Revealing Charlene: What Sweetness Is About

Hair & Makeup by Kada Issa from Bombay Beauty Loft. Clothes from Studio Intent Boutique

Charlene appeared out of the blue. She was the first person to hire me by looking at my website. All my clients prior to her were referrals, friends or family. She was looking to get headshot done for her and her daughter. Part of her email said: "We both need headshots and were dreading it...until I stumbled across your site!". That made my day.

Charlene is the lady behind Real Food Freak, a holistic nutrition small business that offers educational services towards healthier eating habits; check it out!

Charlene is very sweet, kind and gentle; the way she moves, communicates and even laughs is an elegant gentleness you want to be surrounded by. You feel safe with her and free to be yourself; a motherly energy that seems to extend to everyone, not only her daughter.

I love it when my clients bring their families to the reveals. Charlene was no exception. With daughter and husband tagging along, the reveal could be summarize in two words: big smiles! Her husband was standing taller, proud of his beautiful wife. 

In her own words:

"Fela made something that I was dreading doing (getting business headshots) into a truly special experience. I was drawn to Fela's concept that she could help me see that I am beautiful, I was hopeful but not overly convinced that I would like the photos as I never like photos of myself. She did it!!!!! The photos are STUNNING! The photo shoot was fun, I was laughing and relaxed the whole time, Fela was amazing to work with. I am so happy with my photos!"

Indeed, one is never too old or too young to learn to see one's beauty. It's so rewarding to be able to help more and more ladies to see it themselves!

Thank you Charlene for letting me photograph you and your wonderful daughter. Thank you for trusting me to do so and hope we get to see each other many more times. Best wishes for you, your family and your business!

Revealing Rosemary

Hair and Makeup by Kada Bombay Beauty Loft. Styling by Chantal Studio Intent Boutique

Who did I think of when I met Rosemary? Julie Andrews. Being a wonderful humble lady, Rosemary finds my remark funny. But I'm not alone on this. She definitely evokes the lovely actress; not because of her appearance but because of how her personality is. She is one of those people you just want to sit with, let her do all the talking (though she's more interested in listening to you) and let yourself be captured by the beauty of her elegant and fluid movements, the way she talks and her beautiful warm smile. Every time I think of her, I picture her with a warm yellow light coming from her; the kind of light you want to be in all the time (have I mentioned before that I remember people with coloured light?) even if you're not talking but just being in her presence.

Her husband's words describe her perfectly:

"Rosemary is elegant - Audrey Hepburn elegant -  with farm girl in the mix. Unique style.  She is honest,  fiercely intelligent and literate".

She also happens to be an amazing poet. Being a book geek myself, of course I had to read her book "YES". I took it out of the library and couldn't put it down. to the point that I bought it right after I finished it and asked her to sign it.

She IS an amazing poet with a long list of national awards up her sleeve. Her poems are so beautiful and inspiring that woke up in me the dormant writer that has been in hibernation for more than a decade. The simplicity and beauty of her verses reminded me why I love writing. You can see and feel her personality in the words she writes.

To simply put it, Rosemary is beauty.

To finish, here are Rosemary's words about her True Beauty Experience:

"I can't tell you how honoured I felt to be a part of it. 

Fela, your photos are amazing. I have never thought of myself as photogenic, but you somehow achieved that... I will always treasure the memory of the reveal event".

Why Aging IS Ok. I mean it.

Hair and Makeup by Kada Issa (Bombay Beauty Loft)

In modern times, we are thought that old is not good. You should avoid getting old at any expense. There's also multiple options to avoid looking old: beauty products, plastic surgeries, botox, facials, are just a few of an almost infinite pile of what's call now an industry. Yes, there's a trend now about being beautiful at 40, 50 and up but is fake! Yes it is. Look at the photos of celebrities stating "beautiful at (insert over 40 age here)". Do they look like they aged gracefully, froze in time or had surgery? Let's be honest here, these people are cheered on the fact that they STILL LOOK YOUNG at their age. 

But aging in the earlier civilizations and for many, many centuries, was considered a great deal. Age (wrinkles and grey hair) was considered equally proportional to wisdom. The older you would be, the more important you would become for the community. In ancient Israel for example, the elderly would seat at the city gates and people would come to them for guidance on solving situations, big or small, and to help on solving quarrels. Why? Because they had a lifetime experience to know better. They had lived what the younger ones haven't yet. People wanted to learn from them and they were respected.

At some point we were taught that aging was wrong and obsolete. And as women we bought and swallow the whole thing entirely. We buy beauty products to slow the pass of time, to erase the wrinkles, to hide our aging. I personally haven't bought into that completely. I DO use beauty products but more for caring for my skin than anything else. I'm 32. Yes, I'm still young and I might not be stressed out about wrinkles yet, but I honestly don't see them as a curse. It will eventually happen and I'm hoping to wear them all (and my grey hair) proudly instead of succumbing into the lies.

My great grandmother, my grandmother and my mom (for some of her time) fought/fight endlessly against aging. I would see them spending big lengths of time in front of their magnifying mirrors pulling strand by strand of grey hair off their scalps, spending lots of money on beauty products (specially the anti-wrinkles products) and let's not even count the hours at a hair salon dying their hair. My grandma even had a surgery to stretch the skin of her forehead so she could look younger (she thinks we didn't notice the whole thing but oh we sure did!). We all know better than to dare ask their age. After years of living under the same trend, my mom decided it was time to stop. She still dyes her hair (mostly to be playful with colours) but she leaves her grey strands out of it because she wants to show them. She doesn't see her wrinkles with worry but happiness (check out My Wrinkles "Dictionary" post) and she doesn't feel embarrassed anymore about her bifocal glasses when she wears them.

She is leading by example at our house and we're very happy to see this change. She's empowering herself through the beauty of her aging self. That's why my 50+ sessions are important to me; I want to empower mature women through the beauty God gave them and the beauty that has been drawn onto them by the wisdom learned through their experiences. 

I did this session of my mother because of that. Because I see beauty all over her and because (her knowing it or not) she brings light with her smile, everywhere she goes. I love you mami!

Hair and Makeup by Kada Issa (Bombay Beauty Loft)

My Wrinkles "Dictionary"

I'm 32. I'm starting to notice how my wrinkle slowly appear. They're barely there but I'm aware of their presence. I'm not worried at all. I'm actually feeling proud!

This is how I see it. Make a different approach to how you see your wrinkles and it will change everything about how you see yourself. You are not "rotting" with age but "ripping" in maturity, remember that.

Wrinkles are accumulations of lifetime experiences; the good experiences I must add. In my humble opinion, this is what they mean:

- Eye Wrinkles: Laughing wrinkles, attentive wrinkles, focus wrinkles

- Mouth wrinkles: Smiling wrinkles

- Lip wrinkles: Kissing wrinkles

- Forehead wrinkles: Surprise! wrinkles, awesome adventures wrinkles

- Cheek wrinkles: The it's-so-funny-it-hurts laugh wrinkles

And I'll throw a bonus one:

- Grey hair: Silver hair. Awards of wisdom

Happy Friday everyone!!