TAIT Boudoir Photography Blog

I’m not honestly sure what to write, which is ironic because I’m a writer at heart. I don’t really like writing about myself so we’ll see how this goes!

Although I’m not at ease writing about myself, I want to explain it’s not because I’m uncomfortable with my body. Hey, I know I’m no Jessica Simpson. As a matter of a fact, I’m fairly certain both of her breasts would be the mass equivalent of half of my bum, but I love my body. If I don’t give you a little back story, you might not understand how big winning this contest would be for me.

I was in a major boating accident when I was 3 years old. My leg was pulled into the propeller and broken in eight different places. I survived the accident despite all odds and only one of my legs was damaged. Thanks to the miracle work of the surgeons they were even able to put it back together.
Because of the severity of my accident I’ve had two leg lengthening procedures (known as Illizarov) and probably over a dozen other surgeries. Since my accident I’ve spent the other 19 years of my life in and out of the hospital. It’s been tough, and I’ve had my ups and downs. My mom raised me to believe everything happens for a reason, and I do. Approximately 80% of my right leg is covered in scars and it took me a while to come to terms with that.

I haven’t needed surgery for almost over four years now and that has really helped to cement a brighter outlook on things. It may be cheesy, okay…. I know it’s cheesy, but my scars are a part of who I am. I’ve learnt so much from my situation. I know that when people see me on the street in shorts during the summer that that’s not what they’re thinking, and sometimes it’s awkward, but I’ve come to see things in a happier light. (Sometimes I joke I was bitten by a shark to break the ice.)

A few years ago I met a boy who didn’t notice I had scars, or that I even walked with a bit of limp sometimes. He loves me, supports me, and even wraps my leg in a wrap sometimes when it’s sore.

I’ve been interested in doing boudoir photo shoots with Tait Boudoir for over a year now, but something has always come up. When I first found them, I re-wrote an email to them a dozen times, trying to come up with a way of saying “hey, I’ve got scars all over my right leg, are you still willing to take pictures of me?” I’ve put this off for so long because I didn’t know how to explain my situation. But I believe everything happens for a reason and now if they read this, it’ll be out there.

I’d like the free photo shoot to not only celebrate but commemorate the confidence I have in myself and my body. A lot of my photo albums have pictures of me recovering from surgeries, and I’d like to add a boudoir shoot to add to the collection to show how far I’ve come!

Hi, My name is Cheryl. I had been with my husband for 23 years. Since right before I turned 21. We have one handsome son who is nineteen. Besides my son, my marriage was never the greatest. My husband never put me first. Never gave me a compliment. One year we were to go out for Valentine’s day and I got all dressed up and he came home from work and said that we could go out another night because it would be to hard to go out on valentines day with all the crowd. I was crushed. I had spent the evening getting ready for a special evening and like always he let me down. Last April he told me over the phone that it was no longer working for him and that he wanted a divorce. I was devastated. Thought my life was over. It was just another blow that he gave me. I was so used to being put down and told that I was not good enough that I didn’t think I could make it with out him. My son was there for me to hold me together and help me through this terrible time in my life. He helped me to realize that this was the best thing to have happened to me. That I could finally find someone that would actually love me and want to be with me. Just this month I met a guy. He is wonderful. He compliments me, tells me I’m beautiful and sexy. I have a hard time hearing this, and an even harder time believing it. He makes me feel things that I never have felt before. He makes me want to be beautiful for him. When I’m with him, nothing else matters. My heart no longer hurts. I feel that I will be able to make it, and that there is someone that will appreciate me for me. I would love to do a photo session for him. To give him photos of me that are as beautiful as he makes me feel. My divorce will be final in April and I hope to put that in my past and start my life over again by feeling good about myself and feeling beautiful.

“I was so busy surviving my life I had no soul to live it…” I read this in a book a few months ago and it described my life for the last 3 years. I was in a relationship with what I thought was the man of my dreams, the one that I would share the rest of my life with. Our wedding was planned for the September long weekend of 2008.

In June of 2008 I made a major life changing decision with my family’s help and intervention. My dream life was about to all come crashing down. My fiancé was extremely abusive in many respects and controlled every aspect of my life. He separated me from my family and was slowly secluding me from the life I had before I was in a relationship with him. A number of things were brought to the surface in May of 2008 and one being the number of women he was in a relationship with, the financial burdens I was unaware of and a number of other aspects of his life I had no idea about.

While learning that my fiancé was living a double life, my family stepped in and supported me with the decision to leave, although difficult and wanting to believe that it was all a lie and just a dream. I found the strength to leave.

Within the last 7 months I have begun to realize the extent of the abuse he placed on me. It is amazing how deep the wounds are when you are in a relationship with someone who abuses you emotionally, mentally, financially, sexually and verbally. I have found my voice and have been so empowered with what I have been able to do without him in my life. My entire focus has been on just me and only me. Loving and forgiving myself are the reasons I get up everyday, they are the reasons that I have been able to accomplish what I have in such a short period of time, they are the reasons I can heal. One day I will forgive him, but I will never be able to if I can’t love and forgive myself first. I have made the decision to not be angry, or shameful or feel guilty for my relationship or what he did. I have chosen to tell my story and help other women find their voice and find the dreams they lost.

With a lot of work and continuing my healing journey I have started working on a documentary to help young women understand what types of abuse are out there, and to know they have a voice and can be empowered to take control of their lives. I have learned through this journey if better is possible is good good enough… For me I was living a life that was good or okay and now I have found my soul and I am living each day with a purpose and determined to be an authentic woman who loves herself.

I would love to have a photo shoot like this because I was never comfortable with my body in my relationship. Since I left I have lost 45lbs, I started running and training for a triathlon. I am so proud of the work I have done on my head, heart and body. To me it would be very special to see it all together in a picture being a whole woman. Many women I am sure are hoping to have these pictures for their spouse or significant other, for me I want to give them to myself a gift of how much I love my body, my heart, my soul…

My name is Crystal. I am 22 years old, born and raised in Calgary and here is why I think I deserve the Valentines Day Photo Shoot with Tait Photography…

It is more my fiance that deserved to have them of me than me deserving to win a photo shoot. He is an amazing man who makes me feel beautiful. When we first started dating I told him that I had ovarian cysts. These are normally not a big thing to worry about, however, mine grew to about 10 inches around and was situated inside my ovary. This has taken a tole on all aspects of our intimate life as I often have pain and the fact that anything that works my core too hard causes great discomfort.

About 4 months after we began dating I had to go in for surgery. At first they believed they would only need to make two small incisions to remove the cyst and I would be out the same day.

When I came out of surgery I noticed they had given me a full laparoptomy, which is essentially a c-section but they don’t cut into your uterus. I was stuck on the couch for 3 weeks, unable to stand longer than to make it to the bathroom. He quit his job and took care of me the entire time I was home allowing me to get well as fast as I could. I now have a c-section scar across my abdomen. It has made me very self conscious about wearing anything sexy for him, even though I know he does not care about my scar as it is just part of me.

We had thought we had beaten this, but this past November I went back for a check up and they have found another one the same size. Since, we have had to drastically change the way we eat and live. I need to make sure I don’t eat gluten, lactose, egg whites, corn, refined sugars and take close to 15 supplements each day. He has, very willingly, jumped on board agreeing to stick to the same diet I am on and often hold me to my diet closer then I wish at times.

He has been there every step of the way. This January, on our one year anniversary, he asked me to marry him. As it turns out he was laid off two days after he bought me the ring. Now we are trying to plan a wedding, he is trying to find a job, I am preparing for possibly having another surgery and yet he still manages to make everything seem great and like together we can conquer anything, if you did not know our story you would think we have it all.

He is an amazing man and I am so lucky to have found him. I have wanted to get these photos done for him for a wedding gift, but I know to do it as a surprise I will need someone to make me feel sexy. I just want to look for him as beautiful as he made me feel when I was stuck in my house coat on the coach for that month.

Thank you for giving me the chance to enter this contest.