These days, it's pretty common to call up a photography studio and request special "boudoir photos."
Boudoir photos are intimate, "sexy" pictures that are usually commissioned as a special gift for a husband or lover. They're never explicit, but are meant to flatter a woman's curves in an alluring and artistic way. Sometimes, the model will pose in pretty lingerie picked out to make her feel extra gorgeous.
Alicia Atkins, who runs the photo studio Alicia Samone Photography, knows all about what goes into making a beautiful boudoir photo. Boudoir photo shoots are her specialty, which is why she wasn't too surprised to get a call asking about a portrait job.
But this was no ordinary client.
Alicia told LittleThings: "[She was] having a double mastectomy and she wanted boudoir photos… I offered to do the session for free." She added: "When she walked through the door to her session, I knew instantly I had met someone who would change my life."
Alicia's client had wrinkles and surgical scars. Her breasts had been through a lot as a mother and as a cancer patient. She immediately insisted there be no retouching, no Photoshop. She wanted every beautiful flaw on camera.
Alicia Atkins first shared this remarkable boudoir photo shoot on her own Facebook page, Alicia Samone Photography.
It was quickly picked up all over the web, and ended up on Love What Matters. Tens of thousands of people reacted to the images, and thousands added their own comments.
The response was just incredible.
Most people were responding to the raw, emotional images. They also had words of support for the unnamed woman behind the pictures.
She had bravely stripped down, revealing what she calls her "mess of a body." She just wanted to show the world that every body is beautiful, especially the ones that have been through a lot.
Alicia added to the story with her own experience of capturing the boudoir photos. Alicia's words reveal just how much her model had really gone through. She wrote:
Today walked in one of the most amazing women I’ve ever met in my life. I’m not exaggerating. She was captivating. I could have listened to her all day.
She said, “Most women would look at my body and say “UGH.” But I look at my body and say I worked REALLY hard for this mess of a body.”
She is married. They have a daughter. Her husband had cancer 7 years ago. She cared for him. Took care of him. And was there for him. He overcame this.
Soon after, his father passed away from cancer. She had weight loss surgery. In June of 2016 she found a lump.
She has gone through chemo, as she said with a huge smile, “Like a champ!” She has lost about 140 pounds!
They tested her and decided that she would need a double mastectomy… This is happening in 2 weeks.
I mean this when I say she is SO positive. So enlightening. Empowering. And every definition of the words. Her smile was captivating. Her stories were strengthening. He love was overwhelming.
Her eyes were piercing.
She said her husband loves every part of her. Supports her. They have cared for each other through each having cancer. Never left behind, never not there. Always a backbone, to each other, in the most difficult time. The way she spoke about him was poetry.
She wanted these photos to be unedited. She wants to remember what she worked really hard to get to before she gets new breasts and starts a new journey.
Can you imagine?
This woman… This beautiful perfect woman… The one that has gone through cancer with family, birth, weight loss, loose skin, trauma, surgeries, cancer, chemo…
Doing what I ask of every woman out there! Loving a body that some people wouldn’t even look at themselves in the mirror if they had. Wouldn’t dare let someone touch them, or look at them.
No.
She is LOVING her body.
The body that got her to 47.
The body she took care of her husband with.
The body that birthed the love of her life, her daughter.
The body that let her survive.
Next time you think your stretch marks are ugly, your scar is too big, you belly is too big, or too small, please take a long look at this woman. If you can have a pin-sized amount of her strength and power you would walk through the streets naked.
Believe in yourself. Fight your worst enemy. Win. Love YOU.
