Life sometimes tricks you into thinking you are alone in this journey. That your sphere does not affect or impact those around you. It’s a voice in your head that tells you, you are an island. That your pain, your sorrow, your loneliness is your burden to bear alone.

That voice is wrong.

We are not alone.

Our walls are sometimes too high to see those around us, wrapped up as we are in the meaning of our own personal struggles and delights, but every once and awhile someone opens a door between their wall and yours, and invites you in. Through it, you find that your spheres are really not that far apart. In that moment you experience their story, and it becomes a part of yours. You are connected now. Their pain is your pain. Their triumphs, your triumphs.

I have met so many women through my lens who share with me about their lives. They sit in front of my camera and pour out their stories and together we laugh, and cry, and marvel at the things that make us complex and so beautifully human. We forget sometimes that even in the midst of hard things, we are surrounded by those who will lift us up if we just find the will to ask. We forget that even in the hardest times, our life is one that we will want to look back on and remember.

She didn’t give me her life story, she didn’t tell me about the days leading up to the day she found out she had breast cancer, and she didn’t elaborate on all the heart aching details. She reached out to me because she needed a photographer for this moment in her life, to document a time right before a huge life change… and remember what she had before she began her fight. She asked me to help her celebrate her body and thank it for what it had given her; 3 beautiful children, a healthy 40 years on this planet, and more happy days than sad ones. Through photos we closed that chapter together, but made sure she could go reopen it and remember it for as long as she needed to.

She didn’t give me her life story, she didn’t tell me about the days leading up to her divorce, and she didn’t share all the reasons she wanted boudoir photos. She reached out to me because she needed a photographer for this moment in her life, to document a time right after a huge life change… and to see all the amazing things she was capable of now. She asked me to help her celebrate her body and remind her what it felt like to be sexy again. She wanted to push forward into the new feelings of dating and being single again. Through photos we opened that chapter together, and made sure she could start off fresh in this new life she was embarking on.

She didn’t give me her life story, she didn’t tell me about the days leading up to her mother’s decline, and she didn’t share all the reasons she wanted portraits. She reached out to me because she needed a photographer for this moment in her life, to document a time when her family was about to lose their mom. She asked me to help her celebrate this woman who cared for them, and held them, and made them who they are. She wanted to be able to remember her mother’s face long after it was gone. Through photos we tried to make sure her grandchildren and great grandchildren would never forget this incredible matriarch that lived such a big and beautiful life. We closed the biggest chapter together, the one between a mother and her child.

Today is National Women’s Day and The Wild Bloom Studio wants to take this time to recognize these incredible women. For their strength in facing head on the curve ball that life has thrown at them and while the details are up to them whether or not to share, we just want to honor all of you on this day.

We want to honor all women. You, who have faced hard things and overcome the elements that threaten to break you. To the women who learn to open doors, rather than building walls. Here’s to you!

Happy Women’s Day!

Love,
The Wild Bloom Studio

To those who have been inspired to open their own doors and share their own stories, even if it’s just a little, we would love to hear from you! Feel free to tell us your story (or just a chapter) below in comments, email admin@thewildbloomstudio.com or tag #twbsopendoors on social media.