personal branding photoshoot for a new yoga teacher
"Please don't mention anything to them about our photographing in the gardens", I caution my model and client, Denise, before we enter Morikami Museum and Gardens.
"Of course", she nods in agreement as we open the heavy doors.
"We are just ordinary park visitors going for a stroll", I mumble to myself as we approach the cashier, an elderly gentleman named Joe.
“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”
"Please don't mention anything to them about our photographing in the gardens", I caution my model and client, Denise, before we enter Morikami Museum and Gardens.
"Of course", she nods in agreement as we open the heavy doors.
"We are just ordinary park visitors going for a stroll", I mumble to myself as we approach the cashier, an elderly gentleman named Joe.
"That will be $15 per person and you cannot bring a bag of clothes with you into the park, ma'am, though your camera bag is ok," as he sternly gives me a look over.
"How did he know?" we both laugh as we head back out for Denise to change in the car. "I thought we were so discreet about it! These guys are experts at spotting photographers." My camera bag, by the way, doesn't look like a traditional camera bag. Once, when attending a photography workshop, as several of us, students, were going down in a elevator together, one lady pointed at my hot pink Cheeky Lime camera bag and asked, "Is that your lunch bag?" How dare she? I LOVE my camera bag for its extra-ordinarity. Anyway, thankfully, we were granted the permission to photograph in the park and we decided to do outfit changes in the car.
One of our most favorite images from the photoshoot is the one above. When I saw it through the viewfinder as I was taking it, I knew it would be one of the best shots. She is such a Goddess!
Even though the gardens had just opened, the serene place was already full of people being photographed and photographing. The heat index was rising so we got to business right away, deciding to play by the water first.
"Do you want me to splash the water around?"
"Great idea!" I say, and as she starts splashing the water toward me, we both giggle, but I am afraid to get water on my camera, so I suggest she try throwing the water towards the sky. This is what came out of it:
It is worth mentioning that Denise first contacted me when I was on vacation in Turkey. Even though she was eager to get her photographs taken right away, when I told her that I would be back in two weeks, she agreed to wait for me. And once I came back and we talked on the phone about her photoshoot,
I found out that Denise loves to travel and the country that she is especially drawn to is Italy. I had an obsession with Italy myself so I can completely understand why.
She also told me about how her fledgling yoga business is geared more toward children, and when I met her in person she struck me as a kid herself. This woman with a successful corporate career where she gets to travel worldwide has a contagious laughter and playful attitude of a cheerful kid!
During our photoshoot, whenever I asked Denise to give me a non-smiling expression, she would comply for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. After a few more tries I realized that it was her personality and after having taken a couple shots with a contemplative, introspective expression on her face, I decided not to persist anymore and just photographer this goddess the way she was naturally, smiling, bursting with joy, and happiness.
A contemplative expression on her face…
Until she burst into laughter seconds later!
"Look up! What is that? Is that an eagle?" she points to the top of a pine tree towering over us.
"It is!", I say as I continue to photograph her. In addition to the eagle, we also encountered a bright green lizard that I made friends with while I was waiting for Denise to change in her car. We also saw one of those long-necked black birds that spread their wings to soak up the sun. And lots of humans, of course, with many of whom Denise would casually start chatting and laughing.
We played by the water, on a giant rock, and Denise danced between tall trees. We didn't explore the entire park and I wanted to keep photographing, but we were both exhausted from the heat AND working (modeling is serious business, ask anyone who was photographed for two hours!) I think it just means that there will be a sequel to this photoshoot :)
This picture above sums up Denise's essence and personality :)
As Fyodor Dostoevsky said, “If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don't bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man.”
I would definitely want this gentle and lighthearted woman to teach yoga to my daughters.
Another absolute favorite of both Denise and mine.
Want to join the Goddess party? Call/text me to 561-465-4857 or send me an email and let's talk about making YOUR Goddess Photoshoot a reality!
Goddess Photoshoot with Nora + behind the scenes magic
"You will recognize me by a green top and I will probably have my nose in the book" - these were my cues for identifying Nora whom I was about to meet for a pre-photoshooot consultation at my favorite French bakery.
Nora's Goddess is Brigid, the patroness of poetry and inspiration, the ruler of creativity and ...
"You will recognize me by a green top and I will probably have my nose in the book" - these were my cues for identifying Nora whom I was about to meet for a pre-photoshooot consultation at my favorite French bakery.
Nora's Goddess is Brigid, the patroness of poetry and inspiration, the ruler of creativity and healing, whose symbol is fire and whose color is green. In preparation for the shoot Nora found a green velvet cloak, and I bought a green satin gown that had been calling to me at the local thrift store (and which I snatched for 10 bucks!) The morning of the photoshoot I pull up to the parking lot of where we were to photograph and Nora waives to me from her slightly beat-up Ford, the color of which is .... GREEN! It truly is her color!
Since Brigid is the guardian of poets and bards, we decided to incorporate books into several shots. "I always have anywhere from dozen to twenty books in my car", Nora says. The morning of the photoshoot she pulls out these two out of her trunk: one titled "Beauty" and the other one "Feminism and the Mastery of Nature". Then she took out this necklace with rhinestones that she put over her head and immediately transformed herself into royalty. I got goosebumps...
The photos came out aaa-mazing - there is so much power in Her, yet at the same time so much tenderness, so much beauty and peace. I came across this poem when I was researching Brigid once the photos were ready, and I felt compelled to share it with you:
The Charge of the Goddess Brigit
I call to you my children, my sisters and brothers to hear my charge
I, who am Brigit, Brid, Brigantia, Braga, Branganca, Fraid and many other names,
Do charge you to find the fires of life within your soul
And forge yourself to be strong, sharp and powerful.
Pull the elements of the earth into your being;
Breathe the inspiration of poetry, song, and art into your soul;
Be heated by the flames of the fire and ember;
Be tempered and soothed by the cool waters from my sacred well;
And be shaped and fused into magic at my hearth
Come to my wells for healing and wishes
Be nourished and soothed by the waters
Tie your wishes to the branches of my trees
And know that wishes spoken
Become the magic of the world
Become your wishes, the magic at my well.
Sing the inspiration of the mystery with your voice
Inspire yourself with joy and love
Delight in the blessings of creation
Become the Art you were meant to be.
And here is the promised sneak peek from behind the scenes!
Curious about what it would be like to have your own Goddess Photoshoot? Send me a message and let's talk about what kind of photos we can create for you.
one woman's story - why I chose to do a Goddess Photoshoot
My recent Goddess Photoshoot with Francesca Bliss was the culmination of several important themes in my life. For many years, I’ve studied Women’s Spirituality and Goddess Archetypes as a way to access the innate divinity in myself and other women. I believe that what you worship and what you defile say a lot about a person. For instance, in Western culture, why is God a man, and woman his submissive? This dynamic shapes not only religion, but the relationship between the sexes, and ...
“You were wild once. Don’t let them tame you.”
“There is a goddess in every woman.”
My recent Goddess Photoshoot with Francesca Bliss was the culmination of several important themes in my life. For many years, I’ve studied Women’s Spirituality and Goddess Archetypes as a way to access the innate divinity in myself and other women. I believe that what you worship and what you defile say a lot about a person. For instance, in Western culture, why is God a man, and woman his submissive? This dynamic shapes not only religion, but the relationship between the sexes, and the relationship between humans and the earth. Both the earth and women are currently seen as expendable resources, and thus, often used and defiled. But what if we changed this paradigm—if we started seeing women (ourselves!) as sacred? Earth based religions see men AND women as divine, and the earth itself as a Goddess. Mother Earth, or Gaia, nourishes all of us, and must be treated gently.
Secondly, a big part of my journey towards accessing my inner goddess has been intertwined with my relationship with my body and sexuality. I have always been a curvy girl—ever since middle school, I had wide hips and generous breasts. Even at my smallest and most fit, I was a size 6. My hips and breasts just naturally wouldn’t get any smaller. When I was 15, I began to gain weight. I struggled with my weight and body image constantly since puberty, in a world that defined thinness as beautiful. In college, I started to see myself as beautiful again, but was the victim of sexual assault that taught me that my body was an object and was dirty and shameful. I spent much of the next decade trying to find value by making myself beautiful enough, sexy enough to please men.
During my pregnancy and postpartum, I gained a lot of weight. I was in an abusive relationship and suffered severe postpartum depression. When my daughter was 2, I decided that I hated myself because I was fat, and embarked on a year and a half weight loss journey. Yet I was more miserable than ever. And along the way—somewhere in the midst of obsessive diet and exercise—I developed an eating disorder. Since my desire to lose weight was motivated by self-hatred, I quickly became addicted to the attention I got when I became smaller and smaller. I was so addicted to the love of others that I found myself starving, spending hours at the gym, and engaged in multiple affairs. I couldn’t get enough of anything. I was empty inside.
Thankfully my family, therapist, and friends recognized that I was in pain and rallied to support me. I spent the next year trying to get back to some sense of self. Naturally, once I stopped starving myself and compulsively exercising, I gained some weight back. This made me feel unworthy. But I was determined to approach self-love a new way. I decided to be kind to my heart and my body. This meant regular exercise, but this time long walks outside, yoga, meditation and dancing. Self-love also meant eating clean, but also allowing myself chocolate and the occasional splurge. I committed to only positive self talk and to loving myself no matter my size. For truly—whose body is static? Our bodies ebb and flow with the seasons, and women in particular, flow with the moon, with the rise and fall of pregnancy, motherhood, menstruation and menopause. It’s okay to take up space and to be dynamic.
I met Francesca Bliss at a new moon women’s circle at our local Red Tent. I was entranced by her sparkle—her inner glow. We connected over goddesses and the importance of women’s empowerment. We want our daughters to love themselves and we know that work begins with us. Thus, the idea for the inner goddess photoshoot was born. We decided we wanted to do a Wild Woman/Nature Goddess photoshoot, centered around the Goddess Diana, who is the patron Goddess of wild women everywhere. Diana/Artemis runs freely through the forest, bow and arrow slung over her shoulder. She dances under the full moon and muses and bleeds under the new moon.
Reclaiming my wild goddess self through photography was a scary but important step for me. I knew that I had done a lot of “inner” goddess work—but in truth, I was still struggling to love my curvy, dimpled, size 14 frame. I wanted to embrace not just my soul, but also my flesh. I debated—maybe I should lose more weight—do I really want people to see me like this (I hadn’t posted many full body shots since I went into eating disorder recovery)? I didn’t like my short hair. Maybe I should wait to grow it out? No! I decided that THIS was exactly what it was about—loving myself right here, right now, short hair, size 14, blemishes and all!
Francesca Bliss was a dream to work with. She understood my vision and helped me see myself as a goddess every step of the way. Some of the most powerful shots from the session were very different—a soft, romantic shot with flowers in my hair (more like the goddess Venus/Aphrodite), and one with a powerful look on my face as I stare into the camera with a crown of twigs in my hair. I learned from this experience that I am a goddess in all my forms—soft, sensual, strong, playful, powerful. I represent many Goddesses—the goddess Diana of the wild, Venus of the magic of desire, and even the power of the dark goddesses.
Written by Mary Reid Bogue (mrboguewrites@gmail.com, Mary Reid Bogue on Facebook)
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Curious about what it would be like to have your own Goddess Photoshoot? Send me a message and let's talk about what kind of photos we can create for you.
As adults, we often don’t give ourselves the luxury of playing or creating. Unless something has a direct effect on how much money we make, we don’t bother. Surprisingly, creativity, or simply allowing yourself to create for the sake of playing, has an impact on our confidence. Read more to find out how the concepts of confidence and creativity are linked.