Just Say NO to Photoshop (and YES! to your authentic self!)

07 Oct Just Say NO to Photoshop (and YES! to your authentic self!)

Hello Beautiful, Radiant, YOU!

It’s been a while since we’ve sent out any newsletters (like 8 months!) and many things have changed in that amount of time. We’ve hired 2 new hair and makeup artists, fully on-boarded my new, badass assistant and officially taken over all 1200sqft of space in our Bothell studio (this is currently under renovations).

We have wiped away happy tears, embraced some mostly naked hugs and helped fully empower 77 new women! Seven of those sessions were in Los Angeles, because OH YEAH we are traveling now! (side note: if you’d like to be on our list of places to travel to, shoot an email over to my assistant Kaitlyn by clicking right here. All she needs is your full name, phone number, confirmation of your email address and the city and state you live in). We’ve also done 2 wedding show expos and last weekend attended our first Celebrating Women Expo with Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County. The ladies that put this show together are exceptional at what they do. There were several dozen amazing businesses there, mostly owned and operated by other women in the local community. And all the proceeds went back to helping this great organization do the protective, life-giving work they do. I couldn’t be prouder to have been part of this IF I TRIED! As a matter of fact one of the things I offered them was free glamour portraits from us. If you’ve been around me you know this work I do fills me up and I’d do it even if I wasn’t being paid for it. I too have been down on my luck and in shitty situations before that I didnt think I’d escape or survive, so any help I can offer, any light of hope I can provide, I am happy to do so.

One of the things that kept coming up at this expo, and often does at these kinds of events is “How much Photoshop work do you do?” I get this question all. the. time. My answer is often unpopular at first…… We are a 100% NON Photoshop studio. We do use Adobe Lightroom for color correction, white balance and the occasional skin smoothing or eye brightening. My decision not to go with Photoshop has nothing to do with the product (really its AMAZING!) and everything to do with authenticity and what the values are of our studio. As a photographer, in my photography communities I take A LOT of shit for this….but I believe in my bones that women are perfect as they are. Anyone can take a photo of you and make you something that isnt real. For artistic purposes I get this concept and I agree with it. If I’m making something that is intended to be full of graphics and maybe even mixing of mediums, like adding in fantasy things like wings or dragons or the illusion of flight…things like this I fully endorse the use of Photoshop and praise those photographers that do that kind of work on the daily.

My clients deserve better. They call me because they want to be the centerfold. They want to be the cover girl. They want to feel alive, powerful, on fire and in charge. If I warp their thighs or liquify their breasts and then pass it off as “hey, this is you!” it’s a BIG FAT LIE. And they’ll know it the second they go home and look in the mirror.I got into a debate with a photographer a few months ago in a FB group that was looking for some critique and help on what to do about a womans thighs in her rubber lined thigh highs. First off, can we just ban these already? Can we collectively agree that they are terrible and go back to real stockings? Anyway, I digress….the thigh high, because of the shitty rubber had rolled and the photographer missed it when she took the photo. She wasnt skilled in Photoshop and wanted to know what to do about the thigh fat that was rolling over the thigh high. I want to also add here, this happens to everyone, no one is immune to it. And the amount of thigh fat were talking about here is minimal, not that it matters….. Several other photographers said to liquify or warp it out, slim her legs, reduce the width of her arms, and round out her butt a bit more. Many of them went ahead and just made these changes to this photo in question and re-posted the photo in the comments with these adjustments. By the time they were through, she was just another woman in thigh highs and a garter belt. It looked nothing like her.

My comment was “what’s wrong with her thighs that needs changing?” It was met with backlash and a new phrase I hope dies soon: “responsible Photoshopping”. What in the actual fuck is that?

If you Photoshop that out, (not to mention change her arms and her butt) shes going to think that’s what she looks like wearing this lingerie. She’s going to get false confidence thinking that she looks just like the photos presented to her. Because I guarantee you, the photographer is not sitting there telling her all the “responsible Photoshop” work they did.

When you are sitting in the reveal room with us, admiring yourself and drooling over your bomb ass body and you turn to me and ask “How much Photoshop work did you do?”….and I get to say “I didn’t, that’s all you” that is EVERYTHING. It is the sun the moon and all the stars. It’s in your face to every hater, every person that has ever put you down or made you feel unworthy. It’s life altering self-esteem that cannot be taken away from you. And it’s there every time you look at your images.

You will be among the baddest of women, the stars of the world of authentic confidence and supreme girl power. You will be able to take home any image and stand in the mirror in the same outfit (or your birthday suit if that’s what we photographed you in!) and see that it is YOUR body exactly how it was made in all of its perfection.

XOXO,
Sara