We all know that tending to marriage, kids, jobs, bills… life can leave little or no time to give ourselves some tender TLC, but what I am finding more is that a lot of women feel like they have lost a sense of their identity as a woman. I know after my separation it happened to me. It’s no wonder that Janine came to a point where she felt like she was not her ‘sparkly self’ anymore.

When the mother of two saw a few of the images taken of another client, newly empowered Kate after her awesome body transformation, she said to herself “I want to feel like that again” and gave me a call. “Apart from your wedding photographs you don’t get the chance to have someone capture the essence of you.” As a wedding photographer for 16 years, I have seen this time and again.

For Janine’s shoot, it was all about finding herself, the passions of being a female. “You can forget in the ‘doing everything’ that we tend to put ourselves last, it’s a long, long journey of not doing anything for myself,” she shares

However Janine has recently turned things around. Since her separation, the last year has been about “Doing more things that I’m passionate about and living more in the moment. I wanted you to capture where I am at, kind of coming out of that long tunnel”

As with many women I share this experience with, for Janine it was a celebration “It was the start of doing something for me. It’s not about being too stylized… it was me wanting to express who I am again”

“In my marriage, I did tend to end up wearing tracksuits and jumpers and hiding who I was as a female. I want to b female again. I want to be feminine and feel special for myself.”

Janine said when she looked at a lot of her wardrobe it was not her anymore, “These things don’t fit me, or fit my personality” and was left with an overall feeling “Is this me anymore?”

So with the help of her sisters she collected a few new items. In her own words she wanted “different styles of clothes to express who I am now, rather than who I used to be”

Janine enjoyed the first part of her shoot on her own, as she described it as an “opportunity to be the best of yourself and experience being a female and celebrating that, it’s all about discovering yourself”

We then headed down to Point Cartright where her 2 handsome boys were waiting, eagerly watching the surf, and we created a beautiful collection of images that the newly single mum described as “A milestone for us as a family, so the boys and I could have something tangible at this stage in our lives”

Of seeing her photos on the wall she just said “Wow, you captured what I feel inside”

I loved chatting with Janine and I really think that her journey will resonate with so many women. You can watch the interview here…

And my favourites images from Janine’s shoot…