Motherhood often takes away the firm, taut skin of youth and replaces it with stretchmarks, scars and dimples. Not that we’re complaining — we know all these changes are a proud testament to childbearing and child-rearing and we like to call them a mum’s “imperfect perfections”.
But once in a while, us mums just wish our bodies could look like they did pre-kids, and voila, this is where clever photography can help.
Boudoir photographer Victoria Caroline recently took to Facebook to share what happened early on in her photography career, when a gorgeously curvy size 18 mum wanted to put together an album of sexy, albeit photoshopped pictures for her husband, for Christmas.
Victoria says, “Tonight I want to tell you ladies about a time I messed up really badly. It was back when I first started boudoir, and I had a mid-forties lady book my services at a GORGEOUS hotel in downtown San Antonio. She was a curvy, beautiful size 18. I thought she looked like a goddess, but as most women do, she had a request…
“She came to me, looked me straight in the eyes, and said ‘I want you to photoshop all of my cellulite, all of my angry red stretch marks, ALL of my fat, and all of my wrinkles….just make it go away. I want to feel gorgeous just ONCE.’ So, I did exactly as she asked.”
But after doing the photoshoot and putting together the album which the lady gifted to her husband, Victoria never expected the reaction her customer’s husband had.
“When you took away her stretch marks, you took away the documentation of my children”
Upon receiving an album of 30 sexy (and photoshopped) pictures of his wife for Christmas, the husband in question was more upset than excited by the images and said “his heart sank” — and we can’t applaud him enough for his reaction.
Caroline shares the emotional email she received from him. He writes, “I have been with my wife since we were 18 years old, and we have two beautiful children together… These pictures…while they are beautiful and you are clearly a very talented photographer….they are not my wife.”
He points out that in the process of taking out his wife’s “flaws”, Caroline had also taken away everything that makes up their life.
“When you took away her stretch marks, you took away the documentation of my children. When you took away her wrinkles, you took away over two decades of our laughter, and our worries. When you took away her cellulite, you took away her love of baking and all the goodies we have eaten over the years.”
This gorgeous man went on to say that he wasn’t saying all this to make Caroline feel horrible, but that he wanted to thank her because, “seeing these images made me realize that I honestly do not tell my wife enough how much I LOVE her and adore her just as she is.”
His note ends with him saying that he is going to celebrate her in all her imperfectness for the rest of his days.
We at theAsianparent think he is the perfect husband and we also think that starting today, all you beautiful mums reading this need to love yourselves just a little bit more. You are worth it.
Mums, read this theAsianparent story to see how another photographer celebrates the beauty of mums’ bodies via photography.
What are your views: should women photoshop their “flaws” in order to look good or should they be comfortable with the way they look regardless? Leave a comment below.