I am so grateful to have been asked to do this, and for such a beautiful person. It was an emotional photoshoot before Karen’s double mastectomy 
I’d like to introduce a very special client of mine – Karen.
I asked Vanessa if she could do a photoshoot for me before I had my double mastectomy, due to a Breast Cancer diagnosis. Vanessa was incredible and very supportive of me in my situation and had a great amount of empathy as we did the photo shoot. The photos taken will be treasured forever as a reminder of who I was prior to my surgery! I would highly recommend Vanessa for anyone who wants to create a photo album with such a personal and meaningful touch. I will treasure these images forever moving forward with my life, after my surgery now. Thank you so, so much Vanessa for being so responsive to my needs. I love all the images!!!
Karen, the gorgeous soul approached me about photographing her in an artistic nude shoot. This was going to be a very different reason to most of my clients. She wanted to showcase, in a classy way, her breasts and her body at this stage in her life..
At only 32, Karen was to have a double mastectomy a few weeks down the track to clear herself of breast cancer. She wanted to have an album full of photos to look back on her life before cancer.. To show herself how strong she is, and how nothing will stop her.
Chemo had already taken away all of her hair, and some of her weight. She was already feeling very vulnerable and self conscious. When Karen came in to the studio, she was a bundle of nerves. This is to be expected. It’s such a big thing to have a photo shoot, let alone a nude one. And then the added stress of “why” she was also doing this.
In our consultation, we had already previously talked about clothing (or lack of) choices. We had gone through photos we both liked and wanted to create something similar. She put her faith in me and a heap of tulle, flowers and random pieces of material..
Beautiful soft classic images and black and white silhouettes were something we were aiming towards, and we created just that!! All in all it was a beautiful, relaxed photo shoot, no makeup artist, and no other people in the studio. Just a safe environment where Karen could also talk openly about what she was going through.
When she finally had the strength to come back in after her double mastectomy. Karen and I took our time to look through her gorgeous photos. I knew it was going to be hard and confronting for her, so I made sure we had plenty of time and gave her plenty of hugs!
This would have had to have been one of the most emotional photo reveal sessions I’ve ever had. Karen was great, and after some tears and a lot of sorting out, we chose her images for the album.
Once her album arrived back in the studio, I drove straight to Karens home. It was great to see her with so much energy and even more positivity than usual.. As I had envisioned, she absolutely loved her album. She was so happy she had plucked up the courage to do the photoshoot.
Fighting something so major and life-changing at such a young age is hard. But Karen is such an inspirational and positive person. She came in to the studio some time later and brought me in some gorgeous candles. She’s been making them as part of her own therapy, and they smell AMAZING.. This inspiring lady has managed to turn her own therapy into a thriving little side business,
“I started making candles as a hobby and form of therapy. An opportunity to do something that would help me focus on anything while going through the trauma of breast cancer. I needed the distraction and discovered along my journey that I throughly enjoy making candles. It’s very therapeutic for me. I also donate 5% of sales back to Breast Cancer Research Trials Australia. I believe that these ongoing trials are saving many lives. One day there will be a cure for Breast Cancer. Your purchase of one or more of my lovely candles, not only helps me, but also goes towards beneficial research and clinical trials. Thank you for the wonderful support” – Karen
Such an amazing woman!!
Check her out at Coastal Candles by Karen
Karen’s message to us all – “CHECK YOUR BREASTS!”
*** For Karen’s privacy, I have covered her up via photoshop
