Growing up, Saquoya says she felt shamed for being such a sensual person. Though the 30-year-old graduate student and Zumba loving mom of one embraced her body and “absolutely loved being naked” she could feel the disapproval of others who thought that wasn’t how a plus-sized woman was supposed to think and feel.
“My body image has been distorted since I was a kid,” says Saquoya, explaining why she wanted to use her solo boudoir session as a way to reclaim control over her own self-image.
“I wanted to redefine myself. I was so tired of looking back on old pictures realizing that I didn’t look the way I thought I did and wishing I knew how beautiful I was. I decided I wanted to rewrite my stale ass story and start seeing myself the way I want to with this new chapter beginning in my life,” she shared with us.
When Saqouya came upon Allebach Photography online, she said knew right away we were the studio for her.
“It was seeing all the beautiful women of different shades, and sizes; in different places in their lives all there highlighting their beauty that was like, yeah this is a good fit! And then when I met Mike and Erika I was sold.”
So Saquoya booked her session and excitedly counted down the weeks!
When the day arrived, Saquoya did something we recommend all of our clients do; she made the entire day about treating herself, so she was feeling well pampered before she even stepped through our doors (and even more so afterwards).
“I took so much time to love on myself before I even got there. I took a long bubble bath, listened to some ‘music that makes me feel hot’ playlists, and got to my session on time so I wasn’t worried about a thing! Then once I got there I just felt so welcomed and supported and I left still feeling like a bad bitch!”
Saquoya slayed throughout her entire session, whether she was striking a sexy pose in her lingerie or laughing easily in her fiance’s t shirt.
“I think I had this idea that everything was going to be so serious and sexy but I also got to be silly and fun and I loved that!”
Saquoya said that by far her favorite part of her session was, “unapologetically taking up time and space to think about me and feel beautiful, confident and sexy.”
She explained, “That may sound a little vain, but I think so many of us don’t have the opportunity to look and feel good and indulge in that feeling without judgment and critique, whether that be from ourselves or others, and it’s so important to have that! We spend our lives telling other people how attractive and special they are and we deserve to have space to do the same for ourselves.”
The only time that day Saquoya got some nervous butterflies was right before her big photo reveal.
“I immediately had flooding thoughts of ‘oh no, what if these are horrible? What if I hate the way my body looks? What if everyone is right?’ The second I saw the first picture I was so pleasantly surprised that I couldn’t stop smiling. I was literally stunned.”
Saquoya designed a gorgeous photo album for herself of her favorite images wrapped in purple linen.
“I chose this piece of artwork because this truly was a gift to myself. This was my first experience seeing myself in the here and now and not three years later. There’s one photo that I have in the bathtub and it gives me born again vibes which I feel like was the entire purpose of this experience,” she said.
Since her session, Saquoya says she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about that day and how it’s made her feel.
“I’m so excited to see the photos again and to share them with my fiancé. I can already see that I’m being much kinder to myself about my body and I don’t want to let that go.”
Saquoya is already dreaming of the artwork she’ll make when she comes back to capture memories of all of the milestones she has yet to accomplish.
“In the future when I do another shoot, either by myself or with my partner, and we have our own home or we’re celebrating our wedding, anniversary, pregnancy, anything really, I’d like to do larger pieces to mount on the wall because how gorgeous?!”
Ready to rewrite your own story and take back control of your own self-image? Call Allebach Photography at 610.539.6920 or visit http://allebachphotography.com/contact/ to schedule a free consultation for your own Boudoir Session.