Do you retouch your photos?

The most wonderful photographer, (literally, my favorite photographer), Peter Lindbergh, once said “I don’t want to retouch the life away of a woman.” Someone countered him and said, “you don’t do any retouching?” his response was, “no, I don’t”. To which this person said “but she looks tired”… Lindbergh brilliantly replied, “So what if she looks tired? Tired and beautiful”.

Lindbergh so vehemently believed that women should not be tampered with in a photograph, that Magazines wanting to use his images, had to sign a contract that they will not retouch his work.

He was legendary.

I won’t lie, I struggled a ton with what to call what I do – boudoir? Portraiture? While my work does not fall squarely into these boxes, there is a sense of fluidity between them which I love. But the string that is sewn throughout my work, is the raw nature of the images I strive to create for my clients. I do not want anyone who comes to me, to be vulnerable with me, and share their inner core with me, to look at their images and think “that’s not me”.

Not on my watch.

There is nothing about you that needs to be “fixed.”

Remember that, and say it with me. There is nothing about me, that needs to be fixed.

So while many people ask, “so what’s your retouch policy?” I think it’s pretty clear what that is. I’m not retouching your life away. I will 100% take care of those things that aren’t permanent on you, things that are not part of your story. For example, blemishes like mosquito bites, breakouts, and blotches that irritatingly appear on the morning of your shoot (and you wonder, WHY NOW!?). Those things I will take care of.

Why don’t I turn you into someone you aren’t? Because you, my friend, are a freaking rockstar – just as you are.

Aniya, xo