Crazy humbling experiences: Embrace your fears, find your fierce and GO!

I love nothing more than empowering women, helping them 'Find Their Fierce' and let go of the fear of embracing that. That doesn't mean I do the same with ease all the time. Not at all! I've wanted to publicly speak about Finding Your Fierce for some time now. Mind you, I speak about it all the time, I have no problem talking to women about how fierce they are at any given moment, and most especially when they come to Ciao Bella Boudoir for a session. Talk about finding your fierce! YES! The transformation is inspiring, every. single. time. In as much as I've always told my clients, friends, random strangers to follow their dreams, my dream of publicly speaking? I've kept that little dream to myself. It seemed so big to me. But this year I decided to leap. And yes, when I lept those proverbial wings you hear about had more strength than I had ever imagined they would!

So now I get to say it, scream it from the rooftops: I am speaking about 'Finding Your Fierce' at Inspire Photo Retreats 2016!  This will be my third year attending Inspire. I'm not sure I can put into words what Inspire means to me, but I'll try:

As a photographer, we focus on getting it right in camera, the technical side of photography. Obviously that's incredibly important. Our clients trust us to know what we're doing. They trust that when they give us a crazy day, in a dark room, with no light, that we will be able to create gorgeous images for them. And so, we study, we practice, we make magic happen. But there's so much more to being a photographer. That trust our clients have in us, goes deeper. They trust that we see their beauty. They trust that we can show their amazing personalities, their love, their joy, their ferocity, when we photograph them. Inspire Photo Retreats is about that side of doing what I love. Learning to Fail Faster with Graham and Ashley Scobey of Scobey Photography this past winter allowed me to face my fears, open my mouth and talk about my dreams. Listening to Kristi Drago-Price of Editor's Edge speak about how your website should reflect YOU so your clients are attracted to YOU opened my eyes to what I had been avoiding for a while (and I found my take no bullshit mother fucking puma spirit animal in her). All the moments spent with friends, new and old, talking about life, love, business, and everything in between. Playing cards against humanity with Melissa Koren, Rebecca Marie, Lindsay DeDario, Michael Hanlon and more as tears ran down our faces, our cheeks hurting from laughing too much, eating too much food and having foodgasms, hugs, more hugs, more laughter and even more hugs. It's a spirit lifting, soul feeding, joy inducing three days. I would not miss it for the world.

How did I do putting that into words? Do you feel it? I hope so! I get ALL the feels from Inspire and my Inspire family. I'm in love with every single one of them. I am humbled, it's crazy. Talking to the group in Ashley and Graham's Failing Faster class about my desire to speak to photographers and beyond about Finding Your Fierce, it still seemed like a faraway dream. To see that come to fruition, to know that people see value in what I'm saying? It is a humbling, empowering, beautiful experience. I look forward to sharing dreams, hopes, fears, joy, love, desire, and most of all FIERCE with my fellow photographers this coming February.

Where is your fierce? Find it, embrace it, revel in it, and share it with the world. Inspire those around you to do the same.

~Ciao Bellas! XOXO

Beyond excited and honored to be among these crazy talented, intelligent, love-filled individuals!

Finding your fierce, men need it too!

I recently did a talk for a group of Photographers in Connecticut called 'Find Your Fierce'. Being a Boudoir photographer who focuses much of my time on women, and of course, being a woman myself, I can speak of the feminine side of finding your fierce, well, fiercely! But I realized putting my talk together that I needed to reach men as well. About a week prior to my talk I was speaking with a great friend of mine about what he's looking for in a woman, being that he is an attractive, successful, intelligent man who happens to be single, I wanted to help him out. I know so many amazing single women! But in talking to him I learned so much about the male psyche, how men are truly feeling the same way women are, they just don't always vocalize it. They're insecure with their looks, and their bodies in every way women are. They need to find their fierce as much as women do.

I have also been working with a publisher to provide better images of men for books. It seems there is a bit of a lack of great male photography. And when you look on forums for models and photographers, sure enough it happens to be mostly female models everyone is looking for. Where are the great photographers of men? There are a few, Michael Stokes being one of my absolute favorites at the moment. But by and large, there aren't that many opportunities for men in our area. I've decided I'm going to change that. I'm starting a series of male portraits and I am very excited to share the first in that series. My first model has never modeled professionally before and was a blast to work with. (and don't worry! I won't feature only perfectly handsome, fit, young men. I'm looking for character!)

Introducing Michael M. Enjoy!

Connections, this is all about beautiful, sensual connections...

The connections you make in life are so incredibly important. They can make or break you. They can help you grow, enable you to see yourself in new ways, make you feel safe and loved. Those connections can make you know, without a doubt, that with your partner at your side, you can take on the world. This is one of those connections.

I've been wanting to do add Couple's Boudoir sessions to my website for quite some time. Finding the right couple, a couple willing to share that side of themselves with the world, took a bit of time. When I met J + H, I knew I'd found the right couple. They are loving, sweet, free, and so fierce. He adores the ferocity she has, and she adores everything about him. Their comfort level with each other is mesmerizing. This is what a couple's session is about for me, that intimacy, that comfort and love that binds us to one another. I adore them both for trusting me and their willingness to share. Here are two sneak peeks. Enjoy!

PS My job is, to put it simply, quite freaking awesome.

Finding MY Fierce!

Yes, I too need to periodically find my fierce, remind myself of that deep seeded ferocity which I know is there, but sometimes seem to misplace. I have to remind myself of who I am and what I want. I need to reinvent myself, find my ground and hold it.

The first place I started to work on that was with my website. My website has not represented me for a bit now. It was lovely, and showed lovely images, but it didn't feel Fierce. And no, my website is not who I am, but it's definitely a reflection of me. So I've been working hard along side my amazing web guy, Josh Currier of Neon Thoughts to recreate my site and have it reflect me and what I believe in. I believe in YOU! I believe in your ferocity. I believe that every woman deserves to be able to walk into a room and feel confident in who she is. I want to help you remind yourself of that. You have it in you, you may just need to find where you have hidden it. I'd love to help you do just that.

Check out my new site! Ciao Bella Boudoir

I will also be starting to speak about Boudoir Photography and finding your fierce this April. I am so excited to start this new adventure!

And one final way I've pushed myself was to submit to a print competition. What I love about print competitions is that these are not based on how pretty your model is, but in the technical merit of the image. I chose a black and white, high key image. My model was of course lovely. The gorgeous Marie sat for me. She is perfection and certainly has the ferocity I admire. But to  get the tones as they needed t be, the posing just right and the edit perfect, that takes skill. So much of my work is never seen. I submitted my work and waited. We went to the WPPI conference in Las Vegas, a photographer's conference where the judging would take place. The day arrived when the images that won would be put on display. I was so nervous walking around, looking at all the work. I rounded a corner and there she was. My Marie, with a silver ribbon. Holy crap! Seriously! It was such a HUGE honor to see that! To receive such validation from an incredibly talented group of world renowned photographers is beyond words.

So here she is, Miss Marie, looking fierce and lovely.

Find Your Fierce!

I watched this video and all I could say was OH HELL YES!

Ladies, get it, claim it, OWN it! We women are amazing creatures of power. We have power in our minds, we have power in our hearts, we have power in our souls, and we have power in our bodies.

Do not underestimate yourself. You are Beautiful, Powerful and Amazing. You Are FIERCE!

This video made me so proud to be a woman. This is perfection. This is why I photograph women. To help them find their fierce. It's not in the photos, it's in you. You'll find it before you leave my studio, but you will not forget it. That's the feeling I want you to remember when you walk into a room, when you feel uneasy or frightened, when you are challenged.

You are fierce. Find it, claim it, own it.

FIND YOUR FIERCE.

Ciao!

~Teri