POINT OF VIEW in them, but they also give agency to the girls and women who are looking to others with bodies like theirs for inspiration to do and feel the same. Now before you get concerned over whether or not I was scammed into taking nudes, let me explain. For many years now I have submerged myself in the plus size community that sprung from social media. Websites like Tumblr have really created a safe place for plus size women to not only tell their personal stories and hardships, but also to openly post photos of themselves. Because I knew that I would not be able to gain any sort of self-confidence by ingesting all that mainstream media had to offer me, I looked to this community for solace and a place to feel understood and beautiful, to see bodies that looked like mine. Through my relentless browsing of pages I came across one in particular that really caught my eye. Lady19 is a project developed by husband and wife duo J and Shayla Washington. Their website lady19.com reads,
“Lady19 is a photo book project dedicated to the inspiration of shapely woman. Visually combing a lady’s grace along with the allegory of the letter S being the 19th letter in the alphabet, the project aesthetic focuses on the natural curvaceous of the female form. Voluptuous women as being the ideal body image has long been the predominate thought throughout most of history. Lady19 is a collection of images continuing that appreciation.” After reading this synopses and viewing the video that accompanies the site, I was immediately drawn to the concept. At this point I had come so far on my journey to self-love that I really felt like I needed some pivotal moment, some extreme act of defiance to solidify how far I had come with my progress. I had been in somewhat of an emotional rut at the time and in my true impulsive fashion I submitted a few of my best seflies to their website with the hopes that I would be chosen to pose for the book. To my surprise Shayla contacted me a week later and we set up a date and time for the shoot.
MODELING DEBUT Amanda Bourne made her modeling debut with this boudoir photoshoot.