artistic nude photoshoot as a way to accepting, honoring and celebrating your body

Why do a nude photoshoot?

What is your relationship with your body? Do you cherish it, do you love it, are you proud of it, are you thankful for it, or do you hate it? As women we are too often critical of ourselves, trying to fit a certain standard of beauty or what we once looked like, and forget to thank our bodies for being here for us and housing our souls.

A great way to celebrate your body is to do an artistic nude photoshoot. My nude photoshoots are mostly done in nature - there is something so liberating about being in your birthday suit in the wild - and my photoshoots are different from boudoir photoshoots.

Boudoir photoshoots are usually done indoors, at home or in a studio, the person usually wears lingerie and the purpose of photos is often to seduce or to show a sexy side of oneself. With my nude photoshoots the attention is not outward to be a certain way but it is more inward, on being at peace with your body, as if dissolving in the nature around you, being the way you are, the way you were created, powerful, beautiful, divine.

Grace and I met when creating a video for a local ecstatic dance facilitator. I got fascinated with the way Grace moves, with her hands and her tattoos, and most importantly, by how comfortable she was in her body. Later, when my creative urge said I must do an artistic nude photoshoot, I immediately reached out to Grace and she said yes!

Grace’s Nude Photoshoot

I told her we would meet in a John Prince Park in Lake Worth that was somewhere in between her and my homes. When I got to the park, dark clouds started gathering around, but I didn’t pay them much attention. It was almost our meeting time and I had to send Grace the pin with the exact location where we would be photographing. The park turned out to be one huge open space with lots of people who were walking, jogging, and playing soccer despite the impending rain. How are we supposed to do a nude photoshoot where there is literally NOWHERE to hide?

I drove in a circle and then spotted a small lake, on the other side from where all the action was happening. I parked and ran over there to see if there was enough privacy to get naked there. Jackpot! It was a perfect little oasis away from everyone and I immediately sent my location to Grace. I wonder if I projected the image of a confident photographer who knows all the perfect places for a photoshoot? ;)

Grace got undressed and we started photographing at the edge of the pond next to the trees.

I wanted to give her time to get used to

1). being nude

2). being nude out in the open

3). being nude out in the open in front of a camera.

That’s a lot to process all at once, but after a few breaths, Grace started connecting to the nature around her and showed zero discomfort!

After a few more minutes she grabbed a bottle of water, poured it over her hair and head, and sighed out “Ahhh… this is better.” I knew she was now fully herself in front of me with nothing to hide.

She lay on the ground, of course. Grounding into the energy of the Earth - this is a very important part of a Goddess Photoshoot that I try to include as often as possible. (Watch this video to learn more about the techniques I use in divine feminine photography and why they work.)

The beautiful goddess in front of me danced at the edge of the water, while I clicked away the shutter to capture her gorgeous curves and energy. I especially loved the tattoo on her left arm - she said it was a portrait of HER created by an artist. Soo beautiful and powerful!

Afterwards we moved to the other side of the pond. There were water lilies there and a regal fluffy cypress tree. I asked her to get into the water, so she could be in the center of the stage Mama Nature prepared for her. We played there and she roared, of course, and I love the photos we created in this series.

I asked her to pick up one of the fallen orange leaves. She picked it up, and held in her hands, the crescent leaf spotted with droplets of water. I guess it started drizzling by now, but we were having so much fun, we hardly noticed! She placed the crescent moon leaf on her third eye, and I am absolutely obsessed with the images we created here!

The next thing I got inspired by was the cypress tree behind her. I love the soft, almost fur-like, branches, and I invited her to wrap herself in it, as it was a blanket. These are the photos we created:

These photos are considered implied nude - a type of photography where it is obvious that the person is nude, but you cannot really see the strategic places. It is a great place to start for those who want to admire and honor their body with a nude photoshoot, but the idea of being totally nude is a bit scary.

Some time after these photos we created, I played with them (aka re-edited them) and made the greens pink instead. I LOVE how they turned out so I am sharing one of the images here:

There was a storm coming near. Big heavy clouds covered the sky and looked like they were about to burst with torrents of water. These are the final images from Grace’s photoshoot. I love the simple blue background of these portraits.

As soon as we said good-bye and got in the cars, the sky erupted. It poured so hard, and I felt so complete and so fulfilled. What an honor to witness this goddess as she honors her body and documents her journey of self-love and living in this body.

To connect with Grace, follow her on Instagram.

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To learn more about different techniques I use during a Goddess Photoshoot, take a look at this video:

What is Goddess Photoshoot and why women crave it?

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