Where do I even begin to tell the story of this day at Self Love Experience…..
First of all it started out like a normal shoot until Amber threw a ringer at me… she told me “I want my shoot to be different from everyone else…I want to be the first for some new poses”
The first she was! The first to use the blush wings, the first to use the new lighting, the first to do several poses on the golden ottoman…
She was also the first client to have a major DEA drug bust happen in the middle of her shoot….yeah…that…actually….happened
So let’s go back to the part where Amber challenged me to be different for her shoot, I got the idea to go outside down the block with the wings to shoot her in front of some of the historical brownstones. I thought it would be a cool juxtaposition between the softness of her look and the hardness of the brick buildings.
So we get to the end of the shoot, head downstairs to get ready and have this babe standing outside in 5.5ft tall and probably 5ft wide angel wings and heels.
As we walk down the block, of course, men who have nothing to do with us start making comments and cat calling….we ignore them and continue down to this spot I found with polls she can hold onto. I have her turned around with her booty facing out and Natalie is blocking the street view from the public and standing by for makeup touch-ups. I am the only one of us facing the end of the block because that is the direction I am shooting from, both Natalie and Amber are facing into the brick wall and looking at me for further direction. All of a sudden I see 4 dudes (IN STREET CLOTHES) with guns drawn screaming “GET DOWN” and running across the street towards us with guns drawn.
I scream “GUN! RUN!” because that is apparently what my fight, flight or freeze reaction was. I wanted to get the studio door open as quick as I could, I run ahead of Natalie and Amber….who by the way is still wearing nearly 6ft tall angel wings in high heels, and lingerie and SPRINTING…what a sight that was.
As I turn back to make sure the girls are following me we see the 4 officers tackle a large man to the ground and then from both directions of the block police vehicles with sirens blaring come down and surround the block….lt was no joke exactly like they show it in the movies!
The three of us are in the studio and struggling to get the wings off of Amber and trying to decide if we wanted to go back upstairs to finish or to wait it out. As we are standing and looking out the door we see the cops from the cars searching 1 car on the block….turns out the man they took down had 540 bags of heroin in his car and they chose our block as the stop to set up the undercover sting operation to catch him selling.
The gentleman they tackled is thrown into a cop car and most of the cars leave except for the few who are there collecting the evidence. I asked Amber if she wanted to try again and this brave as fuck woman says YES!
After asking permission from the officer parked outside of the studio, the three of us head out and finish her angel shoot!
The beautiful black and white of her in the wings that she got as one of her Estate Art was one of the last shots of the day….so much peace among the complete and utter chaos that preceded it.
You see Amber is a Nurse.
She is on the front lines every single day she works seeing the hardest of the hard and the worst of the worst in the human condition…but somehow, her and her fellow nurses, have this magical ability to find peace among the chaos. It is a trait I find to be true in 100% of the nurses I have photographed and known in my life.
While the doctors are diagnosing and treating, women and men like Amber are not only carrying out the doctors orders, but they are the source of calm and hope for their patients and their families.
My hope is that when these beautiful front line heroes go home at night and finally get to take their masks off that they remember that they are the exact same woman in their art.
Stong, sexy, and powerful in their vulnerability.
Read below to see what this #LRPBoudieBeauty has to say about her Self Love Experience and remember to scroll alllll the way to the end to see her final art from her pickup today!
As we have been mentioning, the sale on 2021 dates will continue as long as NY is on Pause.
LINK TO SALE ON 2021 DATES HERE
“I have always been a self confident person for as long as I can remember.
Never fearful of anything…but my own body.
Hiding behind my self confidence for years but always lacking self love.
Letting myself be beat down mentally, physically, and verbally for years at the hand of others not excluding myself, all because I didn’t have self love.I struggled for years with this until one day in my late 20s I woke up and decided I couldn’t live another day like this,Letting go of toxic relationships, things that no longer served me or brought me happiness. Finding out how to be happy with myself in my own body, in my own presence.
Once I found out how to truly love myself and embrace my body and all its flaws there was no turning back, I was unstoppable.
A boudoir shoot is something I have always wanted to do and I couldn’t be happier that I dived into doing it with Lindsay. I showed up at her doorstep and told her I wanted to do something never done before, she of course put me to the test and I obliged without hesitation. Natalie and Lindsay made this experience like no other, I forgot I was the only one in the room naked haha.
Self Love Experience is an amazing experience to say the least, I cannot say enough great things.
I rave about my experience and photoshoot every chance I get, I know Lindsay isn’t tired of me spreading her name around but my friends may be tired of me constantly talking about it, I just can’t help it.
I’m all for women supporting women, we need to teach each other how to love ourselves and I believe Lindsay is doing that with Self Love Experience.
When we learn to love ourselves the rest will fall into place.
I believe this whole heartedly.
I am unstoppable and so are you.” – Amber
Keep scrolling to see the art this babe chose for their walls!
