I did a session with this model, Carmen, and we took time to color all of her stretch marks purple for the outdoor shoot. The process of coloring them all in was really eye opening to me. I have all my stretch marks on my booty and inner thighs. Those are the stretch marks I focus on. Those are the stretch marks I tend to see in other women. Those are the ones I have spent many hours working on being okay with.
While we were painting on Carmens, she said most of hers were on her breasts. Carmen has not had kids.
I immediately felt a little guilt for having the association that stretch marks on breasts must be from pregnancy/breastfeeding. How could I think that after all the women I have worked with? Because, we are bombarded with images of women under 30, no kids, and photoshopped. Breast stretch marks are something I feel like I only see in maternity/motherhood posts.
This realization made me even more excited about this session, because we all have bodies that do amazing things; and stretch marks are a part of the amazing things regardless of how they came to be. I am grateful for Carmen for being a piece of me continuing to learn and grow as a boudoir photographer and woman. ♥️
Scroll through and look for the purple... the purple we all have.
