On International Women’s Day, we pause to reflect what it means for a Women to be a Women.  Just before I opened up my computer to write this post today, I received an email from Shootproof – a website gallery and sales site that read:

Here’s to the women… 
…photographing on weekends, and working 9-5’s on weekdays.
…reading lighting tutorials and asking marketing questions.
…trying, and failing, and trying again.
…who aren’t satisfied to sit on their sofas
and watch other people’s stories unfold.

Doesn’t that just sum up my life perfectly?  I loved it and wished I knew who to credit for that statement.  Every inch of that is as genuine and authentic as possible and a very small ode to the Women I know that work their butts off every year creating images for you – their customer who trusts loves and appreciates the work you do for them Ms. Photographer.

The Woman Behind Suzanne Taylor Photography

I first gave birth to my oldest 7.5 years ago now.  My triplets were born almost 5.5 years ago now.  It is incredible in the sense of the day to day how quickly my life has flown over the last few years.  I am a mother; I am a wife – I was a social worker and now a photographer.  I spend my days watching my life go by – one second at a time while I listen to my children laugh, cry, fight (oh man the fighting) and I photograph.  I photograph so many things in my life, but I work the hardest to make sure that women are captured in the most authentic way possible – no matter their hesitation, exhaustion or any other reason that they can often tell me in order to shift my attention away from the journey of the person standing before me.

This year I buckled down and did something that I have wanted to have done for the last five years to which I could get not one photographer to commit – which I found weird.  Maybe it was because I used to be 70lbs heavier, but maybe it was just too unique a request to fulfill.  Regardless, that desire was to photograph my stomach – the same part of my body that held four people, 16 sets of limbs, 80 fingers and toes and an undeniable amount of love.  Classically I have found the stomach is the part of the Women’s body that is celebrated when it is filled with a child but loathed once left empty and void.  It is seen as a disappointment, a disgrace and nothing that should belong to them.  This fact of Womanhood breaks my heart, and after photographing women in different capacities for the last 11 years, I can tell you that the amount of women who hate their appearance is staggering.  It breaks my heart, and there is no reason why the body that created a person should be shamed.

The very body that often carries a child – one of the few people on earth that a Women would trade her life for in a heartbeat is the body that is hated, loathed and shamed by the very same women.  But is this not the body that makes the Women a Women?  Is this body any different than the body that was adored – or even just accepted before it was filled with one of the most important people on earth?

Being A Full Fledged Woman is NOT defined by Motherhood

Today is the day I wish women would and could appreciate themselves authentically.  To look at their body and be amazed at every line, wrinkle and stretchmark that they not only earned but also that have given life in some instances and been on an incredible journey with the women who live inside of it.  You don’t have to be a Mother to accept your body and appreciate the beauty of our gender.  A Mother’s body is one thing – the body of a girl or a woman is celebrated just as much, and we are living in a time where women have never seen the rights, abilities or equality.  The #MeToo movement has gone to show how much is possible and what can start a revolution if enough people jump on board.  The power of fighting for your rights as a Woman and the rights of other Woman is also part of Womanhood and should never be forgotten on such an important day as the International Day of the Women.

I captured these images not to be ashamed.  I made peace with the beauty, ability and strength of my body years ago – long before I was blessed with my four stunning children.  I think my body as my body, and what tells the world I have lived, survived and made my mark as a woman in the world.  I am not embarrassed about my stomach, my stretch marks or the scars I have endured from Gall Bladder surgery.  My C-Section scar that is always in hiding is only second to the skin that hangs over it for beauty (I am kidding here) but it is authentically me, and as a Woman, I am proud to say that this is me and I like me.  I hope you do too and that you can allow yourself some self-love today, and every day.

Warmly,
Suzie
www.suzannetaylorphotography.com

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