It's normal to have parts of yourself that you're afraid to share. And when we hide are scars a few things happen.
One, we steal from others the opportunity to see ourselves fully, and therefore the opportunity for others to love our full selves.
Two, we convince everyone else with scars that they're alone, that they're the only person with "flaws" like ours.
We all have insecurities. As someone who does boudoir photography, nearly all of my clients tell me something or other about themselves that they're afraid to show on camera. I always appreciate the trust model's invest in me when they share these fears, no matter how much my heart breaks when I hear someone absolutely stunning tell me about something that they think takes away from their beauty.
For Bella, the thing she was scared of seeing was her scar. This scar went across her back, and while it was usually hidden, not all of the lingerie pieces she wanted to wear would cover it up well.
We talked about options -- we could always pose her so that the scars weren't visible, or photoshop her scar be more subtle... or alternatively we could highlight it, face it up close, and give her the opportunity to see that she was beautiful scars and all.
She really loved that idea.
So for a few images I helped her pose with her scar front and center. Our talented makeup artist, Hailey Sipes, had the brilliant idea to even give it just a touch of glitter.
And when we gave her scar this love, sure enough we were all able to see that it was true: Bella's scar was beautiful, and Bella was beautiful scars and all.
