Loving Yourself. Barbados Boudoir Photographer

As we head into the season of L.O.V.E ..

We think about the people we love. We think about how we can show our love to them.

Some traditional ideas are: taking our partners out to dinner, sending them flowers, or some token of love to their work, baking sweet treats for them, and just doing anything you think they’d love.

It’s all about someone else.. or is it?

Valentines Day is the Day of Love. It’s celebrated all over the world and there is a story behind it. You all know how much I LOVE stories, so here goes this one.

Picture it. 3rd Century Rome, Under The Emperor Claudius..

Can you tell I’m a Golden Girls fan? Back to the story. Men during that time were considered to be better soldiers if they didn’t have the burden of a family. After all, when we love someone vehemently as we do our partners and families, we will always choose them over perhaps certain death (back in the day). And so Emperor Claudius forbade marriage.

But there was one young priest who believed in love. He was Priest Valentine. He would secretly marry couples and when Claudius found out, he was not too happy. And when Claudius wasn’t thrilled about being defied, he did what most Emperors did, he ordered Valentines’ execution.

On February 14th, Priest Valentine was put to death, and it was declared the day of Love.

Back to 2024…

We can love our family, we can love our partners. We can love our parents, and our friends, and we do. We are so good at making others feel loved, adored and special. As women, this is our love language. But many of us, forget to love THE most important person in the world – ourselves.

Ms. D showed me the power of loving yourself

Ms. D has shown up for herself over and over again. This is our third photoshoot together and it just gets better and better each time. With each shoot, she celebrates something different that’s happening in her life. When she goes through her Album and runs her hands over the photographs, she’ll see the story of these different phases, and that’s pretty damn powerful.

So let’s take back Valentines day and shine a light on us..

This isn’t a post for Singles Awareness Day, this is a post for every woman, regardless of their ‘“status”.
Take a minute, an hour, or hell, the full day, and do something for yourself. ANYTHING.

Here are some ideas!
➳ Take yourself out to dinner – alone (you can do it!)
➳ Go buy yourself flowers and put them right where everyone can see. They’ll ask “who got them for you!” Smile and say “I got them for myself.”
➳ Write yourself a love letter.
➳ Spend an hour with no devices, and listen to your thoughts. They’ve been trying to talk to you, but you’ve been so busy, they can’t get a word in. (they’ve got something good to tell you!)

And finally, you can always book a shoot with me 🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day

Aniya, xO

Showing women their most Badass Self is my Speciality

Hey, I’m Aniya (Ah-Knee-Ya). Photographing women and giving them the space and freedom to be who they are is what I live for. I love connecting with people and hearing their stories – everybody has one.

I’m based in Barbados, and available for commissions worldwide.