30 - the scary number, the milestone. I always thought my age wasn’t really a factor when it came to my wellbeing but all of a sudden getting closer to age 30, my view started shifting. Frankly, I started seeing the first wrinkles form, gray hairs shimmering through and my skin in general changing. It was clear I had started getting older. It hit me. Soon I wouldn't be in my 20s anymore.
Those first superficial transitions led me to questions like: What have I achieved in my life? Am I enough? What is really important? And what kind of woman do I wanna be in the future? Where do I see my purpose?
A ton of ideas in my head, followed by self-doubt. Nothing felt exactly right. Then a very good friend approached me, asking me if I could take some intimate photos of her. She said she loved my previous work showing the true essence of women in all their variety. It was just a funny coincidence that just a few days earlier I had talked to another friend about the idea of photographing women so they would have a special experience: going deeper than just meeting and eventually clicking the shutter. I wanted to know more about the human in front of my camera.
Since I started photographing women my main focus was to make them feel special, but also to challenge them to open up and allow themselves to be vulnerable in front of my camera, allowing me to capture their personality.
Finally, it all made sense in my head and the idea of the Unlabeled Sessions and community was born.
The following weeks I reflected a lot on societal norms: how women are put into certain categories, labeled how they’re supposed to be, act and look. Adding enormous pressure on our shoulders to fulfill ideals that aren’t serving us. How I’ve seen the women around me struggle.
Growing up as a girl in a medium sized german town, I never had the feeling that I was a good fit with the label feminine, or at least what society tells you that femininity means. Later I felt the deep desire to fight those concepts and create my own reality, to choose to look at those descriptions more as an individual spectrum than clear definitions, to unlabel myself.
That’s why I think every single one of us needs liberation in order to be the person that feels right.
That's where I and the concept of the Unlabeled Sessions come into the picture. It's more than the regular photo shoot–an intimate experience, a journey to your core, celebrating you as the individual human being that you are. Find beauty within you–in your strengths, your flaws, your story, your vulnerability, your uniqueness, your weirdness. Allow yourself to be vulnerable and I’ll grant you a powerful feeling of liberation and confidence.
Let's change society together, listen to each other's stories acknowledging one another, and learn to create a better representation of who women really are. You're not alone! I got your back.
With your support you can become part of building a community. My vision is to show representation of women in all variety - not just different shapes and colors, but different opinions, achievements, goals, personalities.
I'll show you exclusive content I produced during the unlabeled photo shoots but also invite interesting personalities to show womanhood from every angle. The goal is to create a dialogue and everyone deserves to be heard. So let's do this....