What is an Empowerment Shoot?
Great question!
Let’s start with the word ‘empowerment’. Google defines empowerment as “the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.”
This is exactly the purpose of my empowerment packages — to guide you in your journey towards self-love & confidence, therefore giving you permission to step into your ultimate power.
Many of us struggle to say, “I love myself deeply & fully,” and mean it. It’s easy to say “I like x about myself,” or “I love my y,” but to commit to falling in love with yourself — including the messy, ‘imperfect’ parts — is a whole new level of challenging.
I spent most of my tweens and teens feeling at war with myself. I wanted so badly to be on my own team; to look in the mirror and fully love what I saw… but it felt impossible. My specific struggles were based around body image, but they can manifest in many different forms. I remember doing everything I could to avoid my reflection because I felt so disconnected from the person looking back at me. I don’t claim this body, I’d say. I don’t want this body.
After beginning college, I realized something needed to change or I would be living in fear and hatred forever. I saw people around me and online feeling happy, confident, and sexy in their skin — if they could get there, so could I. I knew it was all in my power, I just had to make the decision and commit to healing.
I searched around for any advice to begin my journey to self-love. I worked so hard on rewiring my brain and my beliefs about myself. Journaling allowed me to get acquainted with the way I saw myself, and actively work on shifting those views. I journaled my little heart out, asking myself questions, reassuring myself with affirmations, and practicing manifestation.
At this time, I also began diving into yoga and intuitive movement. This allowed me to connect with my body, listen to her, and give her what she needed. I’d stretch, cry, sway, dance, scream, hold myself — whatever I felt was necessary. This quickly shifted my relationship to my body from enemy to friend. I learned to trust myself — and we all know trust is the foundation for any loving relationship.
Meditation was another critical tool in my healing journey. It helped foster deep patience for myself while simultaneously ‘hypnotizing’ me into seeing myself differently. Visualization is an insanely powerful practice — by imagining, in detail, the things you want to manifest, you are actively sculpting your reality to mimic those things.
These three tools — journaling, yoga, and meditation — saved me. They completely reversed the negative beliefs I had about myself and replaced them with positive, loving beliefs. Plus all the work was done by me — no one else. This deepened my trust in myself even more, allowing me to fall back in love with myself.
Pairing all of these practices with a photoshoot is, in my book, the ultimate healing. Stripping down the layers, addressing the pain-points, giving them love, and then topping it off with being fully seen & worshipped by the camera — it’s like a full-body rebirth. After you’ve done the internal work, you get to fully embody your power by letting me take your photos. I’ll hype you up like you’ve never seen before, making sure you KNOW just how insanely magical you are.
That’s why I am offering these sessions to clients who feel called to them. I want to provide the support and guidance that I wish I had when I was deeply struggling. I want to give you the space to feel your pain, hold its hand, and actively work towards returning it into power. Yes, returning — we are all born knowing our innate magic, but it gets lost somewhere along the way as we navigate this challenging world. I’m here to help you remember what you already know: you are powerful, you are loved, and you are love itself.
“Kayla is one of the best photographers I have ever known. She is able to capture the beauty in people with her down-to-earth style. As well as the beauty of the natural world, which only gets enhanced more because of her incredible talent for spotting good lighting and gorgeous views. Every time we do a photoshoot together, I feel free to be my most authentic self with her. Her greatest gift is bringing out the laughter in me. She is absolutely incredible. I think everyone would benefit from a SELF LOVE photoshoot with Kayla <3 !”
-Marina
