ART = Porn plus Reverence

Yesterday I took nude photographs of myself. I wasn't planning a formal photo shoot or anything. It's just that G and I had been viewing some porn over the weekend and in the middle of a Monday I thought, "hmmmm....I'm going to take some nude shots and see how I can edit them."

(I know..I know...I attribute it to my Canadian heritage...just one of the many benefits of socialist liberal ideals)

Okay...also it's because I've been thinking about my body lately as  I have been doing the 21 Day Consciousness Cleanse with Debbie Ford . 

Day 5 is about The Gift of Reverence towards your body; "When you know in your bones that your body is a sacred gift, you move in the world with an effortless grace." I had to look up the word to wrap my brain around it comfortably.

Reverence: 1. a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration. 2. the outward manifestation of this feeling: to pay reverence. 3. a gesture indicative of deep respect; an obeisance, bow, or curtsy

.

So I have been focusing on the need to honor myself.....my voluptuousness....my curves...my energy....my ability to move.... Please know that being a sugar addict makes reverence a bit tough.

So yes. Watching porn plus an effort towards reverence makes one want to take their clothes off and pose. and this is how it went.

I didn't mess with my hair. I didn't add lip gloss or makeup. I just undressed, left my cowboy boots on.... and set my camera's timer. The background was a simple cream colored wall in my bedroom. I didn't plan my poses. I didn't think about how I was going to smile or try to look sexy. I just set the timer.....got into place as fast as I could. I only had 10 seconds ... and the flash went off.

Viewing the photos was just a look into reality. An almost 40 year old who needs to lose a few. My boobs looked passable even though I have mentioned that they hit the wall this year. It turned out that the camera's distance was not conducive to include my cowboy boots. But this was me. A real woman who is a writer and a lover of chocolate. Someone who spends too much time on the computer and reading books. Someone who is a mother and a wife and a friend and a daughter and a professional and an artist and a dreamer and ... clearly a porn star in my own mind. and I bet I could make them sexy.

I knew that my editing program would turn out to be a good investment! It's called a little lighting here, a little shadowing there, in order to show off the good stuff. If magazines and the photography that we all hold ourselves comparable to can do it...well then it's certainly fair game for me.

First off, saturation down all the way....to black and white.....highlighting up all the way.......you've got to at least have some glow.... Some cropping and chopping...and there I was. The star of my own story...naked version. I was happy with the results. They were perfect to tease my husband with some delicious email surprises. In fact, I thought they turned out beautiful. My body looked like a sacred gift.

I mean, if given a choice, i would share my naked photos before my passport photos..

(Side note: I seriously just had the "sexting" talk with my daughter...about how something like that can ruin a girl's life and the only reason that this is okay is because it's my husband...and if we ever get divorced and he wants to show the world...well I'll be getting lots of calls and that can't hurt. )

I call it art. The art of photography. The art of an open mind. The art of owning our sexuality. The art of being spontaneously naughty. The art of representing our truth in the best possible light. The art of reverence. The art of authenticity.

If you'd like to see the pics....check out this website. www.notinamillionyears.com .

I really recommend that you saucy vixens schedule your own photo shoot or at least practice reverence. Oh, and you should know that more women are viewing porn (porn in good tase) these days (Oprah even says so). Anyways, I think I may do this every year until I'm 80 to celebrate my self and pay reverence to my body. The way technology is going, the editing programs will only get better. :)