life lessons from a chicken
My husband promised our daughters (6.5 and 5 years old) baby chicks when we got to Turkey. His father, the Turkish grandpa, got two hens before we came here. The girls named them Raspberry and Chocolate.
One afternoon I noticed a box in the chicken coop. It had holes in it for air.
I told Lila (my five-year-old) there was someone in the box and we should let them out so they don’t suffocate. We opened the box and let out a very fluffed up white rooster and a giant white hen with some rust stained feathers.
The rooster got whiter over time and we named him Snowball. The hen got even rustier, but we still named her Marshmallow.
The new hen, the one that came in the same box with the rooster, was very big. At times, she challenged the rooster. She was the first one to chase away the cat when it came near. “This hen has balls” we thought. My husband and I didn’t even call her Marshmallow anymore, we called her Alpha Female. And I was so proud that this girl was standing up for herself in the animal kingdom.
One late night, when we came back from a two-day road trip, the grandpa, who normally goes to sleep with the chickens, was still up to greet us. He was so excited!
“I have a surprise for you, kids!" he said.
We all go outside to the chicken coop, the headlights of the car lighting it up.
“Two baby chicks have hatched!!!”
They were tiny, fluffy little things, you could fit them in the palm of your hand. Total cuteness overload not just for the kids, but for us, adults.
The next day another one hatched, and one more the next day. We now have four chicks! And if you want a visual definition of "smothering", watch these girls pick up the chicks every two minutes to play with them.
After another four-day road trip to Ankara, the capital, my husband asks, “Did you notice that the rooster’s voice got deeper while we were away?”
But as it turned out later, it wasn’t the rooster whose voice got deeper. It was the Alpha Female who was making that noise! She turned out to be a rooster!
“But her crest is so small, how can she be a rooster?” I asked.
“He is still growing, and his crest IS getting bigger, look." I didn’t know roosters don’t start crowing until they mature.
He pulls his neck down, forward and up and crows like a grandpa, a faint scratchy sound barely escaping his vocal chords. Then his crowing becomes more confident. Now we call her The Hen Who is Actually a Rooster.
Why am I telling you this story? Well, first of all, it’s funny. Second, it teaches us a powerful lesson about life.
How often do we jump to conclusions that something is not working, that something oughta be a certain way but it’s not and we just give up on it?
I can especially relate to it as an entrepreneur. When at times I put so much into my business but there seems to be no growth, there’s no sound of it getting to the next level. And I can relate to it as an artist. When I am agonizing over wanting to get getter, learning, trying out new techniques, but don't see any improvement.
But in reality, growth happens.
Slow, incremental, almost invisible growth, that when compounded, helps you make a quantum leap into a full blown cock-a-doodle-dooing giant rooster.
We just got to be patient, allowing that inner growth to take place, observing it and continuing the work.
With love and gratitude,
Francesca Bliss
more of my personal stories:
portrait photography session in palm beach or what to expect before, during and after a photoshoot
The idea of a professional photoshoot can be exciting and intimidating at once. Even the most confident women have insecurities and they all come out when you are about to face the camera.
The idea of a professional photoshoot can be exciting and intimidating at once. Even the most confident women have insecurities and they all come out when you are about to face the camera.
To give you an idea of what a photoshoot with me looks like, here is how the process worked for me and the gorgeous babe Sasha in these photos. She looks like a total supermodel, right? But, believe me, even she had her fears before and during the shoot.
Creating beautiful portraits is a three-part magic process:
preparation for the photoshoot
the photoshoot itself
editing of the photos
part I: preparation for the photoshoot
Before the photoshoot
We clear our calendars for the evening of the photoshoot. Husbands are notified of their children-caring responsibilities so we leave knowing we have several hours of uninterrupted time just for ourselves. Keeping our fingers crossed for the weather to conspire with us (spoiler alert: she does).
Important questions to answer now:
What to wear?
Where will we photograph?
What do I do with my hair and makeup? (gosh, I am already freaking out!)
I provide guidance with all three questions and here is how we handle them:
What to wear to a photoshoot?
Go through your closet and choose several outfits that you like and that resonate with you. It is important that outfit colors harmonize with the location and make your photos look cohesive. For that reason I ask my clients to send me selfies or pictures of clothing beforehand. This way we can dial in on the two or three outfits for the shoot. Another way to handle this is to bring four to five outfits to the photoshoot. Right before we start photographing, I will tell you which clothing combinations will photograph better. This second option adds a little more stress to the day of the photoshoot and I only recommend if you absolutely cannot zero in on two outfits.
Remember your accessories! Jewelry, a purse, a scarf, a hat, bracelets - things that will complete your outfit and will bring out the Goddess inside.
Sasha’s case: Sasha used to have a fashion blog so this goddess knows how to dress. “I wanted to show two different moods, both of which represent me” she says about how she chose what to wear for her photoshoot. One was very feminine and sophisticated (a white vintage Ralph Lauren dress) and the second one was bold and daring chic (green jeans and screaming colorful jacket). Sasha accessorized both outfits with a green belt, green purse, and a straw hat for the first look.
Where will we photograph?
Some women I photograph know exactly where they want to be photographed. Others don’t have a clue. I will provide you with a list of places that I think will be great for your photoshoot and you choose the location that speaks to you and that you are excited about.
Any place we choose usually offers several backdrops so that we can create a variety of photos for you. If you love the beach, it can be photos on the sand, on the rocks, against the backdrop of water, in the water, in the green area near the beach. Variety IS the spice of portrait photography, especially because you are paying for it!
Sasha loves vintage stuff, details, unique things with history and character. Based on her preferences and taking into consideration the outfits she chose, we decided to photograph on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach.
What do I do with my hair and makeup?
First of all, breathe! The basics: your hair must be freshly washed the day before or on the day of the photoshoot. Your eyebrows need to be plucked. Your fingernails either painted or completely without nail polish. The camera sees everything and it is not as easy to “just remove it in Photoshop”. You can style your hair they way you normally do. If you want something extra special, for $100-$200 a hair stylist/makeup artist can do your hair and makeup. If you normally don’t wear makeup, you might want to add some mascara, foundation and lip gloss for your photos. You can also go completely au naturel, or go all in with makeup, it all depends on the look you are going for.
Sasha’s case: Sasha did her own makeup.
The hardest part is done! Now the only thing you need to do is SHOW up for yourself. Show up to acknowledge your beauty, your strength, your uniqueness. Show up to LOVE yourself and to be seen.
Try to get adequate sleep and eat well before your photoshoot. You want to feel rested and replenished.
part II: the photoshoot
How will I know how to pose during the photoshoot?
We meet at the location of our photoshoot and start photographing in the first outfit. From this moment on, you don’t need to worry about anything. Most likely, you will be VERY camera shy the first ten-fifteen minutes. Most people are. But after that, you will get more relaxed. I will guide you in terms of how to pose and if you have some ideas you want to try out, we will try them out. We flow from pose to pose, then switch to the second outfit and do the same. At a certain point you will feel confident enough and your inner super model will come out. I want you to remember this feeling of confidence. You will see it again in your final photos and remember feeling powerful.
The important thing: I might ask you to dance, I might ask you to make a fake loud laughter, I might ask you to scream (not in a crowded street, I promise). These things might sound and feel awkward. They are. But once you do them, you will let your guard down, you will relax some more and allow my camera to see a little bit more of the REAL YOU. So I can show you how the world sees you, so you can witness what an amazing Goddess you are.
Sasha’s case: Sasha is basically a supermodel, and she did work for the camera. I also gave her suggestions on what to do when she ran out of ideas. In the photo below she is looking at her reflection in a window. A few minutes after that I made her dance. We were both laughing and pedestrians were wondering what celebrity Sasha was ;)
“A photoshoot with Francesca is a chance to release tightness and stress, it is a liberating experience. At a certain point you allow yourself to let go of control and let the flow of the creative process carry you. And you enjoy being the REAL you: light, joyful, relaxed, unique, special. ”
When will I receive my photos?
You did it! The photoshoot is over and you feel amazing! You did great! You know now that it is not as scary to face the camera, and you know how that those photos we created today will be ah-mazing! And now you can’t wait to see the final images. “When will the photos be ready?” you ask me impatiently.
part III: editing of the final photos
This is the part you don’t need to worry about at all, it is all on me! The third part of the magic process is editing of the photos. Editing means I load the photos into my computer (I usually can’t wait to get to see them on a big screen, the magic we created). Then I cull the photos. “Culling” means I delete the photos that don’t pass the quality test (eyes closed, lack of expression, awkward pose, bad lighting, picture out of focus, etc.). Then I go through those best images of you and color correct them in my editing style, remove any blemishes, fly away hairs, etc. I don’t do extensive face and body retouching because I want you to admire the real YOU, not the dolled up version of you that doesn’t exist. I may remove a pimple and soften the skin under the eyes, but I don’t do heavy retouching.
Oh, and I know that you CANNOT WAIT to see the photos, and I, equally impatiently, CANNOT WAIT TO SHOW you how beautiful you are. I usually send out a couple of edited sneak peek photos a few days after the photoshoot. At that point, sneak peeks don’t quench your thirst for wanting to see the photos. Once you see one or two photos of how amazing you are, you usually cannot wait to see them ALL.
Within two-three weeks from the day of your photoshoot you will receive an email from me with a link to your gallery of images. I recommend you download the images onto your computer right away. It is also a good idea to backup the images somewhere else just in case.
Sasha’s case: seeing the woman’s face when she sees the photos we create together is absolutely priceless. So if it physically possible, I present the digital images in person. In addition to that, I also present you with box of printed 8 by 10 images for you to frame and display in your home. These images do you no good if they are living somewhere on the hard drive of your computer and you get to see them only when you remember where you saved them. I am also offering a large canvas/metal/wooden wall art print that you can purchase at additional cost.
classy Palm Beach portrait photography session on Worth Avenue
The day of the photoshoot will forever live in our memories as a day when you got to show up for yourself and channel your supermodel. It was fun, we got to see a gorgeous golden sunset, and now you have a collection of amazing images that show you how beautiful, playful, sexy, confident, strong you are. Look at these images often to remind yourself what a CONFIDENT, beautiful, powerful woman you are. A woman who respects her boundaries (and makes other respect them, too), a woman who loves herself and takes good care of herself, a woman who knows what she wants, a woman who is not afraid to take action and goes boldly in the direction of her dreams.
As Sasha blows you a farewell kiss, here are her words describing how she felt when she received her final photos.
“When you see the final images, you see yourself the way you never see yourself. We all have some horrible notions about ourselves, about our flaws, what is good and what is bad, and usually it is a lot of bad and not a lot of good. And when you see photos like this, your love for yourself awakens, as if you remember how much you love yourself, and you feel very touched by what you see. And it really changes the way you perceive yourself, it is very therapeutic. You remember the moment that photo was taken and you try to remember that feeling of being liberated, relaxed, joyful, beautiful, light, magical, wonderful. And you think to yourself, just chillax, take it easy, BE YOU. Because when you are the real you, there is nothing more beautiful. ”
If this is the time for you to have a confidence boost and see how the world sees you, please reach out to me and let’s talk about your photoshoot experience. I would love to create transformational portraits of you, for you and with you! ♥
Goddess Photoshoot in a Secret Garden
This girl made me break the law.
But in a very innocent type of way, the way jaywalking is kinda breaking a rule but it is not serious offense :)
This girl made me break the law.
But in a very innocent type of way, the way jaywalking is kinda breaking a rule but it is not serious offense :)
And she didn’t really “make me”, but what she suggested was sooo good, that I couldn’t resist.
“Well, the Arboretum has been under construction for a while, but it is SO BEAUTIFUL in there, we HAVE TO photograph there, I know how to get in there.” she says as we brainstorm location ideas for her Goddess Photoshoot.
So we did it. As we were sneaking in, I realized that I forgot a whole bag of props that I prepared for Katie’s photoshoot at home! It turned out to be perfectly fine because the props might have gotten me too distracted and rushed. Instead, I was able to focus on the goddess in front of me and she brought enough outfit changes that we were able to create a variety of images, especially because the location offered as so many gorgeous backdrops.
There was a peaceful little lake, gorgeous trees surrounding it, and a huge banyan tree, and a Rose of Venezuela (also called Panama Flame Tree) flower, which I fell absolutely in love with:
Katie trusted her instincts about what kind of photos she wanted to create and we tried out the ideas she had. She was also open to posing suggestions that I had and the entire experience was a beautiful collaboration of two creatives. (When I work with people who are not officially considered “creatives”, it is the same thing: we create TOGETHER. I offer guidance in terms of where and how to photograph, but these are YOUR photos, so we try out YOUR ideas too because there are no right or wrong ideas when it comes to creating).
On the day Katie’s photos were ready, we met in a park, sat on the grass, and we looked at all the photos we created together, prints and digitals. I felt like for both of us it was an incredible experience, and we both received deep satisfaction from the process and outcome of this Goddess Photoshoot.
Here are a few reels that show a sneak peek into our creative process, enjoy:
The digital portraits and digital fantasy art Katie creates are out of this world. Katie can take an ordinary photo of you and by adding ethereal skies, gold jewelry, glowing third eyes, sacred geometry and other symbols, she is able to create truly divine pieces. These regal portraits of you will help you see yourself in your highest power and you can use them in your sacred business or for your own empowerment.
Katie Berns Lee talks about her creative journey:
”Originally a painter and drawer who was ADAMANT about never getting into digital art, I one day decided to download Photoshop…just to add my signature to my nature photography shots so I could sell them.
But then I started playing around. And I started to see what could happen when I would add this or that, blend here and there, change the color of that…and so on, and it EXCITED me.
I started creating portraits of myself and friends as a space queen, an Aztec warrior princess, a faerie…anything I could think of. And then I felt the draw to GROUND my work. So I began adding art historical elements, ancient artifacts, ancient symbology, and lots of architecture. And I fell in love.
Already on the spiritual path, this was a natural extension of me. I was just starting to deepen my connection to the ancestors, to all things ancient, and to the old ways of being. So I began creating out of ritual, in trance, and for goddesses,”
To get to know Katie better and to work with her, follow her on Instagram @of_our_ancestors. She is also an amazing djembe and darbuka player and I love watching her stories as she creates these magical rhythms with her fingertips.
personal branding photoshoot for a Men's Sexual Health and Wellness Educator
Olga came down from New Jersey for her personal branding photoshoot and we got lucky because we got to photograph in a location that perfectly suits her brand!
“This woman knows what she is doing and she means business!” I thought to myself when I got her email. Olga, who was coming to Boca Raton from New Jersey and who was referred to me by another client, emailed me a document that in great detail explained her brand, services, and ideal client which made my job of preparing for her shoot so much easier! Of course, we spoke on the phone first and it was clear that we were a good fit, so we proceeded with preparations for the shoot.
With a branding photoshoot, there a so many different possibilities of how you, the business owner, the face of the brand, can be depicted to visually communicate your process and what it is like to work with you. I suggested several ideas for Olga of what I thought could work for her brand. She preferred to focus mostly on headshots and lifestyle photos of her so we did exactly that. I also knew that many of the photos we were creating would be used for Olga’s website, which was under construction at that time, so I was mindful of that and created many horizontal photos which usually work well for wide banner images on a website.
Because of who Olga’s ideal client is, it was important for us to find an upscale, luxurious looking backdrop for her lifestyle photos. We got very lucky and were able to do our photoshoot in the gorgeous Boca Raton Resort. (Honestly, we were so discreet and almost invisible, that it is almost as if it didn’t happen. :))
Olga brought six or seven outfits with her, as well as jewelry to match it, and once we met, we chose which outfits would go best with each scene. We ended up not using all of the outfits, but I definitely think it is better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. I did a beach photoshoot for a yoga teacher once and the only pair of shorts she brought got splashed by the sunrise waves and she had to wear wet shorts for the rest of her shoot (so I photographer her mostly from the waist up). You don’t want that. Bring more than you may need, you never know how the photoshoot unfolds, you may even use all of the outfits and create a great variety of images!
“Oh my, I look so good!” she exclaims when I show her one of the images on the back of my camera. This makes her more comfortable, she relaxes more into her natural state and starts being more confident in front of the camera. I love it. For me personally, it is like an explosion of visual orgasms when I look on my camera screen. I have this wise goddess in this gorgeous setting and she looks amazing, I just want to scream (and I normally would, when I photograph in nature, but we were trying to be invisible, so I kept quiet and just grinned from ear to ear :))
“Can you imagine that we got to photograph in this beautiful place?” she laughs in disbelief.
“I know” I reply. And like two giddy little girls we go from one section of the hotel to another to see where we can play.
I create several images like the one above where Olga’s graphic designer can add text off to the side. If a client who hires me has a graphic designer who is very specific about the types of images they need for the website, a client will provide me with a list of shots they need. Oftentimes, however, it doesn’t work like that. People come to me because they know they will need photos for a website, and we create a variety of images. Having created several websites and marketing materials (even though I am not a graphic designer) myself I know what kind of photos work well and I always create them for a client.
Olga received 30 images from her personal branding photoshoot and the ones presented here are my personal favorites. In my opinion, Olga looks classy, elegant, refined, knowledgeable and projects an image of wisdom, trustworthiness, and warmth.
Need to create brand photos for your business? I would love to work with you! If you are just in the beginning stages of starting a business, or if you are rebranding an existing one, I have the experience, talent, intuition, gear and desire to create great images for you :) Please reach out and let’s see if we are a good fit.
epic couples photoshoot in boca raton for two artists
Love story of Johannah and Alex, the epic photos we created, and the behind-the-scenes footage from that magical day.
“There was a double rainbow on the day we met.” they say almost in unison when asked to describe the day they met.
Johannah is a painter and an author and Alex is an author, too. They met through mutual friends at one of the gatherings organized by the Red Tent Goddess Sisterhood.
“She gave me a rose. We exchanged books and while everyone was talking and mingling we just sat there reading each other’s books.” Alex recollects.
When they reached out to have their engagement photos taken, I wanted to create more than pretty pictures for them. I wanted to capture a story of how they met and how they fell in love, to paint a picture of their love with a story.
One day, as I was driving, I noticed this giant Royal Poinciana tree on the side of the road. It caught my attention because it was so big, and its branches reached all the way down to the ground. On another day I paid a visit to the tree at sunrise to see if it was indeed a good location for the photoshoot and what the light looked like at that hour. I fell in love with it and I knew they would, too!
We met early in the morning and created magic that day. It was absolutely amazing! After I finished editing the photos I put them into a slideshow with music to enhance the effect of the photos on them :) It worked. Even though I wasn’t there to witness when they saw the photos for the first time, Alex told me Johannah cried and they watched the video ten times on the first day.
And if you are curious about the process, here is a behind-the-scenes video from that day that shows how the magic happened.
I don’t say the word “proud” when I describe how I feel about something that I create because pride is the thing of the ego and I want to think that my art comes from a spiritual place. But with these photos I just feel plain proud of what we created! It gives me so much satisfaction and joy to think about them, look at them, describe them to others, and show them off. I pour my heart and soul into my (art)work and it is especially apparent in the photo series for this couple. So grateful to have had the experience of working with these two beautiful souls ♥
Want to have your couples or engagement photos taken? Reach out to me and let’s talk about how we can capture YOUR LOVE STORY in a unique way.
5 superhero confidence hacks that work
“Scholars are coming to see (confidence) as an essential element of internal well-being and happiness, a necessity for a fulfilled life. Without it you can’t achieve flow, the almost euphoric state described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as perfect concentration; the alignment of one’s skills with the task at hand.”
Here are 5 confidence boosters that have worked for me.
When I was eight years old, I taught a friend how to ride a bicycle because I was convinced that I knew how to do it.
And it was only during the following summer at my grandma's house, surrounded by my cousins, when I attempted to ride a two-wheeler and kept falling over, did I discover that I did not know how to ride it ...
Confidence (or over-inflated confidence in my childhood case) is what scientists claim is an ESSENTIAL ingredient for success:
“Scholars are coming to see (confidence) as an essential element of internal well-being and happiness, a necessity for a fulfilled life. Without it you can’t achieve flow, the almost euphoric state described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as perfect concentration; the alignment of one’s skills with the task at hand.”
Do you remember a time when you were really confident? You probably felt like a million bucks, looked the part, and was convinced that you could handle anything coming your way. It is a great feeling, isn't it?
If we start on skin-level, these confidence and beauty quotes come to mind:
The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence.
Beauty begins the most you decide to be yourself. (self-acceptance)
Beauty is really all about confidence. If you feel beautiful, then you are beautiful. (WOW!)
To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.
True beauty is the flame of self-confidence that shines from the inside out.
Too much confidence, and we are looking at arrogance, but coupled with just the right amount of humility, it becomes the magic formula for success in life.
Too much humility and we find ourselves in a self-deprecation pit. What is humility?
“Genuine humility is a reflection of neither weakness nor insecurity. Instead, it implies a respectful appreciation of the strengths of others, a lack of personal pretension and a more relaxed sense of confidence that doesn’t require external recognition.” * (from The Humility-Confidence SeeSaw: The Untold Secret of Great Leaders”)
So if it is not just something that is NICE TO HAVE, but it is something that is ESSENTIAL to a great life, how So if it is not just something that is NICE TO HAVE, but it is something that is ESSENTIAL to a great life, how can we get more of it?
Here are 5 confidence boosters that have worked for me.
1. Acclaim your amazingness.
“You have completely reinvented yourself” my friend Jenya says about my journey in photography that started 8 years ago. When I hear these words, I think to myself, "Wow! I am pretty amazing." In my mind though, all I did was pick up a camera and learned to take pictures. It’s like she took what happened and wrote a really beautiful line for a resume. A line full of impact, full of action, full of drama.
Imagine that you are about to write YOUR resume and you are doing a brainstorm of all your accomplishments and positive traits. Make a list of all the things that you are proud of, qualities that you like about yourself or that people usually compliment you on, and read that list to yourself often. I bet it will do more good than the berating self-talk!
Why not try rewriting simple and seemingly insignificant statements about yourself like “I’m just a guy who works at an insignificant job position” into more impressive “I use my experience and skills to provide for my family”. Do you feel the difference? Start giving yourself more credit for what you do. Instead of “I'm just an ordinary person” rewrite it into “I am an incredible one-of-a-kind person who is {insert your three admirable qualities} who can do {insert your skill here, whether it is doing payroll, quesadilla, or composting} very well.” And say it to yourself every day.
2. Receive compliments gratefully and joyously.
When someone compliments you, do you downplay your role something to the effect, "oh, it's nothing"? Instead of negating what you are being praised for, practice accepting the compliment and simply say “thank you. I appreciate that.” Then notice how it feels.
(OMG, do I sound like a therapist? I totally am not, but I just love how these small tweaks can make a HUGE impact on how we see ourselves and what we can create in life as a result of that!)
3. Dress like a superhero.
Another way that helps me personally feel like a badass is dressing up. Not necessarily dressing up in fancy clothes, but taking the time and thought to get dressed in an outfit that resonates with how I feel that day and how I perceive myself. I get dressed and if I don't feel ecstatic about how the clothes make me feel, I change into something that highlights the mood I am in. With makeup on and dressed well, I engage more openly and happily with people and I generously give out compliments to everyone I see and build relationships more easily.
It's like donning a super-hero costume to actually become a superhero.
The thing is, it takes guts to dress like a superhero, so you kinda have to be a superhero before you dare to dress like one.
But I bet you can reverse the process and start with the dressing up thing first and see how the superhero feeling will follow, if you are willing to try it out. WOULD you?
4. Have professional photos of yourself taken.
Wearing a superhero costume to become a superhero is similar to how I feel photography can help people gain self-confidence and teach self-love.
We don’t notice how cool we are until someone tells us. Or we may not see how beautiful we are until someone photographs us and shows us our portraits.
The last time I had a very successful photoshoot with my girlfriend Sasha, I felt so confident afterwards because I got to see how hot I am :) Ok, I normally don't talk like this about myself but. seriously, seeing myself from the side (not in the mirror) gave me an appreciation for how I look, for the way that I am, and I became more confident as a result of it.
Have professional portraits taken and see how the way you see yourself changes. It is possible that you will start taking care of yourself a couple of weeks before the photoshoot (if you want to get in a better shape, buy some new clothes, get your hair done, etc.) and that is fine. It is ok to have photos taken for your own personal pleasure, but I can guarantee you that you will find your new photos useful in more than one way. You can update your profile photo on Facebook and LinkedIn, use photos for a dating site, start showing up more regularly to build relationships on social media, have photos printed to remind you of your awesomeness on a daily basis. I truly believe that once you see yourselves how the world sees you, you may start loving yourself more.
5. Use empowering language.
Our language shapes so much of what we are, that it is important for us to identify words and phrases that limit us and pull them out of vocabulary like weeds from the garden.
The word "try" is not a part of my lexicon. I am not going to try and do an art experiment. I will just do it, and I might fail miserably at it, or I might learn anything, but in any case, it is a win. I also don't use the "have to" so much. I don't ever have to do editing. I simply need to do it and I do it joyfully because it is a part of my creative process. (Okay, sometimes, I HAVE TO cook, and it sucks. In that case I talk to my husband and we order out or he cooks, but I am not a victim of my circumstances. )
If you are curious on the topic of empowering language, start noticing how you talk, speak to a life coach, or google the topic and see if there are any free resources can help you. Using empowered speech is like donning that superhero costume and then watching yourself being able to soar. (tweet that :))
Whichever method you use to boost your confidence, I hope you realize your awesomeness this month and rewrite your humble story into a more empowering one. Because once empowered, you can live a full, enriching, magical life. ♥
With gratitude,
Francesca Bliss
branding photoshoot for a holistic healer and yoga teacher + behind the scenes
Amy needed photos for her new business, Inner Bloom Wellness, so she reached out to me. Here is the process we went through to arrive at the photos that we created together.
Amy needed photos for her new business, Inner Bloom Wellness, so she reached out to me. Here is the process we went through to arrive at the photos that we created together.
This is a screenshot from Amy’s website with a photo we created during her branding photoshoot. Read on to understand how we arrived at creating these images and check out the behind-the-scenes magic of these images at the end of the article!
UNDERSTANDING THE BRAND
First, I needed to understand what Amy does and what words she uses to describe her brand. During our initial phone consultation, Amy explained that she is a a clinical social worker, a teacher of ecstatic dance and yoga nidra, and a holistic healer. She uses the following words to describe her brand: wellness, grounding, healing, therapeutic, connection, growth, inner bloom.
BRAND COLORS
Amy’s website draft was under way when we started preparing for the shoot, I was able to see Amy’s logo and colors that she will be associating with the brand: earthy tones, greens, golden hues, peachy and rose feminine hues.
INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF WORK
In order to understand which storylines to focus on, I also need to have a better idea of Amy as a person. In addition to shots of her working at a laptop, pulling cards, or meditating in her home yoga studio, we wanted to give Amy’s audience a glimpse of her outside of her work. Naturally, she loves nature, dancing, enjoys cooking, gardening, spending time with her husband and her fur babies (a cat and a dog).
Amy’s dog Yogi is a big part of her life. It is possible that her potential customers who have dogs will be drawn to her precisely for this common love that they share with Amy.
SHOOTING LOCATION and TIME
Coming up with the storylines in the previous step enabled us to pinpoint the locations where we would photograph. We decided to photograph on the beach at sunrise (a magical time of the day that both Amy and I love!), in the green area next to the beach, and then at Amy’s home and garden.
This is one of my most favorite images from Amy’s branding photoshoot!
INSPIRATION BOARD
I asked Amy to prepare an inspiration board for our photoshoot. Even though I started forming a vision for Amy’s photos, it was important for me to understand how SHE sees them. When she sent me the link to the Pinterest board she created, a glimpse of which you can see here, I kept scrolling and scrolling and was amazing at how thorough this goddess was! She included images/inspiration for every storyline that we identified during our phone consultation/brainstorming session! (Sometimes clients give me a perfunctory board of visual ideas so I didn’t expect to see an in-depth view of it, but this girl doesn’t mess around! I admire her for that!)
PROPS AND OUTFITS
Amy chose a flowy dress that matched the colors of the beach at sunrise, a pair of flowy pants and a simple white tank top for the beach part of the shoot. When we returned home, Amy had two more outfits for when she was working on her computer and another one for the gardening and hanging out with loved ones part.
Props: singing bowl, sage, oracle cards, laptop, a heart-shaped rock (Amy “collects” all heart-shaped things that she sees!)
STORYLINES
We decided to focus on the following storylines for Amy’s brand:
healer
ecstatic dancer
gardening, spending time in nature
spending time with the fam
cooking
yoga teacher
Do you want to know how the photoshoot ended? It ended with THIS SHOT! This beautiful monarch butterfly just flew into Amy’s garden as if signaling to us that it was ok to be complete at that moment. It was a beautiful conclusion to a magical morning of creative labor ♥
FINAL IMAGES ON THE WEBSITE
We created such a great variety of images, that Amy was able to use the images we created on ALL of the pages of her website! Here are a few screenshots and I invite you to visit her website www.innerbloomwellness.com to learn more about Amy’s gifts.
SOCIAL MEDIA
In addition to website, Amy was also able to use a lot of photos on her social media. Here is a snapshot of her Instagram feed. Out of these 9 images, 6 were created during our branding photoshoot! And follow Amy @amyogilife - she is very wise and I love reading the insights she shares.
AMY’S TESTIMONIAL
And of course, I would be withholding from you if I didn’t show you the text Amy sent me after I showed her a few unedited images from our photoshoot —>
FINAL IMAGES GALLERY
BEHIND THE SCENES MAGIC
I saved the best for the last - check out this video to see what a magical morning it was. Enjoy!
Branding photoshoot for a therapist and healer in Boynton Beach, FL.
Can your brand benefit from photos similar to Amy’s?
If the answer yes, please reach out to me and get the conversation started. Delaying getting personal branding photos done will only delay your coming into your greatness, and the world must hear your message now.
Goddess photoshoot for a nomadic ecstatic dancer
She was sitting in a hammock tied to two giant pine trees next to a creek in the woods of West Virgina. She was smiling, so carefree and joyful that I was immediately drawn to her. Being in that neck of the woods was an adventure for me. I left my two kids under the age of 4 with my husband and went to the East Coast Tantra Festival to photograph.
She was sitting in a hammock tied to two giant pine trees next to a creek in the woods of West Virgina. She was smiling, so carefree and joyful that I was immediately drawn to her. Being in that neck of the woods was an adventure for me. I left my two kids under the age of 4 with my husband and went to the East Coast Tantra Festival to photograph. Little did I know that this experience would be so much more than just a photography assignment. (If you are curious to read more about that event, check out this blog article).
The joyous woman I met at the Tantra Festival was Leianna Love and two years later I finally get a chance to do a photoshoot with her, when she came to South Florida. She travels in her RV, together with her cat Stevie, who got to start in the photos as well!
We got go photograph at two locations - one at a church site where Leianna was staying that had a huge open space with a labyrinth. “I love the beach too!” she said, so we worked fast and took a drive to the beach and photographed there as well. That day the sun set into clouds before it rolled behind the horizon so we did not have golden light on the beach. Instead we had a moody sky and the images came out uniquely beautiful.
Here are the results of our collaboration with Leianna. I hope you enjoy viewing these images as much as I enjoyed creating them ♥
Check out this video on my YouTube channel about what East Coast Tantra Festival where we met looked like. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to be notified of new videos I publish.
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how a little bit of creativity might infuse more JOY into your life
Do you feel like you can use a little more JOY in your life? This is an amazing book for EVERYONE who wants to experience more JOY in their life, and certainly a must-read for artists and creatives.
As I take a step back to have a better angle at my model -- a rosy, delicate pastry sitting atop a silver mirror-like platter, an unusual model for a portrait photographer, a door opens and a woman who works in this café comes out and throws a glance at my setup. Her eyes light up and she says, “ah, beautiful!” She must be in her thirties, half of her strawberry blond hair is shaved on the bottom, and the rest is tied into a messy ponytail on top. Her eyes are pale green and she wears glasses. She starts asking me questions and rambling on about something and I don’t even understand WHAT she is saying but I understand what she is FEELING: JOY.
And her feeling is familiar to me. I start wondering why people get so excited when they come in contact with the PROCESS of CREATION. Do you ever notice how people gather around an artist painting on the street, or a musician playing guitar in the town square? People are drawn to art, to the process of creation. And it gets me thinking about the book that I am reading right now by Julia Cameron called The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Judging by the title alone, someone might think that this is a book for creators, someone who is already a writer, photographer, painter, but it is not so. I believe this book is for everyone who wants to experience (more) JOY in LIFE.
In her book the author invites everyone to do art just because it is FUN. Not because we want to become world-famous artists but because it is ENJOYABLE. And it is not even art per se, but doing activities that you have been dreaming of, things that you FEEL will make you happy but the things your rational mind is advising you against. By allowing our inner child creative play we get in touch with the creative Source, with what we truly want to do, and bring joy into our lives.
How many adults do things just because they are fun? People who are not in creative professions who allow themselves to paint, mold something out of clay, or take up a pottery class? It is rare. As a creative myself, whenever an idea strikes me, I get fired up for a moment and then the voice in my head says, “well, can you make money with it?” Or “can it give you fame?” How about doing it just because it is a great idea! And I am already in the creative profession! How many accountants or real estate agents say, “hey, I'm going to go get some beads in Michael’s and start making jewelry just because it feels good”?
The main premise of the book is that "WE ARE ALL CREATIVE and with the use of a few simple tools we can become more creative. Creativity is a spiritual practice. We have only to open ourselves up to the Great Creator working through us". It is not a philosophical or theoretical book that talks about creativity - it GIVES you SPECIFIC TOOLS to bring your creativity to life, the creativity that does exist in you, but might not have been given a chance to show itself. Just like you need to invest time into growing your muscles or making your body fit, you will need to invest time into become CREATIVE or more creative. But one promise I can make to you is that unbottling your creativity, ALLOWING yourself to FEEL JOY, will have a tremendous impact on your life.
Many people are, what the author calls them, BLOCKED CREATIVES. They are people who unknowingly do not allow themselves to express their creativity. You know, I used to be a blocked creative! In my early thirties I labeled myself as "not talented". It was clear: I didn't know how to play a musical instrument, I didn't do any crafts, hence, I had no talents. And even though I had been drawn to photography since I was in my early twenties, I didn't DARE to try photography because, clearly, “I had no talent”. And only when I quit drinking on April 18, 2013, about a month later, I bought a digital camera and signed up for a photography class at a local art school. (Actually, Julia Cameron, the author of the book, is a recovered alcoholic, too!)
Fear is holding many of us back because fear does not like change, it does not like the status quo to be challenged. Out of fear it is safer to stay creatively blocked, something that feels like an old comfy chair rather than venture into the unknown territory of exploring your creativity.
The concept of Creative Source may feel awkward to some, but the author invites us to have an open mind. She explains that by tuning into the frequency of the creative force around us we are capable of becoming more creative. I have been able to experience this first-hand. The reason I chose the name Francesca Bliss for my artist is because when I started photographing, it felt like it was not something that was being created by me, but instead, something that was happening THROUGH me.
When I see people who are obviously yearning for something, but don’t allow themselves to do it because they "don't have time", or "it is stupid", or "they can't earn a living with it", it makes my heart ache. One such person is as close to me as it gets. It is my husband.
Isaac is originally from Turkey, he has an amazing voice, sings beautifully, plays guitar, loves, I mean, LOVES, music, AND has a sex appeal and dreaminess about him to be a musician. He picks up the guitar every now and then, looks up chords on the internet and plays and sings to us. He learned to play the guitar when he was a teenager, saved up money for a guitar and signed up for classes and then plucked those strings until he got blisters on his fingers. To this day he has a grainy video of him with long hair performing a Metallica song on stage at an event of some sort back in his hometown of Adana. He can can sit down at the piano and figure out how to play a simple tune even though he has never even learned to play piano. And the way he sings... Ah, especially those overly dramatic Turkish songs (he translates them for me) - they will make you want to jump off the balcony.
I remember when I was young(er) and reckless, back in my smoking days, an older woman saw me with a cigarette, and in a very quiet, non-preaching voice said, "Imagine, a friend gives you a beautiful vase as a gift. You take it from your friend, spit into it and put it on the table."
"Why would I do that?" I reply, trying to figure out the point she is trying to make.
"Well, you are doing just that now. God gave you lungs to breathe, and you are spitting into his gift."
That was totally over my head back then. But I use the same metaphor now when I try to talk my husband into using his talent.
"The Universe gave you a gift", I say. "You have an obligation to the world to do something with it!" I desperately try to convince him.
In response he says something about the fact that right now we need to focus on making money, blah.. blah... blah...
Remembering that In The Artist's Way the author explains that it is FEAR that is blocking us from pursuing our creative endeavors, I ask him, "If you were guaranteed 100% that if you do the music thing, you cannot fail, would you do it?"
"Of course!", he says as his eyes light up.
(At this point I just want to shake him up and put him in a musician boot camp where people are forced into being musicians, even if it is against their will.)
For many people whose gift may not be as obvious as that of my husband, exploring your creativity is something that will not be a waste of time and energy. I am convinced that it will bring you JOY, a SENSE of FULFILMENET, CONFIDENCE, and those qualities will affect all areas of your life - health, nutrition, choice of friends, overall outlook on life, and maybe the whole course of your life!
If you feel that you can use a little more joy, a little more creativity in your life, get a copy of the book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron and see if any of it resonates with you. As the author says, “Leap, and the net will appear.”
Until next time, my friend! May the New Year be your MOST CREATIVE YEAR yet, the year when you ALLOW and CONSCIOUSLY INVITE more JOY into your life, when you allow your inner child to do the things she or he yearns for. Be JOYFUL and be well!
Francesca Bliss
8 tips for a successful personal branding photoshoot
Great things don’t happen by accident. Personal branding photoshoots are no exceptions. Check out these 8 tips to make sure your next (or first) personal branding photoshoot is a great success.
how to get the most out of apersonal branding photoshoot:
MAKE A LIST OF MUST-HAVE SHOTS.
Think of campaigns or posts you want to create in the next four to six weeks. Do you need photos for your website, if yes, make a list of photos for which pages will need photos and their orientation (vertical, horizontal, extra wide and narrow banners for pages). What kind of social media posts do you have in mind? What kind of photos will go best with them? Write it all out and then share with your photographer.
To help my clients prepare, I use a Personal Branding Questionnaire that I created.
COMMUNICATE YOUR VISION.
It is important for your photographer to understand what kind of photos you set out to create and perhaps the best way to do it is to show photos of others that inspire you, that appeal to you in terms of color, posing, overall mood. Share with your photographer the list of must-have shots and all your other wishes pertaining to photos and be prepared for the magic to unfold.
PREPARE OUTFITS, ACCESSORIES, AND PROPS.
Choose several outfits, make sure they are clean and ironed. Choose matching accessories. Props will show your audience which tools of trade you use and will make posing so much easier. Some examples of props could be a journal and a pen, a laptop, favorite books, a coffee mug, crystals, sage, candles, etc.
PRACTICE IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR.
Your photographer will guide you through the posing process but it is good to be prepared. “Try on” the poses that you found in photos of other people, see if you feel comfortable, if they are “you”, and play in front of the mirror to see what looks and feels right. This will give you the extra confidence when facing the stare of the lens on the day of the photoshoot.
DECIDE ON HAIR AND MAKEUP.
Decide whether you will do your hair and makeup yourself or if you will hire someone to do it for you. A word of caution with makeup: some makeup artists who are not very skilled sometimes apply so much makeup that it looks cakey, or is just simply too much. You don’t want to look like a clown in the final photos, you want to make sure you look like YOU, so if you have a chance, do a trial makeup session with that artist first or trust a professional with whom you have worked before.
I’ve put together this video for women who can’t decide whether they should have professional makeup done before a photoshoot, check it out:
DON’T FACE THE CAMERA HUNGRY.
Be sure to be well fed before your photoshoot! Modeling is demanding work, but you will surely ace it if you follow the suggested steps above and if you chose the right photographer, of course? How can you know if you chose the right photographer? I will share that in the article I will post this month, so stay tuned!
ARRIVE TO YOUR PHOTOSHOOT ON TIME.
Arriving on time shows respect, builds trust and sets a good tone to the interaction you will have with your photographer. It might be a no-brainer for many, but I wanted to stress the importance of this aspect because I have had a couple cases where the model was 40 minutes late. Needless to say, my attitude toward the person I was about to photograph changed and it affected the energy of the photoshoot.
TRUST THE PROCESS.
I know that facing the camera is scary. I have been in your shoes a few times (and even wrote an article about it - check it out!) so I understand that you might be a little apprehensive about the process. The last piece of advice for a successful photoshoot is to just trust the process and surrender to the creative flow. You have prepared well for this photoshoot, you chose the perfect spot for your shoot, your photographer will guide you through the posing process, and you will create beautiful photos together.
I hope these tips above have been helpful ♥
If you would like to see some samples of personal branding photos I created together with a fitness coach Ingrid, check out the video below.
Looking to grow YOUR BRAND? I can help! I have been helping entrepreneurs to promote and grow their businesses and my track record is excellent. I offer different packages to suit everyone’s budget and will be happy to work with you. Please feel free to reach out to talk about what kind of photos might work best for your brand.
more personal branding photography client stories
personal branding for a chef, health coach, and green goddess Rachel
Photos from the photoshoot of Rachel Shapiro, a South Florida personal chef, nutritionist, gardener, and green goddess.
“I was so nervous, I wanted to cry and call you to cancel the photoshoot” Rachel confessed to me when we met at the location of her photoshoot - her friend’s gorgeous AirBnB where we got a permission to photograph.
Facing the camera is a very vulnerable and scary process. Even though I am mostly on the other side of the lens, I can relate, because sometimes I need to have my photos taken too. I talk about it in more detail in this story.
I was able to convince Rachel that it will be ok as she showed me around the gorgeous space that we had at our disposal.
personal branding photography: many facets of you in one photoshoot
Rachel prepared four different outfits to show the different facets of who she is and what she does.
Chef. For her role as a chef, we photographed in the kitchen, Rachel wearing her chef coat. I brought fresh veggies and fruit and some kitchenware that matched Rachel’s brand. I also brought flowers that my husband had gifted me the day before (he rarely gives me flowers so it was a big deal. And perfect timing too! :))
Health coach, nutritionist. In this role Rachel wore a brown dress and we decided to photograph with a basket of veggies outside. There are a few shots of Rachel next to a grill and some headshots near a tree to show Rachel’s connection to Mother Earth and all things natural.
Mindfulness coach. Rachel wore yoga pants and a sports tank the color of her logo and we photographed next to the pool.
Conscious dancer, Goddess. Rachel wore a flowy silky dress and I photographed her with a bouquet of fallen yellow leaves against the backdrop of bamboo, dancing.
Chef branding photos
“I forgot my pants!” she exclaimed as she was changing into her chef outfit. The good thing was, she was standing behind the counter and it is not visible in the final photos that she is not wearing pants :)
These kitchen shots took the longest time to prepare for. Rachel set up the fruits and veggies in a basket and I laid out other things on the counter. The important thing with branding photos is that you don’t want clutter. Since we were photographing in a real kitchen, there were notes and magnets on the fridge, a toaster oven and black kettle on the counter. We were going for a clean and classy feel, so we removed all unnecessary objects from the shot. I am very happy with how these chef photos turned out!
We created a variety of images for Rachel to use in her social media marketing and for her website and we were both very pleased with the results of our work. To learn more about Rachel Shapiro and what she does, visit her website www.integroushealthsolutions.com
You are so much more than just your business! Research shows that we choose to do business with those people we see as similar to ourselves and those we like. Give your audience a chance to get to know you and thus better relate to you and LIKE YOU! Show them the many facets of your personality - what do you like to do in your free time, what is your family life like, how you contribute to your community - through visual story-telling of personal branding photography. Together we will select which stories to choose for your personal branding shoot, I will guide you through picking outfits (or we can employ help of a professional stylist who can help revamp your wardrobe and take your branding and confidence to a whole new level!) and together we will come up with the best locations for your photos. Then, after a few hours of photographing, you will have two, or even three, months’ worth of visual content for your social media platforms and for your website and online marketing. Contact me today for a no-obligation free consultation about what photos will be most beneficial for your business, or browse my personal branding photography gallery. I look forward to helping you elevate your business!
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Lina embodies Goddess Lakshmi in a Goddess Photoshoot
When doing a Goddess Photoshoot, a woman can
have a goodess reading to find out which Goddess energy she embodies and then be photographed as that Goddess
decide which Goddess she would like to invite into her life and embody that Goddess during the photoshoot
just be herself and be photographed as an embodiment of the Divine Feminine.
For her Goddess Photoshoot, Lina decided to choose a Goddess herself. “I will let you know who I pick” she says”, and a few days later I get a text that says, “Lakshmi”.
Lina had a red dress, we ordered some Indian jewelry on Amazon, and I decided to contact Alea (https://www.facebook.com/alea.coburn) because I knew she created beautiful headdresses. Alea created a beautiful crown and Lina decided to purchase it from her (though we did take some pictures of Alea wearing her creation and more on that in another story). Alea also did Lina’s makeup at my place before we headed to the park where we photographed.
I knew that I would be adding gold flowing out of the pot digitally so when we photographed, the pot/vase was empty. When I saw the final images, I wanted to keep some of them more natural, so instead, I added some flowers to the vase digitally. Ah, the magic of Photoshop!
It is always a beautiful synergy when more people are involved in the photoshoot. Having Alea create makeup and the crown enhanced the final look of the photos so much, we couldn’t have done that without her.
Here are some resources about Lakshmi for the curious ones:
http://lakshmilivingarts.org/cms/the-4-arms-of-lakshmi/
Want to learn more about the Goddess Photoshoot? Click here.
personal branding photoshoot for a sex educator and mompreneur
“I will be honest, I feel a little anxious about our photoshoot today.”
That is the text message I receive a few hours before I head out to photograph Mary-Reid’s personal branding photoshoot.
Personal branding photoshoot for a mompreneur and sex educator Mary-Reid.
“I will be honest, I feel a little anxious about our photoshoot today.”
That is the text message I receive a few hours before I head out to photograph Mary-Reid’s personal branding photoshoot.
Phew. I am glad she said that. We were able to talk about it, put that anxiety to rest, and once I got to her house, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work - creating several sets for her personal branding photoshoot right there in her house.
Mary-Reid is a somatic sex educator, mom entrepreneur, who offers online and in-person classes for women, children and families. To get to know her and how she can help you, please visit her website https://www.theeroticalchemist.com
Somatic sex education is the practice of being in deep presence with clients and in body, mind and spirit. Using touch, breath, and movement clients are supported to access and inhabit their erotic selves, voice their desires, exercise choice and voice, and experience pleasure. Somatic sex education is a powerful tool for anyone, whether the goal is to rewire trauma response or simply experience new sensations. For more info on somatic sex education or find a somatic sex educator in your area, visit somaticsexeducators.com
After the initial phone consultation, to better understand Mary-Reid’s brand, I asked her to complete a personal branding photoshoot questionnaire. Answering a series of questions about her brand, colors associated with it, and what message she wanted to convey to her ideal client was a good starting point for us in preparing for her shoot.
Tip: When brainstorming ideas for visual stories when preparing for a personal branding shoot, think of all the different roles that you play on a regular basis. In Mary-Reid’s case it was:
self
mother
wife
sex educator
spiritual teacher
Then look at each relationship and think of how you could portray each of those roles in photos, there can be more than one way to do that for each role.
Based on Mary-Reid’s roles, we decided to focus her visual stories on the following areas:
Mary-Reid’s ideal clients are moms with kids of any age, most likely kids under the age of 12. Being a mom herself, Mary-Reid wanted to show this major role of her life in her photos, so one of the stories we wanted to focus on was her life as a mom - photos with husband and kids.
As someone whose goal is to teach women to get in touch with their sensual selves, discover or re-discover what feels good, and give themselves the permission to experience pleasure, to learn self-love, Mary-Reid’s next story focused on sensual photos of herself. As a main prop for these photos we used a lush red rose and she wore a cobalt blue baby doll.
The other part of her role as a sex educator involves various tools - sex toys, yoni eggs, etc. It was a really fun to photograph this segment because Mary-Reid allowed her playful and silly self shine through in these images.
Also, as an educator, someone who reads about and studies sexuality, we created some photos with books and of her journaling.
Life as a wife - a few photos with her husband, who brings out her playful, spontaneous, silly self, as well as a few sensual shots with him. As you can see, many of these photos are so alive and so real because Mary-Reid didn’t have to pose - one look at her husband and she dissolved into her natural self, just reacting to his admiring eyes, goofy jokes, and his touch. It was also thanks to her husband Tom that we had such beautiful props for our shoot - majestic big red and pink roses that he had given her for Valentine’s Day the day before.
As a goddess advocate, Mary-Reid does goddess card readings and energy work, so it was imperative for us to include some photos of her meditating, playing with her goddess deck, and with her spiritual props and symbols. We set up this shot in front of the fire place, Mary-Reid adorned the place with crystals, a gigantic pink shell, pink roses, saged the place and did a card spread. As I was trying to lie down on the floor to get a lower angle, which was quite a challenge because of my eight-months pregnant belly at the time, I started laughing and said that I would give birth right there. “It’s a good thing I’m a doula, too”, she laughed.
Just as the advice she gives to other busy moms to take the time for self-care and restoring one’s inner balance, through her photos Mary-Reid wanted to show how SHE does it. We were thinking of photos in a nearby park where she would be walking or perhaps journaling in nature. However, we did not get to that part because we spent quite a bit of time setting up the sets and then shooting inside the house , but we did take some beautiful photos outdoors right in her front yard. Those photos turned out to be very close to the images we had envisioned. We created some images of Mary-Reid hugging a tree and playing with a bouquet of red roses - the nature connection that almost every goddess yearns for. The portraits with the vibrant red roses that she had gotten for Valentine’s Day from her hubby were a perfect prop! The images with them just highlight Mary-Reid’s own juicy, vibrant, blossoming personality and stepping into her divine feminine power to unfold her business and take it to the next level. These images show how she embodies the Goddess.
Another part of the shoot that we skipped was photos of Mary-Reid in a place that she likes. She mentioned a small French cafe that she likes to visit from time to time. Mary-Reid showed me the most beautiful black leather crop jacket embroidered with red roses and I am dreaming of photographing her in a lace dress paired with that jacket sipping on a cup or glass of something.
Overall, we created a variety of images for Mary-Reid to use in her social media. And we managed to do all of that in just one location: her house and front-yard, in a matter of few hours. Mary-Reid did her homework well and before I arrived at her place, she’d had all her clothes picked out and hanging on a rack, and all her props and goddess books spread all over the dining room table.
It was lots of fun photographing Mary-Reid and as a huge fan of her work, I sincerely wish her well and hope her empire gains strength rapidly and empowers many women.
You are so much more than just your business! Research shows that we choose to do business with those people we see as similar to ourselves and those we like. Give your audience a chance to get to know you and thus better relate to you and LIKE YOU! Show them the many facets of your personality - what do you like to do in your free time, what is your family life like, how you contribute to your community - through visual story-telling of personal branding photography. Together we will select which stories to choose for your personal branding shoot, I will guide you through picking outfits (or we can employ help of a professional stylist who can help revamp your wardrobe and take your branding and confidence to a whole new level!) and together we will come up with the best locations for your photos. Then, after a few hours of photographing, you will have two, or even three, months’ worth of visual content for your social media platforms and for your website and online marketing. Contact me today for a no-obligation free consultation about what photos will be most beneficial for your business, or browse my personal branding photography gallery. I look forward to helping you elevate your business!
redhead power - a personal branding photoshoot for a store/cafe owner in boca raton
The truth is, I have been DREAMING about photographing this girl for a while. One look at her and you will understand why: a cascade of fiery red curls, super-long lashes and a beaming smile. But the one time that I actually got my lucky chance to work with her was when she NEEDED photos.
The truth is, I have been DREAMING about photographing this girl for a while. One look at her and you will understand why: a cascade of fiery red curls, super-long lashes and a beaming smile. But the one time that I actually got my lucky chance to work with her was when she NEEDED photos. I guess sometimes we think that having our photos taken for the sake of pleasure of it is a guilty one and should not be indulged… I don’t know what Olga’s case was and won’t speculate - I am just SO THANKFUL for the opportunity to photograph her, period. : )
“I needed to have some photos done and the first person I thought of was you,” was like music to my ears when Olga called me. When she explained that she was looking for some images of her working as well as a few shots of her on the beach, her favorite place for relaxing and recharging her batteries, we decided to classify her photoshoot as a mini-personal branding shoot with two locations and scheduled it as a sunrise session on the beach, followed by a session at her workplace.
Olga is a manager and partner of a Russian & International Market and Lublu Bakery & Cafe in Boca Raton. In case you have never visited those place, I suggest you do. From a full assortment of Russian foods to delicious prepared hot and cold items and sweet treats in the cafe, this is my favorite meeting place with friends and clients because I can have a double enjoyment from it! In the beginning of this pregnancy I would make special trips to the Russian store to indulge in a bowl of hot borscht. It would save me from constant morning sickness and make me feel so much better! Me being Russian and all, I LOVE their prepared foods, so if you are adventurous enough to try new ethnic cuisines, definitely visit the Russian store.
Here are the photos we created for Olga, and I am thrilled with them! I am starting with the work photos first, even though they were created last.
A few images of Olga walking from the car to the store and finding a minute to enjoy a coffee with croissant before the day begins.
Personal branding photography is not only about work - it is about showing you from different angles, including how you relax and what you like to do you in your free time, as well as images showing your personality. Because of that, Olga wanted some photos on the beach, a place she frequents on weekends and where she likes to relax with her husband. In the photos below you get to see the playful side of this serious store and cafe manager.
Showing your human, non-professional-life-side, can help create important connections with your existing and potential audiences.
Olga and I are both very pleased with the photos we created and I am so happy to have had a chance to finally photograph this goddess at work and at play.
Explore other images in the personal branding photography gallery and reach out to me if you would like to brainstorm some ideas for your personal branding session. I would love to help you create engaging images that will help you connect with your audience ♥
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personal branding for a goddess
“Do you want to end this year with a bang?” I ask Lina having December 31 at 4 pm in mind as a date and time for her personal branding photoshoot. “Sure”, she says, and I have a feeling it will be a memorable one.
“Do you want to end this year with a bang?” I ask Lina having December 31 at 4 pm in mind as a date and time for her personal branding photoshoot. “Sure”, she says, and I have a feeling it will be a memorable one.
We meet at the South Inlet Park in Boca Raton, where I know we will have trees and vegetation as well as the ocean and huge rocks as beautiful backdrops for her photos. (What I do not know is that we will get carried away and will “play” in the woods until it gets dark…. I get carried away every time!)
Lina is a tantra healer and she needed photos for her new website and social media. Our personal branding for this spiritual entrepreneur focused on only one story including several different outfits. Her entire photoshoot experience is summarized in the video below.
And here are a few of my most favorite photos from Lina’s session:
To get to know this goddess and her business, please visit her website https://www.aluravida.com/
If you are a spiritual or creative entrepreneur, I would love to work with you! Please reach out to me if you need professional photography for your website or social media - let’s create magic together!
personal branding photography for a real estate broker
Claire Collins has dedicated her entire life to the real estate industry - she is a real estate broker and also offers white glove concierge services to her clients when it comes to managing estates and condominiums. Claire came to me to because she needed to update her headshots, but after talking on the phone for a while, Claire understood the importance of showing her current and potential clients a little more than just a business headshot. In order to connect with her audience and show them a little more of …
Claire Collins has dedicated her entire life to the real estate industry - she is a real estate broker and also offers white glove concierge services to her clients when it comes to managing estates and condominiums. Claire contacted me to because she needed to update her headshots. After a telephone consultation with me she understood the importance of showing her current and potential clients a little more than just a business headshot of herself. In order to connect with her audience and show them a little more of what she is about as a person, Claire decided to do a personal branding photoshoot, which would include lifestyle portraits of her, photos of her working, as well as photos that are closer to traditional headshots.
The colors of Claire’s brand are white, black and red and she chose her outfits accordingly. The adjectives that Claire associates with her brand are high-end, classy, personalized, sophisticated, and we wanted her images to communicate that, while at the same time making sure she looked approachable and friendly in photos. Claire loves hats so we incorporated one into her shoot, to show off her playful side and her sense of style, as well as a pair of white gloves, to literally portray white glove service she offers her clients.
Claire is based in Boca Raton so we chose to photograph in the Boca Raton’s Royal Palm Plaza. In addition to a few photos outdoors in the courtyards of the plaza, we photographed in the exquisite French cafe because having lived and worked in Monte Carlo Claire speaks French fluently and because she naturally visits that place quite often.
These are our most favorite images that Claire and I created. The photos have an editorial feel for them, meaning they could be published in a magazine to accompany a story, and many of them are lifestyle portraits. When choosing the best final images, Claire would say, “I love this photo because it truly shows how I see myself, it really reflects who I am”.
In addition to this woman’s business talents and utmost customer service she provides to her clients, she is also a mom to three grown up children and a bunch of furry children - several old dogs and fluffy cats. We decided to create a story of THAT side of Claire on another occasion - at a different location, more casual outfits and hoping that the “furry models” will co-operate and do just what is expected of them. Many of Claire’s clients might also have pets and, therefore, might relate to that side of her and that is why we thought it would be important to create a visual story about that.
Another thing that is in the works for Claire and I is a video for her website and social media and we are planning on accomplishing that as soon as I bounce from the birth of my third baby, which will give Claire the time to prepare the outfits and script for her video.
For more information about Claire’s company, please visit her website https://www.collinsandcompanyfl.com/ and follow Claire on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collinsandcompanyfl/ - she has amazing tips for homeowners on how to remodel, organize, prepare for vacations, and lots of other useful tips.
You are so much more than just your business. Research shows that we choose to do business with those people we see as similar to ourselves and those we like. Give your audience a chance to get to know you and thus better relate to you and LIKE YOU! Show them the many facets of your personality - what do you like to do in your free time, what is your family life like, how you contribute to your community - through visual story-telling of personal branding photography. Together we will select which stories to choose for your personal branding shoot, I will guide you through picking outfits (or we can employ help of a professional stylist who can help revamp your wardrobe and take your branding and confidence to a whole new level!) and together we will come up with the best locations for your photos. Then, after a few hours of photographing, you will have two, or even three, months’ worth of visual content for your social media platforms and for your website and online marketing. Contact me today for a no-obligation free consultation about what photos will be most beneficial for your business, or browse my personal branding photography gallery. I look forward to helping you elevate your business!
personal branding photography - tantra healer's photoshoot on the beach
If you are an entrepreneur, a solopreneur, you are your own brand. The tone of your messages, the clothes you wear, the images you put out on social media all communicate to the world about your brand.
Personal branding photography is images that market YOU and show to your potential clients what it feels like to work with you. A consistent personal brand image that speaks to your ideal customer builds trust and is a foundation of a successful online marketing campaign. Personal branding photogrpahy is more than just a headshot, it goes beyond that, and shows off the various facets of your personality in different settings, not just traditional “work” environment.
If you are an entrepreneur, a solopreneur, you are your own brand. The tone of your messages, the clothes you wear, the images you put out on social media all communicate to the world about your brand.
Personal branding photography is images that market YOU and show to your potential clients what it feels like to work with you. A consistent personal brand image that speaks to your ideal customer builds trust and is a foundation of a successful online marketing campaign. Personal branding photogrpahy is more than just a headshot, it goes beyond that, and shows off the various facets of your personality in different settings, not just traditional “work” environment.
If you have not yet explored personal branding, there are a lot of resources out there to help you get started. I have put together a questionnaire/worksheet that helps my clients and me to hammer out the details of what would be the most important images before we even start photographing. A personal branding photoshoot requires a lot of preparation, but once it is done, the images your create together with your photographer will serve you and your brand for months and give your marketing strategy a clear direction.
Here are some things to take into consideration before and during your personal branding photoshoot. I will use the example of personal branding photoshoot for Lourdes Starshower, a South Florida tantra practitioner.
“I desperately need to update my headshots”, Lourdes texted me and we scheduled her personal branding photoshoot for a Friday golden-hour, a couple of hours before the sunset.
Here are a few things to consider when preparing for a personal branding photoshoot.
Choose a perfect location for your shoot. Lourdes wanted to be photographed on the beach. Though the beach provides a non-distracting background, I used to find it boring, but when I saw how the elements interact with each other at the location that Lourdes suggested - Boynton Beach inlet - I think I now have a new favorite ocean-front shooting location. When choosing on the location of your personal branding photoshoot, think about not only in which environment you work, but also where you like to spend time when you are not working, where you meet clients. Lourdes feels most alive, in her element, when she is connected to nature, sunlight, on the beach. In order to diversify the types of images you create, it is good to have a variety of backdrops within walking distance. In our case, we had the ocean and the rocks on one side, and then intracoastal and tall vegetation on the other, which produced two distinctly different feels of images.
Choose your outfits in accordance with what message you want to send to your audience. Lourdes chose red as color of one of her dresses, an emotionally intense color that is associated with passion, desire and love. Her second outfit was a leopard-print off the shoulder sexy outfit that we photographed in the after-glow of the sun that had already set. A wild print, suggestive of connection to your wild nature, and both outfits being dresses, embodying the divine feminine power that Lourdes teaches her female students to embrace when awakening their sexuality.
Do your research. Pinterest is your best friend! Save photos that speak to you and that are similar to what you want to evoke in your final images. Lourdes saw striking personal branding images of a woman in a red dress on a white couch and wanted to re-create that kind of feeling in her photos, but instead of the couch, she would be sitting or lying on giant rocks.
Communicate clearly with your photographer about how you want to be photographed. Your photographer might have a different vision of how to photograph you at a certain location. “I want to be sitting or lying on rocks”, Lourdes said to me when we arrived at the location. But also remain open and flexible! I asked Lourdes to walk on the beach because I wanted to get some natural shots of her, without her looking too posey and so that she would have a chance to relax, because from my experience I know that people tend to be a little stiff in the beginning of the shoot. Just like with physical exercise, a warm up is a good way to start a photoshoot.
Make a list of shots you need. You might need some shots for your website, for social media announcements, they might need to be vertical or horizontal shots, or images with lots of negative space to allow for text to be added. Your photographer will definitely create headshots for you, but it is also important to include lifestyle portraits, photos of you working and some photos of props that you can later use for your social media and blog posts.
Personal branding photography is something that best be trusted to an intuitive professional who can portray your true essence, capture that sparkle that you bring to the world. The feedback that Lourdes received on the photos from her photoshoot was "this is so you" and "this captures your exuberance" and this is the best compliment that I, as a photographer, can receive. Please contact me if you need to update your personal branding photos so you can meet the new year well equipped with an arsenal of beautiful images to promote your services and your business.
“I highly recommend Francesca Bliss. Her photography is a true co-creation because she has the eye of a visionary artist as well as the ability to make you comfortable and support you in energetically being your best. Hence, you shine authentically alive through the images she captures and meticulously edits. These are my best pictures to date and I’ve had quite a few professional photo shoots with various photographers.”
Please reach out to me if you would like to receive a Personal Branding Questionnaire/Worsheet that will help you determine what kind of images will best represent your brand - there is no obligation to book!.
What the East Coast Tantra Festival taught me - my 5 most profound revelations
As I am driving up a mountain, the fog gets denser, the road starts spiraling more, and my heart constricts inside my chest. I am supposedly almost there, but I remember seeing somewhere on a website that if a GPS leads you up the mountain, then you are going the wrong way. But which way am I supposed to go? I can't call my husband because there is no cell phone reception in this area. I drive up, then back down, and then after connecting with my husband...
As I am driving up a mountain, the fog gets denser, the road starts spiraling more, and my heart constricts inside my chest. I am supposedly almost there, but I remember seeing somewhere on a website that if a GPS leads you up the mountain, then you are going the wrong way. But which way am I supposed to go? I can't call my husband because there is no cell phone reception in this area. I drive up, then back down, and then after connecting with my husband (and common sense inside me), crying a little bit to release the tension, I drive up again and finally find it, Abrams Creek Campground, where the East Coast Tantra Festival would unfold for the following five days.
When I first learned about the Tantra Festival from a newsletter by our local tantra healer Lourdes Starshower, it piqued my interest and I told my husband, "There is a festival in West Virginia for four days..." Before I could even finish the sentence, he said, "Go. I will take care of them." Leaving my two toddlers at home, my two sweet little babies, for five days would be the longest I have ever been away from them. Focusing on the opportunity to photograph in such a beautiful nature setting, I didn't even think about what an impact this event would have on my life.
"Where am I? How weird are these people? That guys is coughing like a crazy maniac, am I going to be sick from him? How strangely that guy dances... And that bold guy with long hair looks like a weirdo. I can't believe that girl is just dancing around nude. I am just going to pretend to dance right here and see what everyone else does. If it doesn't get better, I will just go back home tomorrow." were my thoughts on the first evening of the festival.
And then when the opening ceremony starts and Eugene guides us through some breathing and grounding exercises, and somehow magically I relax and settle into myself. And then by the next morning I feel like such a huge wave of love washes over me and I find myself in love with everyone. I take this photo below and then come over to this guy and say, "Would you like to share a hug?" And he accepts with a beaming smile. "I am not the same person I was 24 hours ago", says another man, who asked to be excluded from being photographed, and it on point explains exactly how I feel about being here.
And as I get to know these people over a few days of the festival, the nude girl turns out to be an artist who shared with me that being nude really allows her to connect to the creative source and to be authentically herself. The guy who had a coughing fit is an energy-sensitive man who starts coughing when he takes on other people’s energy. The strange looking man turned out to be a simple sweet man who shared with me that he feels not lovable. And the dancing Japanese man told me how he beat cancer and how dancing was part of his healing journey. I got to know these and other beautiful people and their stories and just hearing those stories changed me.
I experienced so much love and learned so much during those five days in the woods in the mountains. Please note that few of my revelations below are my impressions about the experience as a whole, but there were so many revelations in each of the individual workshops of the festival. The struggle every day was to decide which workshops to attend as there usually were two workshops happening at the same time.
I learned to really ponder the question "How are you?"
I observed how a young girl with piercing blue eyes, luminescent white skin, and striking red hair was asked a simple question that we hear dozens of times every day, "How are you doing?" She paused, fixated her eyes on something, and then, as if looking within, slowly started answering that question, as if answering it for herself. "I worked all morning, I was giving, now I am ready to receive." It was remarkable that she connected with her body to see how she really felt, and it was not an answer that she had already prepared in her mind in response to a potential question like that, the typical "I am tired". Neither did she blurt out "I am fine", as we often do and thus don't give this simple yet profound question the thought it deserves, the thought YOU deserve.
How am I doing?
How am I feeling?
What might my body need today?
How can I take care of myself today?
Maybe your body needs a nice stretch, or it is craving fruit, or maybe you want to go for a walk. If we listen, our bodies give us clues, and we make conscious choices of what we truly desire...
When I asked myself that question at one of the workshops at the East Coast Tantra Festival, my body told me that it was craving fruit. Such a small request for fresh fruit, and you can imagine how delicious it was when I satisfied that craving. The food at the festival was very natural and healthy with no refined sugars, and I guess I was just craving something sweet.
I discovered the power of a hug.
I am walking on a woody path back to our cabin from the big Shakti dome, where workshops are held. on my path I meet a slender young man with long curly blond hair. "My name is Francesca", I say, to which he replies, "My name is Dan. Would you like to share a hug?"
Americans don't hug "properly". They don't even kiss. They reach their arms wide to embrace you and then when you think they are going to kiss you on the cheek because they are reaching over close to your ear, they barely touch your cheek with theirs and then they move back to the initial starting position, leaving me in a perplexed "was it a hug or was it a kiss", "what the fuck was that?" state. It usually throws me off for the first few minutes of the interaction that follows (because I usually accidentally kiss them on an ear or neck expecting a kiss and the weird "hug me but don't touch me" is disturbing), and thus not only does it not connect, but its fakeness just throws me off and I might have been better off with a handshake or nothing at all, Russian style.
So when I heard " Would you like to share a hug?", I had never heard anyone ask me that question before. And when I heard that question, every particle in my body wanted that hug and it was with great satisfaction that I shared it. It was beautiful. How it was asked and the real-ness of it, and you can imagine how connecting it was.
I learned that "No" is a full sentence.
Having to say "no" had been an uncomfortable thing for me.
"No, I don't want to buy this product."
"No, I don't have time for this."
"No, I don't want the third serving of your delicious Turkish food."
I used to see "no" as rejection when it was said to me, and when I was saying "no" to others, I felt like I was depriving them of something. No wonder when it was time to say it or hear it, it just created a swarm of uncomfortable and unpleasant emotions.
When I saw a Cuddle Party on the schedule of the East Coast Tantra Festival, I panicked. "Maybe I just won't go", I thought. "And I can drive back to the airport tomorrow morning". Then it was explained to me that with all of the workshops at the festival, I don't need to participate in them, and I can just watch, I felt like a weight of giant mountain fell off my shoulders and I went to the Cuddle Party, as curiosity washed over me.
"Let's get the hardest thing out of the way first", Monique Darling, the workshop presenter says, "You are going to turn to your partner right now, and ask "Can I kiss you?" and the other person will say "No", to which you will respond "Thank you for taking care of yourself."
You see, when people say "no" to you, they are not rejecting you, they are taking care of themselves."
And we practiced that.
And then we practiced "Will you kiss me?" - "No" - "Thank you for taking care of yourself."
And having practiced that, those words really sank in. And the way I started seeing the whole thing changed from rejection and having to deprive someone of something to empowerment and celebration. How beautiful it is that I when I say "No", I am actually choosing what is good for me, choosing what I want, and how empowering it feels. And what a celebration it is when I see that someone else does the same for themselves, and instead of a "awww, how come you said no?" I congratulate them by saying "thank you for taking care of yourself."
That night we also talked about consent. About consent to be touched. "Is it ok if I touch your hand?" Is it ok if I run my hand up your arm and touch your shoulder?" Who talks like that, right? How often do we touch other people during a conversation as a way to connect with them? And then I thought about my daughters, whose Turkish relatives insist on grabbing them by the cheek at any moment, grabbing them and forcing them into a hug or kiss. "Alsu, go kiss your uncle hello. Lila, give so-and-so a hug."
"When you touch someone without their permission, you are taking away their voice" explained Monique. Tears started pouring down my cheeks...
I ask my daughter if I can kiss her. Sometimes she says no, and since she is only three and a half now, at those moments I feel like the time I have left to kiss and hug her is running out, because she is going to grow up so fast, and then forget about it. But I must respect her. And now, instead of ordering them to go kiss or hug someone, I ask "Do you want to kiss your uncle hello?" It usually is a yes. But at least it is their choice, their will.
"No" is a complete sentence.
How empowering is that?
No, I cannot help you right now because I am taking care of myself. And you don't even need to explain that, because you know. It eliminates the need to say sorry twenty five times or apologize every time you say "no", and THAT makes you more powerful. I feel like every time you say "sorry" you are apologizing for your existence, and diminishes your worth, your being, your presence (not to be confused with a sincere apology where necessary, you see my point, right?)
I learned to really give people a chance before jumping to conclusions
This one requires ongoing practice, but the lesson of it that I had at the East Coast Tantra Festival was so powerful, that I speak about it all the time and really take it to heart.
When the festival started, there was a group of people that was already there and then new groups of people arrived every day and especially when the weekend started. I was photographing one of the workshops, which meant that I could hide behind the camera and observe but not really dive in and be a part of it. I see this man in his late forties-early fifties, he has white hair and he is wearing a muscle tee, and he has kind of a goofy smile and his spine has this arch in his lower back which gives him a straight posture but makes his butt stick out a little. "Redneck", I think to myself. "How can I think things like that when I am filled with love?" I quickly judge myself and re-focus my attention on something else in order to avoid the guilt and shame that would follow.
And when that same man opens his mouth to do a share after an exercise, I cannot take my eyes off him, because I am hypnotized by how beautifully and eloquently he speaks. I love books and I love to write and I admire people who have a way with words and I admire that man! As a matter of fact, I want to be like him! "Gosh, if I could speak like that, I would move mountains!" And after that we connect again during dinner and my whole perception of him different. His name is Doug, and not only is there no longer a wall of judgment between us, but only love for him, when I see his beautiful warm, sincere smile.
I learned how liberating it really is to be nude in the nature.
Frankly, I had not been around nudists and naturists prior to attending the festival, so at first, seeing women topless or completely nude as well as nude men was a bit shocking. Curiously, after a short period of time, I stopped noticing their nudity. In addition to a sense of shock and curiosity, I felt jealousy for those people. They looked free. It wasn't something that I assigned to them, that sense of freedom really came from inside them. I admired them.
And as a photographer who decided to make fine art nude photography one of my specialties, I was in nude model paradise. There were so many people who were willing to pose nude for me - I felt elated!
One morning, woken up by sounds of a small creature walking on the roof of our cabin I decided to just stay awake. I went to the kitchen where a giant beautiful man named Apollo made coffee for me from his personal coffee press that he brings with him everywhere he travels, I shared a hug with him and went to explore the campground, which I hadn't really had a chance to do, even though it was day three of the festival. I listened to the power of the creek, which was carrying sediment and water from days worth of rain, sounds of birds and whisper of giant trees. I touched bright green velvety moss that covered tree trunks and giant boulders as big as my rental car. I smelled the forest, the humidity of the air and soil. I saw and smelled mushrooms growing like a skirt around a trunk of a tree five times thicker than me. I took hundreds of photos of reflections in a puddle of mud on a dirt road and then, naturally, stepped into that puddle getting my sneakers wet, but it was totally worth it. I hugged trees and climbed large rocks near the creek. I was high on nature and on caffeine. I walked everywhere and wanted to notice every detail. Every leaf, every drop of water was such an inspiration to me. And at that moment I realized that I, too, am a part of this forest. I, too, am wild and a work of art. I, too, am to be reveled and marveled at and at that point I felt that wearing all these clothes on me was unnecessary. I wanted to disrobe and get nude and stand in the middle of that creek and make a loud noise to tell nature that I am there, that I, too, am a part of it.
On the last day of the festival, right before lunch, I knew I had to cease this new found freedom in me and do it. I asked Edyta to photograph me.
It was raining. Edyta was holding my camera wrapped in my sweater so it wouldn't get wet in one hand, and holding her umbrella in the other, trying to balance on slippery from moss and water rocks, followed me to the spot where I wanted to be photographed. It was a perfect spot right behind our cabin that I had scouted out earlier. One of the disadvantages of being nude is that you get cold, especially if it rains. (But it made my nipples look good so I didn't mind :)) My heart was racing, I felt a rush, I felt brave, I felt like I honored myself, but honestly, I am going to have to do it again, because with all due respect and gratitude for Edyta's photography skills (and also perhaps I am too critical of myself) the photos did not turn out to my liking... Well, at least I have the memory of what it felt like.
And I also want to do it again so that I can learn to appreciate, love and admire my body more, and to experience again that breathtaking freedom that comes from not hiding behind anything and truly being one with nature.
I felt that I had to have that experience in order to really understand what people who come to me with their bare souls and allow me to photograph them nude. Since many of those people are not nudists, the high and liberation I experienced getting nude in nature must be similar to what they feel when I photograph them.
There were a lot of other miracles of synchronicity and small revelations at the festival. There was a beautiful concert by Fia, a Swedish singer who writes heart opening songs, during whose entire concert I cried (while taking photos and video nevertheless!) There were a lot of tears, a lot of healing, a lot of heart opening and being able to see beauty in others. I felt that I dissolved into all those people who were there and fell in love with each and every one of them. It was ecstatic. And I will cherish that experience forever and will seek it out again, this time bringing my husband with me.
Click here for information about East Coast Tantra Festival 2019.
Did you like my story? Please leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you!
the power of conscious dance
When I first started going to Moon Circles that included dance, it was my least favorite part of the gatherings. I was self-conscious and uncomfortable and felt very restricted in my body. As my spiritual journey progressed, dancing became not only less intimidating, but also empowering. At the latest Goddess Gathering (with Jen Rose) there was a girl named Lina who guided us through the dance part of our reunion, and it was such a powerful experience, that I asked Lina to shoot a video together and the fruit of our labor appears below. Lina is a poet, sketch artist, dancer, Tantra Practitioner, and a total complete Goddess!
When I first started going to Moon Circles that included dance, it was my least favorite part of the gatherings. I was self-conscious and uncomfortable and felt very restricted in my body. As my spiritual journey progressed, dancing became not only less intimidating, but also empowering. At the latest Goddess Gathering (with Jen Rose) there was a girl named Lina who guided us through the dance part of our reunion, and it was such a powerful experience, that I asked Lina to shoot a video together and the fruit of our labor appears below. Lina is a poet, sketch artist, dancer, Tantra Practitioner, and a total complete Goddess!
I will tell you more about the guided dance so you can see for yourself the transformation power of it. Before I do that, I must recall one more brief moment at another gathering that I observed (where there was no guide for the dancing part, just a free flow of beautiful music). There was one girl, a mother of a boisterous toddler. When I watched her dance, she reminded me of myself years ago. The girl seemed so restricted in her body, she couldn’t even dare to raise her arms up while dancing, and not because she simply didn’t want to, but you could tell, she looked very self-conscious and was so uncomfortable in her body.
So now back to the guided dance with Lina. First we dance practicing a certain breathing technique that brings energy into our sacrum and our bellies, and then for the second part of the dance she suggests we dance using big, warrior-goddess like movements, claiming the space around us, taking that space, and standing big. And as I pretend that my arms are giant swords with which I slice the air around me, and take giant steps in each direction, I feel big, I feel strong and I feel powerful. And it reminds me of a TED talk about how our body language shapes who we are. In that TED talk the speaker talks about how right before you go into a job interview or a sales presentation, you should put your legs shoulder width apart, raise your arms above your head and stand big for a few minutes. This sensation of “being big” physically affects how you feel psychologically - it makes you more confident, more assertive, and that, in turn, affects your whole presentation. Remarkable, isn’t it? If Lina had not guided us and didn’t “give us permission to be big” so to speak, I would have still enjoyed that dance, but it might not have felt as empowering. Having received that guidance from her gave me a chance to feel big, claiming my space instead of being afraid to take too much of it, and that physical feeling translated into a mental sensation that I am strong and powerful.
My other very profound encounter with ecstatic dance was at the East Coast Tantra Festival a few months ago. Dancing was a part of our morning open ceremony each day of the festival and I really grew fond of it. It’s like you turn of your brain and get out of your body’s way - let your body hear and FEEL the music and then experience the movements that your body takes you through. After four days at the festival where allowing your body to feel the music was what we practiced every day, when I returned home, for a couple of weeks I would immediately start swaying when I heard music in the supermarket or at another store, and I would want to raise my arms up and start dancing. I feel that I am more in touch with my body, with MYSELF, when I practice dance frequently.
So what exactly is ecstatic, or conscious, dance?
Ecstatic, or conscious dance, is a free-form dance which is always done barefoot with no alcohol or drugs involved. During this dance your mind and body practice uncensored, spontaneous movements and the dance allows you to express whatever you are going through at the moment. Not only does conscious dance is an exercise that doesn’t feel like exercise, but it also improves self image and builds confidence. For this type of dance, no thinking is needed, just feeling. Conscious dance is a sacred space to lose your fears, especially fear of failure. There’s no teacher, only a leader, or a guide, and there is no structure and no steps to learn, only a dance floor, positive energy, your intention and your beautiful body. You leave inspired, with peace and joy.
If you haven’t tried conscious or ecstatic dance before, I strongly encourage you to find a local event or group and give it a try. You may want to check out Ecstatic Dance Community of South Florida to find an event that resonates with you.
And finally, I introduce you to beautiful Lina, who will share with your her reasons for dancing and a beautiful poem she wrote.
Lina says, “This is my invitation to all, who have been shut down in regards to expressing their feelings, releasing emotions, abandoning fears, especially when it comes to body image and sensuality.
What does it feel like when you are deeply aware of how your body feels? Just let it sink for a few seconds...
All the “forbidden” doors open to us when we allow our bodies to move in freeform dance. Unbounded energy - prime, raw and wild starts to flow. Not a single, suppressed part of us is left behind. Aha moment - we can set ourselves free! Through dance, through movement, through feeling it all.
Conscious Dance is not just a physical form of movement but a spiritual journey.
I refer to it as entering a sacred space, a sanctuary, where all the outside life is left behind and all we have is this embodied presence. Here we express, allow, let go, heal, celebrate, embrace our strangeness, darkness, childish excitement...
From there, we become more conscious of our unconscious behaviors, beliefs, relationships, patterns.
From there, we stand so much stronger in life, facing unnecessary change.
Make dance your tool of transformation, so you can truly live in a beauty of movement, which brings natural harmony to all.”
Divine Feminine Dance
(by Lina Infanti)
It’s you and me
I can finally see
Mirroring each other
Like a full moon and a
Deep blue sea.
Before I thought, -
You never were a part of me,
Until a swirling dance,
That sucked me in,
Collided our souls
To find the path to love,
To heal, fulfill and dream…
Communion made!
So luminous and gleam,
Embracing both of our hearts
And lifting us above the stars
To hear a voice of stirring music,
For Earth and Sun become
Sublime and powerful
Completed One!
Have you tried ecstatic dancing? Please share about your experience in the comments!
salty morning yoga photoshoot
We have fifteen minutes before the sun rises and since we still need to get to the rocks, where we will be photographing, we practically jog as soon as we park the car at Spanish River Beach.
As soon as we step off the wooden boardwalk and sink our toes into the sand, the salty ocean air gives me a grand sense of calm and at the same time energizes me. There is a topless forty-something man with long hair who greets us with a huge smile,
"Good morning. What a gift!", as he gestures toward the ocean.
We have fifteen minutes before the sun rises and since we still need to get to the rocks, where we will be photographing, we practically jog as soon as we park the car at Spanish River Beach.
As soon as we step off the wooden boardwalk and sink our toes into the sand, the salty ocean air gives me a grand sense of calm and at the same time energizes me. There is a topless forty-something man with long hair who greets us with a huge smile,
"Good morning. What a gift!", as he gestures toward the ocean.
A gift it is indeed, Tisa and I agree and jog toward the rocks.
"My yoga journey started three years ago," Tisa says. "I was very depressed during that time. I just started meditating and doing yoga, and it lifted me. I learned with YouTube videos practicing in my living room. I also go to free yoga classes in Mizner Park on Saturday mornings. I apply the things I learn on the mat to life in general - things like patience, not focusing on the aesthetic, but on the feeling, the essence, of something."
Tisa is originally from the Virgin Islands, where she is planning on returning at the end of the year. Right now she works as a doula, and is preparing to take a yoga teacher certification course.
"Where I am from, people run track, they are not much into yoga. I want to bring yoga with me to the islands, I am really excited about teaching it to other people."
Once we finish photographing, I realize that my parking meter is about to expire, so we quickly pick up our things and, again, practically jog back to the car.
The man with long hair is still there, playing Frisbee by himself.
"What a gift," I smile to myself.