#aeriereal is a relatively new campaign from American Eagle underwear that, with a bold move, published a campaign without photoshop. #aeriereal is not an entirely new idea, but this time it seems it is getting some tractions, at least considering that #aeriereal campaign increased the brand sales by 10%.
Are we slave to the “photoshop cream“? Many photographers and subjects seems to think that beauty is not what beauty really is, but what we can digitally enhance in it.
In this post I will challenge you, your thinking, your perception of yourself. I will poke your self esteem and tickle your self confidence. Try to keep up with me, and then turn and leave, or accept my challenge, as we are going to photograph you for free.

#aeriereal is a beautiful truth

I don’t look at magazine or models any longer. They feel fake, inhuman. I like to say that cellulite is like ideas: everyone have some. When is the last time you saw it out in the wild?
It is an absolute shame that whatever goes on print is so much retouched that the model is not even the shadow of who she really is. What about women’s self esteem?
#aeriereal is a slap in everyone’s face. #aeriereal is a beautiful truth, because it is telling everyone that real beauty is beautiful; it does not need to go through a glass of fake perfection.

A game of mirrors

My wife is the most beautiful woman in the entire world, at least for me. If someone had to invent glasses that would let me see my wife the same way retouching can make women look, I would leave those glasses in the drawer. I am much more in tune with #aeriereal campaign than with a fake world. I love her curves, I love her beautiful lines, and I would hate seeing her uniformed to what is the idea of beauty.
Every woman, is beautiful. Real is beautiful.

Self Esteem VS Self Confidence

In my book, self esteem is the value you give to yourself, while self confidence is the trust you place in you achieving an action. They are generally used to signify the same thing, but the distinction is thin.
Being the subject of a boudoir photography session is about self esteem and self confidence. Our goal is to help your self esteem in showing you for the beautiful woman you are.
There is something more that #aeriereal is reminding all of us, or at least it should. Real is powerful. If you’ll get images that shows sign of heavy retouching, deep down you will know… deep down your self esteem won’t be satisfied. Deep down you won’t feel any better, because you won’t trust the game of mirrors.
In our photography, we already limit the amount of retouching to a bare minimum, but we want to go one step further. It is not about mirrors or glasses. It is not about perfection any longer, is about your self esteem. You are beautiful and we can show you how much without any need for retouching. Do you want to know how certain we are about it?

My challenge

Now it all comes down to what YOU think. How you value yourself. I know you are beautiful for who you are. I know you are not “perfect“, because nobody is, nonetheless you are beautiful. I know that you are scared to jump in front of the camera. I know that me telling you “there is going to be no retouching” is even more scary. I know that you are considering all the things you feel that you don’t fully appreciate about yourself.
I know all of this because I have one of you in front of my eyes. Every day. I know because the love of my life looks at herself in the mirror every morning without seeing her beauty. I see this every morning and I while she turns away from the mirror, I would give everything for her to see herself how I see her. Beautiful.
My challenge to you is simple: come here. Let us photograph you for the beautiful woman you are. We will pamper you and treat you like a queen. You will have your makeup done. And it will be on us. The caveat? You will see yourself for the beautiful woman you are, without digital enhancements.
We believe so blindly in this that we will take all the risks. We will cover all the cost of the Experience, and you will pay exclusively for the images of yourself you love.

Are you going to accept our challenge? Are you going to trust yourself enough to make the most out of this? I am sure many of you won’t, as it is scary to think that you won’t have a safety net. Everyone else, who is going to take a leap of faith, will get her confidence and self esteem back tenfold. It is going to be beautiful. True and Beautiful. Your self esteem will have no more excuses.

PS: this woman has not been retouched.