How One Photo Shoot Helped Me Gain Confidence

Growing up I was very self conscious about my body. I was always taller than everyone in my grade, I ended up becoming 5'10", I had glasses, braces, acne, and I was a little chunky. In high school I always wore baggy clothes to hide my frame and I would walk around hunched over to appear shorter.

It wasn't until I was in college when I started paying attention to my looks and discovered that I was (and am) beautiful in my own way. College was also the time I started watching Bob's Burgers. I loved how real the family was and how much they loved each other. All the characters had weird quarks, but embarrassed them and let the quark shape who the were.

Tina Belcher is one of the characters in the show I felt like I connected with. She tells jokes that sometimes fall flat, she acts a little strange, especially in social situations, and she always gives her whole heart to everything she does.

I am a huge fan of Meg Turney's and Jessica Nigri's boudoir cosplays they put together of well known characters. I decided a month before Anime Boston that I wanted to do a boudoir photoshoot of Tina Belcher. Shopping for the outfit was easy as I got both pieces of lingerie at Victoria's Secret. The hardest part was booking a shoot. I spent quite a bit of time going through Facebook to find a photographer I would feel comfortable with and one with an artistic style I liked.

When the big day arrived I was a little anxious, they last time I even had my photo done professionally was years before for my high school yearbook photo. I met with Kay and her assistant from Kay Inoue Photography and brought them back to my hotel room to begin the shoot.

During the shoot I even played Bob's Burger on in the background for inspiration. When I first took off my shirt and skirt to reveal my lingerie I was shy and nervous. Luckily, Kay and her team are extremely professional and made me feel calm.

Kay would ask me what I felt comfortable doing for poses and never pushed for anything I wasn't 100% sure about. The time during the shoot I had was fun and made my feel confident and sexy. During the shoot Kay would even show me some pictures on her camera to give me an idea of how the shots were coming our. Towards the end of the shoot I ended up feeling so confident and amazing I ended up in poses that I wouldn't think of before the shoot started.

I left that shoot feeling like a model because of how Kay and her team made me feel. The best part of everything was how sexy the shoot ends up making me feel and having it see me in a new light.

When I received the photos I cried because of how breathtakingly the photos turned out. The photos turned out better than I could have ever planned, my photos were fun and sexy. It was something I never thought I could, but since I've done it I've gotten more confident in both my looks and now how I interact with people in social situations.

I don't know what my next boudoir cosplay/shoot is, but I am excited to do another shoot like that. If you have ever done a boudoir cosplay shoot let me know about your experience done below! Or if you haven't done one if there a boudoir cosplay you love leave a link of that cosplayer done below so I can check it out!