Boudoir | Exotic Boudoir | Cape Town | SA

“I think I am still on a high from yesterday. Kat, words can’t explain how you made me feel. I told myself that 2024 is the year of new things and that it’s going to be a better year. What a way to kick the year off with something so amazing like this photoshoot. Thank you again for making me see myself as a whole new person.”

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Carla is a mother of two who is on a self-love journey. When she scooped up one of the 5 sessions I was offering as part of my new studio opening celebration she messaged me that she was having heart palpitations now that she couldn’t back out and was filled with nerves leading right up to when she walked into the studio on the day of the shoot. I assured her that that is completely normal but that she would feel safe and calm once we got the shoot under way.

Carla lives a busy life. She feels harried by the stresses of life, which I can more than relate to. She wanted to do this photoshoot in the hopes that she would be able to have a better body image and in the process gain some more self-confidence, overall hoping to see herself in a different way. That is my most important take away here…she didn’t wait until she felt ready, or until she was at the “perfect whatever it is” that I hear so many people use as an excuse to not take the leap.

The fact that she knew that this was part of the process to finding more self-confidence told me that she was open to the process and that through the process she would be cracked wide open to see herself and the world in a new way after the session. From the conversations we have had since I get the feeling that this is exactly what we managed to achieve.

Being a busy wife and Mom Carla told me that she has one pair of heels, a beautiful pair of glitter high heels that were, in fact, her wedding shoes. In the end I realise that we didn’t even use the high heels. I like to keep my sessions relaxed and because of this I go with the flow. The flow this day was relaxed, fun and capturing what was there. In my sessions there is no need to put on a show or wear something that isn’t you. I love the “I woke up like this” feel of the images when clients wear lingerie that makes them feel sexy and embodied but that are barefoot and comfortable. If that is how you spend most of your off time in your daily life, then I say go for it!

Carla told me before the session that she had difficulty picturing herself as sexy, like the girls in the images you see online. I hear this from so many women. A good portion of the women that come through my doors feel this way, which makes me sad because every single woman is sexy and has the potential to be sexy. It is all about how you feel in your body and what you tell yourself in your head, which includes how you speak to yourself. Would you speak to a close friend the way that you talk to yourself in your head? If not, I beg you to really listen to how you speak to yourself and to consciously only talk to yourself with love and kindness and see what a big difference it makes in how you feel about yourself and your abilities overall.

When Carla walked out of the studio I am pretty sure that we had changed her mind completely on whether she could be sexy. I get the feeling that when she walked out those doors she knew she had been sexy all along. We just helped to unearth the part of her that had been lying dormant for a while. My favourite thing to do when I know I get a shot that is absolute fiiiire, I show them the picture on the back of the camera. When I did this with Carla I could see the perception shift happen in real time. From that moment on we got to see a very different side of her come out in person and in the pictures. To see yourself in a way that you never could have imagined, while you are standing there embodying exactly that is transformational. It is a feeling like no other.

One woman at a time we are changing the perception that our clients have about themselves, their abilities, their capabilities and how they and navigate the world around them.

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