hi I'm Tamara Lackey and on this episode
of redefine show for adoramatv I speak
with boudoir photographer and recent
TEDx speaker Jen Rosenbaum on how taking
photography to a whole other level with
your clients can not only improve the
quality of your work but also the course
of lives check it out
hi Jen how are you good how are you
today good thanks for meeting with me
thank you for having me I wanted to talk
to you about your photography
specifically the shamelessly feminine
will you tell me about that what that
means to you yeah so I think that in
photography it's really important for
people to understand why they do what
they do it took me quite a while to
figure that out but now I talked a lot
about shamelessly feminine if you ever
see any of my social media posts or
anything I do it's really about
spreading the shamelessly feminine
message so my goal is really to help
them and find their unique femininity
and celebrate it shamelessly meaning
that you can be any type of woman that
you want to be celebrate it and be who
you are without judgment from yourself
and from other women as well and other
people in the world so really to just
celebrate who you are as a person and I
think it's such an important time for
that right now a lot of changes happen
for women hopefully and it's really not
about fitting into a box and and you
know your mom you you own a business
where I feel like we're kind of
connected and always being like the I
should I should I should I should be
doing this I should be doing that you
know well why are we not doing what
makes us happy and celebrate who we are
as women and emphasize that and help
lift each other up so that's really what
my message is about in my photography
yes so yeah I love that I thank you I
love that and it's and it is necessary
because the idea of shameless sounds
that sounds like a negative term when
when did you refer to women right she's
shameless Yeah right right that is not
that's you're turning on his head and
saying completely opposite without shame
without shame and not judging other
women not having shame for them you know
oh it's too bad that she doesn't yeah
course you know it's like I always say
like when I moved to my new area I live
I've been living in a town that I'm in
now for about three years so it would be
like people would say oh so do you work
or do you stay home yeah you know and it
would be like whatever answer I give you
is the wrong one that was different
so like I yeah like I was in enigma
because I was kind of like glad you both
are but I'm still home at 3 o'clock
every day for my kids and they're like
whoa we don't know what box to put you
in yeah but there's oh we've had that
exact same experience right and there's
always some sort of shame shame and what
we want to wear shame and how you want
to look or what car you drive or what
you do with your life and you know even
with travel you travel a lot too it's
like I get oh your how does your husband
handle it while you're gone how do your
kid like who watches your kids when you
get a babysitter does he babysit he's my
right no he actually made them to watch
them so I'm like woody what do you mean
you know so it's hard for people to
understand I think in my experiences
it's been hard for people to understand
who I am as a woman sometimes but also
for me to accept myself as Who I am and
not comparing myself to other women
either right so it's a couple layers
there and that's part of boudoir
photography is yeah there's so many
people think it's about sex and
objectifying women and I always say it's
for me it's not some people it is and I
think that's great it's different for
everybody
Frank it's not for me it's about women
doing something out of their comfort
zone it gives them the power to say well
I can do anything
now like I did this I could do anything
it gives me power but the point of that
is they're almost taking the bite out of
the objectifying like they're putting
themselves in this situation and they're
like no you can't objectify me I'm
owning it I'm owning it you know so
that's part of what I love about boudoir
so much yeah I love that to you you said
something that that you like to dare
women to say that is like it was a
really great line that you want to dare
women to shed their inhibitions with
their clothes yes that right that when
you shed your clothes you also shed your
interview and I do use the word dare a
lot I always like to dare myself to do
things to step outside my comfort zone
so I am saying to women no this is not
normal this is not something you're
probably gonna do every day but I dare
you to do it because it will change your
life and it's not because you got half
naked in front of the camera it's
because you're teaching you're bringing
that I can do things out of my comfort
zone and when I do good things happen
and so when you do that then you go well
what else can I do right maybe I should
finally quit my job that I've been
hating for so many years and try you
know to do something else or maybe I
should dump my boyfriend that's been
treating me like crap forever or you
know maybe I should actually lose the
weight that I've been saying I want to
lose forever because I'm worth it you
know it's like the
things start snowballing after boudoir
shoot that are amazing and that's really
the catalyst for it right you get to see
that kind of hole for full circle
transformation yeah you you recently did
a TEDx talk right dude right and you
haven't shared a lot about it
so I haven't I put it on my email reply
which was like a big step for me okay
it's funny how we talking about being
shamelessly feminine and I try to be
like alright but yes that's okay too I
have to remind myself that part of the
reason I'm spreading the message is
because I know it's a struggle it's a
struggle for me too sometimes so that's
one of the best things we can ever teach
people are things that we're trying to
struggle through ourselves yeah yeah
this is one of those areas where I
struggle the TEDx talk was only 15
minutes and it was the hardest 15
minutes I've ever spoken about because
it's so emotional for me I could even
cry just talking right now it's very
emotional for me about the
transformation for my clients
what boudoir means to me what it means
to them and not only what it means to me
in the actual picture taking but cuz for
me I know this is gonna sound crazy and
this is a photography talked about now
but I almost don't care about the
photography sometimes I'm not saying
don't take a good picture but it's
really so much more about the emotional
for me that's like a number-one priority
and but it's emotional for me too I
connect with the women i befriend them I
see myself in them they you know and
vice versa and it's also about how I got
here and when you say you feel very
emotional when is that is that because
do you feel like you you get to have
such a close relationship with their
vulnerability and that that affects you
what tell me more all right for me to
put a lot of their emotional stories out
there because I feel very protective of
my clients and the process that we go
through together so they did give me
permission obviously to speak about them
but putting it out there on a platform
like that was hard for me I didn't
expect it really but it was very hard
for me and I was nervous it was one of
the only times I really wasn't talking
to photographers I was really speaking
with people it was a moment for me I'm
like are they gonna get it you know I
know photographers understand the
emotional connection but does the
average person understand is this gonna
make sense and mice it gonna make a fool
out of myself anyway you know and so
when I talk about stepping out of the
comfort zone I mean that was a big-time
outcome
zone for me even though I've spoken in
front of crowds of you know a thousand
people this was very nerve-racking for
me and so it was very nice afterwards to
hear reactions from people and people
coming up and hugged me me and I I
resident you know this resonates with me
I understand I just want to hug you
because I saw you were emotionally I was
emotional too and you know even men come
over to me and say you know my wife has
struggled with this and thank you for
saying something somebody needed to say
that it was okay to let it go you know
it's interesting that because this just
listening to you right now this
parallels exactly what you feel for your
clients you see the struggle you see the
emotion you see the vulnerability you
see the fear and you want to get you
know yes and you see the beat and then
you go and do that yes and then you can
see the beauty yeah I look at women and
I'm like I just see beauty in women and
it's not about the superficial it's
about getting pat like owning the
superficial loving the superficial but
also saying you know I just look I love
you I love the beauty in you and that's
how I treat the women in my lives and I
don't always treat myself that way and
and so it's about that struggle and it's
about being good to women so I can help
absorb that energy for myself as well
and then you know give them the energy
when they need it so it's really like a
full-circle process yeah and you mostly
just photograph women do you only
photograph one only that's it that's
your focus that's it yeah which is
amazing because obviously you know when
you can get very good at one area and
just keep going back and back again
that's where you excel and that's what
you're known for I truly think it's
probably the only reason I'm sitting
here with you today because I've only
been in photography about seven years
and really for all intensive purposes
I'm a baby in the industry but because
this is really my focus from the very
beginning I was able to get better at it
faster because it was the only thing I
did so it wasn't like you know a
jack-of-all-trades it was like now I'm
gonna do one thing and I'm gonna really
focus on that and so I think that that
has helped accelerate what you know my
message and what I'm doing so if you as
a mom and a successful photographer and
wife and what would you say is one of
the best tips that you can offer to
anybody else I think one of the things
I've learned a lot in the past five
years or so is to just do really what
makes you happy
deep down look what do you really really
want and go for that and don't listen to
what everybody else says about you can't
shouldn't you know how are you gonna do
that and just say this is what I want
and I am gonna do it and be really
focused on that that is really how I
live my life on the things that I want I
talk a lot about even people are either
gonna really resonate with this or think
that I'm a total whackadoo and I talk a
lot about putting things out into the
universe that you want and being
positive about it and really believing
that you can achieve it and I think even
when you educate other photographers I
tell them that whole time like this is I
can give you all the information in the
world but if you don't get off your
button do it doesn't matter so I'm doing
it not just you know wishing for it but
going after and really believing that
it's attainable for you is important as
a mom and and as a business owner
because I want to do what makes me happy
it's not always about the money it's not
always about you know the clients or
whatnot it's like what is gonna make me
happy because if I'm happy then I can
put my energy into what I want I could
put my energy into my family I could put
my head on the pillow and I can go I had
a good day today
where can people find out more about
your work well they can find more about
me at generations blog.com with a J it
was je an ER a tion s blog com
everything is pretty much linked there
thank you so much Jim for that
shamelessly awesome interview
check us out here next time on adoramatv
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