Hi friend,
Since I'm so involved in the day-to-day work of body liberation photography, it's easy to forget how extraordinary this work really is.
There are very few people on the planet who offer photography services that are truly welcoming for fat and very fat people.
It’s incredibly important to me that you feel safe, comfortable and happy whenever you work with me. Here’s how I respect your bodily autonomy during our sessions:
- Ask before touching you the first time
- Check in with you occasionally about your experience and comfort
- Give you space if you exhibit unusual nervousness or jitteriness
- Explain what I’m doing occasionally
- Respect any requests you might have for space or a break
I also created what I call the body-positive photography pledge, where I've committed to:
» View human bodies — all of them — with honesty, joy and compassion
» Seek out a wide range of people who aren’t trained models for my portfolio images
» Don’t talk about “problem areas” or “flaws”
» Don’t strive to make bodies look smaller or larger than they actually are
» Don’t digitally remove permanent aspects of people’s bodies like fat rolls or wrinkles
» Honor the body that each person has in this moment, in all its beauty and uniqueness
» Strive to capture a wide range of body types, shapes, sizes, colors and orientations in my portfolio work, both to increase the representation of people in underrepresented bodies and to make clients in any conceivable body feel safe working with me
» Use poses that are reasonably comfortable for each person’s body shape and size, rather than slavishly imitating only poses that very thin people use
» Feature a full range of client and portfolio images on my website and in my social media, not just “aspirational” bodies
How might you adapt this pledge for your own line of work, or for your personal life? What commitments to change does it inspire you to make?
Please feel free to use it as inspiration, or place a copy or an adapted version on your own site (while committing to it sincerely in your heart and mind) along with a link back to bodyliberationphotos.com.
