Hi friend,
It's been five years since I started Body Liberation Photos! Way back in 2015 I had a craptastic office job with an abusive boss, a background in fat acceptance, and some photography skills. I ditched the job, took a part-time corporate contract gig to pay the bills, and used the rest of my time to learn portrait photography and build my business.
Initially, I knew I wanted to work with plus-size women, and though I was pretty solid in my own body acceptance already, I just intended for Sweet Amaranth (my original business name) to be a pleasant alternative to traditional portrait photography. But the more I delved into *why* fat people aren't represented in mainstream photography -- bigotry, fear, racism, the photography industry being both descriptive and prescriptive of impossible beauty standards -- the more angry I got.
It's not okay for fat folks to be marginalized in client photography (e.g., boudoir, wedding, portrait, glamour)! And it's not okay for fat folks to be marginalized in stock photography! Seeing bodies like our own, and seeing our own bodies, is one of the most important parts of learning self acceptance.
It proved impossible for me to just hold a camera and otherwise shut up about bodies, so I've been speaking up as an integral part of my business ever since. Eventually I even changed its name to Body Liberation Photos to make it ever more clear what I stand for and why I'm here.
Five years after that beginning, I spend my time changing the world by centering fat people in photography -- from working with individual clients to representing fatness in stock photos that get used all over the world -- and educating the public and healthcare providers about weight stigma, fat oppression and body liberation. I couldn't ask for a better job.
Five years down, many more to go. Can't stop, won't stop.
