Ensuring your relationship with yourself is strong and loving is the first step to being able to have healthy and thriving relationships with others.
Elise Kutt, owner and photographer at Mod Bettie Portrait Boutique and Naughty Bettie, notes that because society places so many unrealistic expectations on women, we should work to be happy with who we already are—rather than pressuring ourselves to be "better."
Kutt uses boudoir photography as a way to show women they're beautiful as they are, in that moment. Not to mention, it's wildly fun.
"I always say the experience itself is the most transformative and the photos are really just a bonus. We are literally a room of cheerleaders. And while none of us have ever held pom-poms or done a backflip, we are unequivocally our clients' biggest fans.
"We'll tell you your ass looks good in those jeans—and mean it!"
Being naked or even half-naked is an incredibly vulnerable place to be. Being so in a safe and supportive environment, Kutt said, can be a total game-changer for women.
"Imagine a hair and makeup artist following your every move, moving a piece of hair this way and coiffing a curl that way; being the eyes that assure you everything is in place when you can't see it for yourself." A behind-the-scenes videographer is even there to capture every giggle and quickly passing moment, as if you were a Hollywood star, while Kutt is directing and jumping excitedly.
"By the end of our shoot," Kutt said, "my clients completely own their bodies and often find freedom to let anxieties and insecurities go."
After an hour of having photos taken and catching a quick look at some of them through the camera, you'll leave feeling like you can take over the world—and do it for YOU.
"Sometimes, we need someone else to show us we're beautiful before we can believe it ourselves."
Written by Sarah Suydam, Staff Writer for West Michigan Woman.
Photo courtesy of Naughty Bettie.
