Embracing Motherhood | Amber Tyler | Photographer | Genesee, ID

I had the honor of being the one to capture these beautiful moments between a mother and her Daughter. Bethany booked this session as a Mother's day gift for herself and wanted to make it special. It started out by having her make up done by our friend (and client of mine) Charlene. Charlene is an awesome make up artist and has the coolest accent because she is from Ireland. I love cool accents. Bethany's make up looked awesome and when she got to see herself when it was finished she said it was the first time she felt like she looked like a woman instead of looking so young. I could tell she felt great. After make up was done we started our adventure of a photo shoot.

I had decided I wanted to do the shoot up in Genesee, ID. where she was getting her make up done. I hadn't shot in this location before, but I thought it would be fun to just go around a find random locations to use. We started right across the street from Charlene's house, in a beautiful field. All of a sudden saw a man walking a dog coming up the road. The dog ran over to us, as happy as can be, and decided to- I kid you not- pee on the crate Bethany was sitting on! Thankfully she moved over in time and was able to avoid getting peed on...lol.. 

We then set out to find a location for the next part of our shoot.. This part was going to be more intimate so we needed to find something secluded. After driving around for about 10 minutes or so we found an opening in a fence to a field on the side of the road that would work perfectly. Bethany really wanted to capture some images of her breast feeding her baby girl, Sienna. She also expressed how good it feels to accept and love the body she has now that she is a mother. 

And of course, even on a quiet street that seems to have no traffic, we had many cars drive by and even a dust cropper (plane) flew over us! Thankfully we had plenty of blankets on hand to cover up with. 

The whole feel of this session was all about embracing motherhood and loving the body that you have been given and the changes that motherhood brings. Bethany had expressed that she used to have a lot of the same body image issues that a lot of women deal with, and that becoming a mother has helped her embrace her body and  now she has a new confidence that hasn't been there before.

Amber Tyler | Photographer | Portrait |

Self Image and Confidence | Boudoir | Amber Tyler | Photographer

A while back I posted on my facebook page asking ladies to chime in and tell me what it is about doing a boudoir or glamour shoot that scares them. I got a ton of response and it inspired me to write a blog post to help clarify exactly how I do boudoir and why I love it.

One of the main responses was poor self image or low self esteem. I know most of you have seen the Dove videos that have been circulating the internet, the ones about how we see ourselves so differently than how the rest of the world sees us. Most of the time we are way harder on ourselves and believe things about ourselves that just aren't true. We as women obsess over our imperfections while ignoring the parts that are beautiful and are what the majority of people see.

Another question I asked shortly after this one, was for ladies to tell me what they consider is most beautiful about a woman. It was no surprise that the majority of answers included confidence. That a woman that is confident is way sexier or more beautiful than a skinny body or large boobs, or any other image society portrays as "the image we all want to have". So here is what I am finding.. we have a large amount of women that are afraid to step in front of the camera because of poor self image because they think they have an imperfect body.. Yet we seem to agree that being confident is what beauty and being sexy is all about. There's a disconnect here. What we are saying and how we are feeling aren't matching up.

Here is how I look at it- and some may not agree, but here we go. I believe that a good belief in your own self image and confidence go hand in hand. Really, how easy is it to have confidence if you feel like you are ugly? We all know that you aren't, but you have to love yourself before you can exude confidence. That's when we go back to how we see ourselves and how others see us. Try as hard as you can to set aside your fears and insecurities just for a day and try to see yourself the way that people love you, see you. Many of my fans have children.. Moms, think of how amazing your children think you are, why should you think of yourself as anything less than amazing?

Why I love glamour and boudoir- I am able to for just a moment get rid of all of your self doubt and insecurities. My goal is to create images that just show you how others really see you. Your beautiful self. Yes you get to get all dolled up with professional make up and have your hair done, that isn't to make you look different, that is to show you that I want you to have the best possible experience and not worry about if you did your make up or hair right, or if that blemish or under eye baggies will show up on the pictures. I want you to come in knowing your photos will be amazing and you will always remember this experience. I am sure once you do see how beautiful you really are, you can't help but have more confidence.

Amber Tyler | Portrait Photographer | Lewiston ID | Clarkston WA

Getting in touch with Nature | Amber Tyler | Photographer | Boudoir

I found this beautiful bed at a yard sale a long time ago, and ever since then I have had this image in my mind of using it for a beautiful, outdoor boudoir session. It took us a 45 minute drive to the location, quite a bit of hiking through grass almost as tall as us, lots of patience from my husband since he had to tag along to set up the bed (and then wait in the truck while the shoot was going on lol), and lots of bug bites and sweat to make this shoot happen. BUT it was worth all of that! Nicole and I had so much fun. Definitely won't ever forget this session.

Nicole is thankfully an outdoors type of girl, I guess you could say the perfect client for me. She wasn't afraid to get out into the woods for the sake of the perfect picture. The pictures below are exactly what I had envisioned when I first purchased the bed. Serene, peaceful, beautiful, and tasteful. While the location was breath taking, Nicole's beauty still out shown it all.