Find Your Courage to Be Yourself, Flaws and All

By Maggie Rife Ponce

Last week we posted a series of fine art nude photos from Real Woman of Revealed, Sherhara’s early morning shoot along Lake Michigan. This week, we’re featuring her again along with her second set of images from the morning.

Finding Confidence Within

Sherhara is a great example of a Real Woman of Revealed because her confidence comes from much more than her outward beauty. She is a motivational speaker, host, and philanthropist–helping individuals and brands recognize and communicate their message. Her success in this work comes from her own ability to be truthful with herself. When asked about this work, she said, “be honest with yourself, about who you are… your flaws, vices, weaknesses, challenges, imperfections, and mess ups. It’s easy to be honest about your strengths and positive attributes, but you’ll liberate yourself by having the courage to be your full self–flaws and all.”

We did a post-shoot interview with Sherhara to find out what it was like to strip down for the camera, and much more.

1. Describe the day of shoot in your own words:

The shoot was peaceful! Yet I knew something awesome was happening. I felt valued from the beginning to the end. Time went by quickly, but it’s probably because I felt I was being catered to. Without the photos I felt beautiful.

2. What do you attribute to your confidence in not only modeling for these images but also sharing them?

Everyone has titties!! I’m not showing anything that someone hasn’t gotten up in the morning and seen for themselves! Whether those boobs are someone else’s or their own. I’m not bashful about my body because everyone has one, just a different one. And the only way people can get over the taboo of being naked is to be naked. Who makes it a big deal? It’s not, if you don’t.

3. What inspired you to do this shoot?

My husband inspire me to do the shoot! He already wanted me to do some type of sexy photo shoot and it was perfect timing when I met the lovely ladies of Revealed!

4. How did you feel during and after?

I felt confident before the shoot and I felt accomplished afterwards. I was proud that I did something few have the courage to do. It’s great to know I knocked something off of my bucket list (even though it wasn’t on the list to begin with! Lol)

5. Any significance in your tattoos?

My tattoos are a symbol of a moment in time. I can reflect on each one and it takes me back to where I was in life. A photo album on my body instead of on my coffee table.

6. Can you talk about your dance/movement background?

I haven’t practiced dance in forever! It’s been enough time for me to say, “I’m a former dancer.” But movement comes naturally for me and the photo shoot is where I could use it again.

7. What advice do you have for our audience?

I ask that everyone challenge themselves to step outside of their comfort zone. Do something as least weekly that you wouldn’t normally have done! Surprise yourself with your own courage!

8.What lesson have you learned in your adult life that you value most?

Be honest with yourself about who you are i.e. your flaws, vices, weaknesses, challenges, imperfections, and mess ups. It’s easy to be honest about your strengths and positive attributes, but you’ll liberate yourself by having the courage to be your full self, flaws and all!

9. What advice to you have for other clients struggling with image confidence?

So many people have left this earth without truly loving and embracing themselves. Don’t be that person that dies without ever loving yourself. You have a body that’s a vessel for your life! To celebrate that vessel is to celebrate life!

You can find Sherhara on social media at Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Real Client Ms. L’s Boudoir Session

By Maggie Rife Ponce

With all our lovely clients, we start things off with a phone consultation to chat through a boudoir session. Not only does this call serve to talk through what a session entails, but it also is the first step to feeling comfortable. It can be unnerving to walk into any situation without having spoken with someone on the other end–especially boudoir. This gives our clients a chance to hear our voices and know we’re all about making people feel comfortable.

One thing we learned while talking with cutiepie, Ms. L, was that she expected to like only three or four pictures from her session. “Three or four pictures?!” we thought, “we have a feeling you’re going to be surprised.” Sure, we hadn’t met her yet, but we make it our studio mission to help each client see the best in themselves by capturing it on camera.

When it came time for her to view the take of images, instead of only liking three or four pictures, the opposite happened. She loved nearly all of them!

She was blown away. She said she never liked pictures of herself and didn’t feel photogenic. She couldn’t believe it was her in the photos.

It’s the best feeling to exceed clients expectations. When they’re happy like Ms. L, it means we’ve done it, we nailed our goal of helping them to relax and trust us. When we can come from a place of confidence and acceptance–that’s when the magic happens.

“Thank you again for an awesome experience, I wish I could do it again!!! –From Ms. L post shoot.

How to shine on camera – Model portrait session with Jaycee Gossett Pt. 2

By Maggie Rife Ponce

Earlier this week we featured boudoir photos of Jaycee Gossett from her modeling portfolio session. During that same shoot, we set up the studio lights and let Jaycee’s million dollar smile shine!

For Jaycee, her past modeling, dance, and teaching experience help her feel confident on camera. But even she asked for a little Beyonce to help loosen her up.

If you’re feeling nervous, music helps to relax and even bring you out of your shell. We love when clients tell us their favorite artist — our musical inspirations can instantly change our energy. And even if you need a little extra boost, just make like Beyonce and adopt an alter ego. We all have a little Sasha Fierce in us.

Boudoir beach babe! Bringing a little spice to the Philippines!

By Maggie Rife Ponce

Boudoir Beach Photoshoot

On a recent trip, I (Maggie) was traveling with Jaycee Gossett of Dance the World for a project in the Philippines. On our day off, we high tailed into the aqua marine waters that are not to be missed. Inspired by the breath taking locations, we took the opportunity to turn our little day trip into a photoshoot. Not only is Jaycee a top notch mover and shaker, but she is an amazing model too! We had so much fun snapping away, especially when it came time to incorporate our favorite refresher–the coconut! Chicagoans, here’s something to warm up the cold season! Our lake time is just around the corner!