LIFE AS I KNOW IT
Harriet Minter reconnects with her body and views it through anew lens
Just as we go through seasons of the year, so, too, I think we go through seasons with our bodies. There are times when we revel in them, and times when we poke and prod them, desperate for them to change in some way.
At the end of last year, I was feeling very disconnected from my body. I knew that at some point in the past I’d felt sexy and desirable, but at that precise moment, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d shaved my armpits. And I was beginning to suspect that only owning underwear with holes in wasn’t quite the done thing; I had been in a season of winter and discontent for too long, and I needed something to shove me into spring.
Which was how I found myself in a hotel room in Stratford, London, while a beautiful American woman prowled around the room with a camera in hand, as I tried to pose my body in a way that felt both natural and appealing.
Boudoir photo shoots had a moment in the early 2000s, with most of them tending towards the black-silk-sheets and pink-feather-boa school of thought. But, in the past few years, they’ve transformed into something a bit edgier and cooler – an antithesis to badly lit selfies or your ex’s terrible photo skills. I was shooting with Stormy from Rebel and Romance Boudoir Photography, and from the moment I booked, the whole thing felt like a brilliant day out with a best friend. We bonded over home renovation stories
