, be brave. Take chances. Try something new. Believe Lindsay when she tells you how absolutely stunning you look. Because you are. Let that fear and vulnerability transform into power in the course of an hour. Be present as you feel yourself start to change. If you’re not paying attention, you could miss the most important part — the opportunity to love yourself even when it’s hard.

About Lindsay’s Photography for Women | Boudoir Photo Shoots by SchlickArt

With the mind of a businesswoman and the heart of an adventurer, Lindsay began to conceive of a different kind of Santa Clarita photography business. In her vision, stepping in front of the camera could be an empowering experience that gave her clients more than just a photograph — it would give people a new way of seeing themselves. With an eye for seeing the beauty in life and in others, Lindsay could use the camera to spread beauty. And that’s exactly the philosophy she uses during her boudoir photo shoots today. 

About SchlickArt Photography and Video

SchlickArt, a boutique photo and video studio in Santa Clarita, started in March 2012 with the simple idea that empowerment creates a kind of beauty and authenticity that shines through every camera lens. Built on a philosophy — rather than a product, service or person — SchlickArt has rapidly evolved, meeting professional portraiture, business photo and business video needs as diverse as the community we capture. It’s the desire to take care of you, the client, that drives us at SchlickArt.