Sometimes I forget what an impact these sessions have. I am constantly told, "I am sooo nervous" but I never really know the extent of someone's anxiety or nerves until after the session. Beauty standards and just everyday expectations are enough to drown women with fear, anxiety, and self doubt. When you add pressures of getting pregnant, raising children, maintaining a house and relationship - forget it. It's exhausting to just think about, and overwhelming to accomplish. Yet, we all deal with a multitude of these things in some way, shape, or form every singe day.
When I booked this session at the beginning of the summer I thought that I’d spend the whole summer working out and eating healthy in preparation. I found out I was pregnant briefly after booking and spent most of the summer eating eggos and laying on my couch trying not to throw up. Less than two weeks before my session I found out that I lost my baby. I didn’t want to reschedule, but was dreading spending time naked in a body that had not only been unprepared, but that had recently betrayed me. I hadn't left my house, could barely do anything.
"It's been hard to get out of bed every day but you made me feel like I was the most beautiful person in the world from the moment I met you."
From the moment I walked into Danielle's house she made me feel beautiful. I almost tried to reschedule our session after my bad news but I'm so glad that I didn't. I never thought that I'd be able to do so many of the things I did. I took off my bra, got entirely naked, and I allowed my belly to be exposed in a way I normally don't allow. Danielle saw me in a way that I not only have NEVER seen myself, but that I was incapable of seeing at the time. In a time of my life that I was in intense pain, she helped me to see myself through someone else’s eyes, she helped me to see my beauty. Thank you for seeing me as a work of art, because I've never seen myself that way.
"I was afraid that I wasn't beautiful enough for a session like this."
My biggest fear in booking this session was looking fat in the pictures. I was waiting to do this at a time that i was in my best shape physically. If I had ever been able to see my own beauty then I would have known that I was ready the whole time. Danielle was ready to be not only a cheerleader but an artist as well. I felt comfortable and beautiful. I will go back to that feeling every time I look at my album and pieces hanging on my wall.