Honoring YOUR CORE WOUND

Photography is about paying homage. It is about honoring and capturing a moment that can be held in time, put on our wall and given a place of honor.

Has anyone ever honored the deepest, most secret darks places of your soul? Because we exile them to the dark and feed them a diet of shame, I am sure you answer that with a big “NO.”  As a photographer, I have watched as these parts lurk in almost every client’s photo shoot I have ever had.   They are right there, under the surface, screaming to be seen.  

I have always coaxed and coached those parts during the photo shoot in, putting down the camera and working with them... Until I did something new.  Until I realized that my deepest secrets actually wanted to be photographed.

And so the project started for myself and then for my clients, highlights of which you can see below. Through it, I give reverence to the parts that are typically shut away in disgrace.  What I have learned is out of this world:  These parts are calling forth something in us. They are here to help birth the women and men we are supposed to be.  All we have to do is give them attention, listen to them, honor them. In return, they give us the answers we are seeking.

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My Journey

When I felt the call to photograph my wound, I started to think about what an exaggeration of my pain would look like, feel like, how I could use everything in the photograph to tell the story of my rage, my sadness, the shattering of my soul.

"My deepest fear became my inspiration: Rejection.  I was terrified I would be rejected by everyone and end up alone... a bag lady on the streets."

The experience was transformational. It was easy to call up the pain because it was always close by, waiting for attention. So it knew what to do. And I released it. Right there. Right into the camera.

When I got home and started looking at the photographs the most beautiful thing happened. My heart leapt as I saw myself, my spirit, and my body in so much pain. I started sobbing once again – I wept for myself, my pain and suffering, for the old dreams and old ways of being that were so painfully stripped away. And in that moment I was overwhelmed with a tender kindness and a deep love for myself. A deep surrender into acceptance.

"The never-ending well of grief that rejection drops me into allowed me to discover my worth: a deep knowing of love. First, from myself to myself, then to others, and ultimately to a deeper understanding of world's love for me."

I had found that true liberation can only happen within. Through my heart, in my being, and though self love, I have found liberation. This photograph captures me in my awakening, in my healing and in my liberation.

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Julie Foucht

I was on a photo shoot with Julie Foucht in Sedona, Arizona.  We were photographing her raw sensuality.  As we were walking up the mountain, JF was overwhelmed by feelings of shame.  Shame for being a woman.  Shame for being sexual.  Shame for just being.   

Inspired by my own recent transformation, I was confident about exploring the shame that has hidden her sensuality.  She dove into expression…

Overwhelmed by shame for being a woman she kept her sensually cramped in a corner, not wanting to be seen by anyone. 

Then shame showed us its face and let out a long guttural growl.

No one had shone a light on the face of her shame before. And with this came a newfound sense of freedom and permission. Only from here was she able to deepen into her sensuality.

She pulled on her power and transformed in front of my camera, allowing us to see her full, unleashed sensuality.

________________________________________________RAFAEL

"My scarcity shows up in neglect. I will never get enough, have enough, be enough. Then I settle."

“Do I get up today? Do I shower? Or do I implode, hide and stay hidden away?  When I am in scarcity, I neglect everything, including the desire for things to get better. I am trapped in cold desperation that takes control of my life."

"Lindsay had such relentless determination to  find the spot that needed to be expressed. And a mastery of your element, one that felt handled and gracefully seen" 

During Rafael’s shoot, another part came into his awareness and was named: Bravado.  As I go forward with this body of work, I will add this portrait of the coping mechanism because it was amazing to see.

"Bravado is the shell over the desperation and scarcity."

“When I connect to God, when I plant my roots in devotion and access a deeper fire, then spirituality and sexuality integrate as my raw power.  I become the powerful visionary who is perfectly balanced, precise, fast, and gets things done with clarity.”