Every time I have a meeting with new clients, I'm moved when I see the number of women who report the same thing: body insecurity and self-esteem issues. And I always get emotional when I tell them: I know how you feel because I've been in this same place.


When people ask me how I started my project to provide transformative experiences of self-knowledge through photography, I say it was with myself! I was the first woman I photographed naked, vulnerable, and full of complexes related to her own appearance and body shape.


After photographing myself naked many times, I noticed the HUGE difference in those shoots: me! I was different. I behaved differently and posed differently. With more confidence, security, and love!


Back in the day, I would never have imagined myself taking nude photos (of myself and other women) in public places for fear of exposing myself, for the judgment of others, for the vulnerability of being there. And today I realize that this great fear was my biggest transformation and act of love for myself.


Here, I'll tell and show you a bit about this transformation...

My first-ever naked self-portraits


These photos were taken on April 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. At that time, I had put on 10 kg weight, and was feeling insecure, ashamed of my body, and afraid. I was asked by a therapist what were my passions in life, and I was so blind, that I didn't know what to answer.


I decided then, to give a step back, to connect again to myself, my story, and guess what... our bodies always know the answer! My intuition told me to take off my clothes and truly see my body, exactly how it looked like. And so I did.


Looking at my traits I remembered. I remembered my insecurities, and my fears, and all came back to me: what I liked to play as a kid, the times when I got scared of continuing, when I got afraid of rejection, and so on... I realized that many dreams were forgotten and that I could embrace everything that I was, that I am, and really decide to CHOOSE the life I wanted. Many insights came that day.

The second time...


I find it so interesting to look at this second photo session I did with myself, compared with the first time... I now see colours, I see sunflowers, I see a woman ready to bloom.


When I say our bodies have the answers that's what I mean... It is possible to see the difference between the two moments in my life only by looking at my body, poses and photos.


Of course, at the time I was living this moment (exactly one year later, on April 2021), I didn't know that exactly. But now, seeing it all coming to life, I realize so many things (and that's the interesting thing about our lives: we never know what is coming next. But in a few years' time, you will realize how it all made sense, how the dots connect).

This was an act of protest


A few months later, still in 2021, I did my third self-portrait session, and at that time, I remember I was reading the book called "The beauty myth", and I got very angry reading about how many women through the decades, had their lives dictated by the media, and the false truths they tell us about beauty. At that time I wrote:


"We hear a lot in the media that we are not enough. That we are not enough within the perfect and illusory pattern. We are either “this” too much or “that” too little. In a direct or indirect way, the information arrives uninformed. Real or fake? Truth or lie? Chaos rules. Fear sends a shiver down our spine. Freedom becomes a consequence. Sometimes we forget that there is a world out there and there is a real person in here. Sometimes I get tired and I just want a break. What's wrong with slowing down, looking around and asking the other if everything's okay? What's wrong with wanting to have enough but not too much? In sharing things? In wanting a light life, a real life, where people talk about what is really going on inside their hearts? That's a choice. Closing our eyes is not enough. Chaos knocks at the door and insecurity pops into our heads. But little by little, we understand what makes sense, and what shouldn't continue. It's all about a choice..."

MY choice


After a while, I understood that my choice would be to do differently. I don't have to fight. My ancestors and so many women already fought for what we have (or can have) today: freedom.


Freedom to express, to communicate, to show... and this means SO much! I now decide to use my art (and my body) to express feelings, emotions, dreams, and everything in between. To use my temple as I wish, and to paint a new beginning.


We are the artists of our own life. The paint is ready and we can draw our own reality. 

My body, my temple


An act of self-love. At this time, I really understood the purpose of the self-portraits in my life, and the real reason why I like to share my story, and the stories of so many women that I have the pleasure and honour to register: to express feelings, and spread the word that we can be whoever we want to be. And achieve, and behave however we choose to. This is who I am. And I will hide it no more.

Image credit: 1, 2: Bruna Nascimento / 3, 4: Natalia D'angelo

I finish this blog post with teary eyes full of gratitude and feeling proud of myself, for being brave enough to share my story, my photos and my body in such a vulnerable way.


I wish that my story inspires you to do the same, and that's why I always encourage all women to give themselves this self-love gift that is a purposeful photo experience.


With love always,

Amanda Salomäo