Her story
A friend recommended Anthony when Darlene was looking for a boudoir photographer for her boyfriend's 40th birthday. What she noticed first was that Anthony actually talked with her before anything else: a phone call to understand her personality, what she needed, what she was hoping for.
"Others just quoted me a price," she wrote. "But didn't express any real interest in working with me."
"At one point, Anthony said 'You think this is a gift for your boyfriend, but it's really a gift for you.' He couldn't have been more accurate!"Darlene L.
On the day of the session, she felt it immediately. Comfortable with her body and all its imperfections. Present in a way she hadn't been in a long time. The session was professional and funny and real, and the end result was photos she describes as "classy and sexy and tastefully done."
But the thing she came back to, months later, was how the feeling stayed. The session didn't end when she left the studio. The confidence, the sense of herself as someone worth celebrating, it kept showing up.
"The sexiness I felt after the shoot continues to resonate months later, which is a refreshing thing in a world of shaming women's bodies — especially as a mom."Darlene, celebrating motherhood
Her boyfriend got the photos. She got something harder to give as a gift: a reminder that the version of herself she thought she'd set aside for a while was still there, waiting.