Last week, I photographed Alex as part of my body image campaign. A first time Mum who was given a breast cancer diagnosis very shortly after the birth of her first baby. Together, we hope to help with breast cancer awareness in young women and help them feel less alone.
Art. Whether you are a photographer, an author, a painter, an illustrator, a musician, a poet or any other form of artist, you are expressing emotion through your art.
It’s storytelling. It could be telling your own story or telling someone else’s.
I am not a writer. I am terrible with words. So please bare with me as I share a little insight into Alex’s story and a bit about my body image campaign.
I express myself, and others, through photographs. Like little visual love letters. Of good times. Hard times. Everything in between.
“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” Brené Brown
Life is full of ups and downs. But sharing stories is how we find connection with others.
What is the body image campaign?
Recently, I began a body image campaign. To promote body positivity. With social media being a huge part of our lives and the new generation being born into the world of sharing (and oversharing), we are constantly bombarded with curated feeds of the ‘perfect’ life. (I use the term perfect loosely, because what really is perfection?)
Perfect relationships. Perfect children. Perfectly tidy homes. Perfectly packed lunchboxes. Perfect routines. Perfect bodies. Perfect, perfect, perfect.
With a logistical mind, and life experience, we know that all these stories being told come with a behind the scenes. Hard times. Tears. Frustration. Sacrifice.
But when you’ve been up all night with a newborn, and scrolling social media keeps you awake, it’s easy to buy into the need for perfection.
You see these things daily and wonder if you are doing enough. Whether you ARE enough.
As a maternity and newborn photographer, I am working with vulnerable women. Women who are experiencing body changes. Lack of sleep. Hormonal changes. Constant sacrificing of themselves for someone solely dependant on them.
If I could name the number 1 reason Mums say they don’t get into photos with their children, it’s because they BELIEVE THEY AREN’T ENOUGH. They look too tired. They aren’t wearing make up. They haven’t washed their hair in days… weeks even. They have lumps and bumps and scars they didn’t have before. They’ve lost their identity.
They see feeds of Mums who seemingly ‘have it all’. They read magazines and stories online of celebrities who’s body ‘bounced back’ immediately after the birth of their children.
Articles that read ‘IS YOUR BODY READY FOR SUMMER?’
The next fad diet. If you eat this or cut out that, you’ll be ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE PERFECT BODY!!
And so the body image campaign was born.
Amazing women have been joining me to have their most vulnerable bits photographed, in the hope to share with women that it’s OK if you’re too tired to get back to the gym 7 days a week. It’s ok that your skin is stretched. It’s normal that your boobs aren’t the same after years of breastfeeding. It’s normal for them to be hugely engorged in the days and weeks post birth. That stretch marks are normal, and come in all shapes, sizes and colour. The same goes for c-section scars. Cellulite.
It’s normal to need to update your wardrobe after having a baby. We grow. We change. We evolve. Our hips widen.
But, it’s also normal to not have any of the above.
These women have been helping me by sharing their post partum bodies, so Mums at all stages can feel connection. Less alone. Seen. Heard. Understood.
Breast Cancer Awareness
Alex had been a previous client of mine. I went to her home after the birth of her daughter and captured her new family of three. Shortly after, I received a message from a friend of Alex, who had also been a client of mine, asking to purchase a gift voucher for another photoshoot for Alex, following her diagnosis.
Again, I went back to Alex’s home and photographed their little family of three.
After 15 months of treatment, including a double mastectomy, Alex approached me offering to be a part of the campaign.
“When I googled for photos of women with breast cancer, I was inundated with pictures of older women. They had different skin. Different bodies. They were in a different stage of life to me. That, or the photos were medical. That of surgeons. No-one had a body like mine.”
I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it would have been for Alex to come in to my studio and have her body photographed, ready to be shared. She told me that she had started to feel like her body was just medical.
She was driven by her own experience of not being able to connect with women in a similar position.
I always send out a questionnaire before my sessions. Everyone is different and everyone wants to feel something different when they look at their photos.
Alex said she wanted to be photographed as vulnerable, but also strong.
“I don’t know if my fear of recurrence will alleviate a bit, but at the moment I find it hard to picture my daughter grown up because I’m so scared I won’t be there.”
She also wanted the memories. Something to look back on with her daughter.
There are so many questions that come with a breast cancer diagnosis. How do I accept that I have breast cancer? Can you live twenty years with breast cancer? How does breast cancer affect you emotionally? What is the age of the youngest breast cancer survivor? (The answer is TWO!!)
Here is Alex’s answer when asked “How has your experience made you feel since your diagnosis?”
“It’s been so sad and frustrating at times, plus a lot of time just too fatigued to feel anything else. It has made me more grateful for what I do have, and I have seen the most beautiful side of some people. There has been some blessings. Coming out the other side, it feels like I’m coming back from war. Everyone else has just been going about their day while I’ve been barely keeping afloat. I’m meant to be going back to work in April, and so much has changed, but imagining conversations with colleagues is surreal. We will probably chat about the cancer for 2 minutes and move on. Two years of turmoil condensed into two minutes. I don’t know if my fear of recurrence will alleviate a bit, but at the moment I find it hard to picture Ava grown up because I’m so scared I won’t be there.”
If I’m honest, I struggle to write any more than that. I’m so thankful to Alex for allowing me to photograph her story to help raise breast cancer awareness. Because words fail me. Two years of turmoil. Here is her story, as told by me.
Lizzy Hannaford Photography specialises in family photography, and is based on the northern beaches of Cairns. Her main focus is maternity, newborn, baby and family photography.
I would love to photograph special memories for your family in my Trinity Park studio.
If you would like to book a photoshoot with me, please click here, or email me directly at lizzy@lizzyhannaford.com.au
You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, and join my Facebook community Memories of Mum here.
