Olivia celebrated her identity as a trans woman

olivia’s confidence improved dramatically when she started hormone replacement therapy, but she still had a love/hate relationship with her body. her photoshoot was an amazing way to change the way she sees herself, and these photos are a constant reminder of the beautiful woman she is - even on the bad days.

As a trans woman, from a young age I didn’t feel confident in my body image. My identity didn’t match up with what I saw in the mirror and that was confusing and heartbreaking.

When I started hormone replacement therapy, I started to become more confident in my body image and started finding things that I loved when looking in the mirror. However, I learnt that part of womanhood is having a like/dislike relationship with the way my body looks! Doing this photoshoot allowed me to have photos where I look my best that I can turn to on days I don’t feel so confident in my body.

I first came across Foxlow Photography on a TikTok livestream and instantly fell in love with Jon and Danielle’s energy, how welcoming and accommodating they were towards everyone on the livestream and all their clients in general. They really created a safe space that let me consider booking this experience in the first place.

In the weeks leading up to the photoshoot I considered cancelling several times due to the negative portrayal of trans people in the media, attacks on our rights, and how that all affected my mental health and wanting to generally disappear. Yet after a reassuring conversation with Danielle, I found some inner confidence I decided to not disappear! Trans rights are human rights.

Buying lingerie was nerve wracking as I tend to avoid shopping in stores and prefer to buy online. However, once all my outfits arrived I felt instantly confident in them. There was one outfit that I was unsure of, but when I arrived at the studio Jon reassured me and we found a way to still take great photos with it.

When I arrived at the studio I was feeling a mixture of excited and nervous, but the nerves quickly disappeared when I sat down to talk and the pampering process began. I was well taken care of and felt listened to and in safe hands.

Discussing the photoshoot with close family members and friends got me some weird looks as they struggled to disconnect lingerie photos etc with sex. That was not my experience at all! Needless to say Jon was completely professional in the studio and there was never one moment that I felt uncomfortable.

I instantly felt 100% times more confident in my body after the photoshoot and was on the verge of tears at the viewing, hardly believing that the images were actually of me because I didn’t know that I could look that good.

Women are a marvel of nature and I truly believe that anyone can find the strength to do a photoshoot experience, the positions are not as daunting as they seem and are explained clearly.

I urge everyone to, on days that they are struggling with their body image, look at yourself in the mirror and find one thing that you like about yourself. The way your hair looks, the colour of your eyes, your smile and those cute dimples etc. Falling in love with the way you look starts with small steps!