Sarah's Story

From the moment I was loaned my first SLR camera in high school, and spent lunch times nerding out in the dark room, I fell in love with photography. I've always dabbled in photography as a hobby, but it’s only now that I’ve allowed myself the opportunity to really connect with my craft and find my way in a creative world.

When I was 8, my Mum lost her battle with breast cancer, and left this life. I grew up with my Dad and Brother, and found a resilience in life that no other experience could offer. I got older, I partied, I travelled, and eventually got myself a stable career as an emergency nurse (15 years later, I still practice part time as an emergency nurse, and most of the time, I love my job… but it doesn’t tick all my boxes).  

Fast forward to my early 30’s and I’ve married a wonderful man, and we’ve created together, two wonderful daughters. It’s at this point that the reality of my cancer risk hit home, and I realised that I really did want to do everything to be ‘here’ for my kids. My extensive family history predisposed me to a 1 in 3 likelihood of developing breast cancer. I'd been screened for cancer since I was 21, but had always had the opinion that I couldn’t change my fate. Having children changed just about everything for me!

In 2019 I underwent a prophylactic nipple sparing double mastectomy with expander reconstruction to implants, to reduce my risk of developing breast cancer. Making the decision to have such major surgery was difficult., but the moment I woke after the mastectomy, I knew it was the right one for me, and for my young family. Despite this, it took some time and effort to find a new acceptance of my new ‘foobs’, and newly acquired scars.

I reflected on my life and surgeries, and began to empathise with the struggle my Mother endured, and yet, I still can't truly comprehend it. How does one battle cancer, keep a family together, maintain a marriage, and ALL that entails? I had just learned that having children and body altering surgery gives the self esteem a pretty significant bashing. How could I help other women feeling this way improve their self love and acceptance?

It was a boudoir shoot that really helped me find some acceptance of my changed body. Of course, I'm grateful for my fortunate good health, but viewing those beautiful images helped me remember that my body is reliable, strong, adaptive, perfectly imperfect, and a wonderful gift. Given my love for photography, and a real understanding of all the changes that happen to a woman's body, through all the life cycles.... perhaps I could help other women on their journey of self love and empowerment by sharing with them, a boudoir shoot.

I can appreciate the evolving challenge of maintaining a healthy self esteem, and the continuous objection between our minds and state of self love. I have learned that we all have a wide range of life struggles. I’ve made it my goal, and desire, to help remind my clients just how glorious they truly are. My experiences in life, in child bearing, traumatic and reconstructive surgery, in nursing, and in self healing, embody me and how I relate to others. This is the 'me' that will share your boudoir journey. (Oh, and all these experiences mean there's probably nothing I've never seen before, seriously).

Sarah x