I had my very own photoshoot!

Earlier this year, I had the wonderful luck to win a photoshoot experience with Andrew Wood Photography, it was a burlesque shoot which included my hair and makeup being done by a professional (This is only the second time I’ve ever had hair and makeup professionally done, the first time being prom, so quite the treat!). It was all shot in a studio with off camera flash, very glitzy and glamorous, with all the bells and whistles. This photography business was a huge operation with a number of photographers, makeup artists, a whole sales team, receptionists, all of it, and it was really interesting from my perspective as a small scale photographer to see how an operation like this worked (I may or may not have treated the experience like a form of market research…). It was really great fun on the whole, and I loved the photos, so I’ll pop those below for you guys to enjoy.

Now I can’t remember if it was after I’d had the initial shoot, or after I’d had my viewing session, but I was high on that buzz you can only get when you have a photoshoot, and feeling like a total queen (Anyone who’s had a photoshoot of their own knows this feeling), but there’s a good friend and fellow photographer who I’d been wanting to book an empowerment shoot with for some time, and after seeing on her instagram stories that she was about to put her prices up (And so she should, she’s amazing at what she does!), I went and booked myself in for photoshoot with her - for anyone wondering, her name is Vix and this is her website, go check her out!

I wanted to go for a wild woman witchy goddess vibe out in nature, and I definitely wanted to do a good portion of the shoot nude, because A) I love my body, I’m really fucking proud of it, and that deserves celebrating, and B) There’s something both phenomenally freeing and empowering about being shot nude, I absolutely love being photographed in my birthday suit.
Vix suggested the most wonderful outdoor location (A location which is actually a favourite spot for me to enjoy some private naked time in nature during heatwaves) near Lake Vyrnwy, and so, on the 7th June, I had my shoot.

We started the shoot in an outfit I’d bought very last minute, because despite being a generally very organised person who had over 3 months to prepare, this was something I managed to leave until the last minute. I’d been keen to start nude straight away, but Vix suggested we start clothed to help me relax into the way she works.
Whilst I was getting changed, happily whipping my top off, boobs out, we suddenly noticed there was an older couple walking past behind me - I hadn’t even spotted them, it was downright hilarious (Did I tell you nudity really doesn’t phase me? So this was a total non issue)

It was very much a goddess outfit and I felt beyond regal in it - Vix was absolutely fabulous to work with, we had an obscene amount of fun, posing was very natural with her guiding little tweaks to enhance the poses even further. I felt absolutely beautiful under her lens, she’s so encouraging and makes you feel totally at ease in front of the camera.

Following that, we moved onto some nude shots, posing next to the pools the waterfall had created, I felt absolutely beautiful and fully connected with the landscape. We did some shots up on the rocks, worked into the water a little (Despite what a warm day it was, the water was still VERY fresh!), and at one point I fully slipped into the water unintentionally, despite my efforts to try and pose my face in the water, the shock of cold made it impossible. This whole time we were laughing and giggling, just having an absolute ball of a time. This is the thing with shooting with the right photographer, you’ll have a fantastic time, feeling amazing in your skin and laughing your way through your shoot - photoshoots are just ridiculously good fun!

Ahead of this shoot, Vix had sent me a PDF of her client shoot guide, which includes a client wardrobe (Definitely something I’d like to have for my own clients one day!), which gave me some great choices for outfits to include in my shoot - I’d opted for a long flowing mesh black dress with a leg split in the front. It gave full blown witchy vibes.
We made our way down to the bottom of the waterfalls and over to the path we’d walked in on, surrounded by the stunning valley, thick with bracken and dotted with small hill trees - the location was perfect for this next look.

For the last part of my shoot, we moved down into the sweetest wildflower meadow next to a stream, surrounded by ancient trees, it had the most wonderfully innocent feeling to it, so of course it felt right to do a few more nude shots, making the most of the little dots of colour and patches of bracken. I felt like a little forest nymph frolicking around, so so lovely!

At one point, whilst I was stood fully naked being shot, another elderly couple happened to be walking along on the other side of the stream, but instead of carrying on walking like I’d assume most people would do, they decided to just stand and watch - I fully broke down laughing, obviously they were enjoying the fabulous view!! Vix quickly put herself between me and them to preserve my modesty, and fortunately at that point they carried on.
As I said before, I’m not bothered in the slightest by nudity, my own or other peoples (Be a bit weird if I did, considering the work I do!), so this was just a rather amusing moment to remember a wonderful shoot by.

I loved every minute of this shoot, from the initial excitement of booking it, to spending time with a marvelous human creating beautiful images, to then the thrill of waiting for the images to arrive - photoshoots give you so much more than just a few hours of fun.

I felt completely divine, totally in love with the images Vix shot, and it’s been another step on my journey of self love and acceptance. I implore you to stop thinking about booking a shoot and to go and BOOK IT!

Trust me, it’ll be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made.