I recently got back from a trip to Japan and it’s been a struggle getting back to a normal sleep schedule. But being busy in the studio and back to photographing my gorgeous clients has helped me find my old routine again.
One of my recent clients dyed her hair a fabulous dark purple. She was such an awesome woman to work with. Born and raised in DC, early forties, with very dark hair that’s always been a big part of her identity. But her hair had started turning grey – she had a big patch of it in front. She hadn’t been sure what she wanted to do with it before her shoot. Leave it alone, or color it in some way…
I was delightedly surprised when she showed up at the studio with this gorgeous dark purple hair. It suited her amazingly! What’s more, it seemed like such an incredible way to acknowledge and celebrate this personal change in a fun new way.
From broken down to fabulous
I always like to ask my clients why they booked their shoot. This particular client’s reason was that she’d been feeling really broken down after a rough year. But at some point things started turning around. Her life started flowing more positively and abundantly again, and on that high note she felt motivated to book herself a luxury boudoir shoot – something she’d wanted to do for a long time.
It made me think about the Japanese tradition of kintsugi (which I recently got to encounter firsthand). It’s a process of repairing ceramics with gold and lacquer, leaving a beautiful golden seam where the cracks were. I love the mindset of accepting that something has changed or been broken, but rather than throwing it out you fix it! You draw attention to it in a loving way and make it into something new and even more refined.
And while we’re on the subject of Japanese concepts, the art of kintsugi can relate to the Japanese philosophy of mushin, which includes concepts like non-attachment and acceptance of change. On a similar note, I saw some boudoir photography recently where the figure’s stretch marks were accented with gold (much like in this Instagram account). It’s another example of beautifully accepting and accenting changes or “flaws”. And I’m here for it!
Sometimes when life changes, there’s this impulse to try and resist it, or hide it so that we can pretend nothing’s different. But in most cases I think we’d be better off embracing the change and then having fun with it.
Whenever possible, throw some sparkle and gold at any seemingly unwanted changes in life. And if something gets broken along the way, see if you can’t piece it back together in a new, fabulous way.
– Cynthia
