Shauna, 50. Geelong Studio.

“I have hated my body my whole life. But I felt like it was time to embrace what God had given me. Turning 50 this year, it was now or never.”

That’s from Shauna’s Google review, written after she’d had time to sit with everything. But when she first walked into the studio, she wasn’t anywhere near that place yet.

She was shaking.

Before The Session

Shauna had spent years being a larger woman. Then she turned her life around, dramatically. The weight came off. Her health changed. From the outside, everything looked different.

On the inside, she still saw the same person she’d always been.

That’s one of the things nobody tells you about significant weight loss. The mirror changes faster than the story you tell yourself about what you see in it. Shauna had lost the weight but hadn’t yet lost the version of herself she’d carried for decades. At 50, she still described herself as large, overweight, not appealing.

She booked a session at Apricot Aura to document what she’d been through. To find some courage. And to give her partner something he’d never forget.

She almost didn’t come.

The Session

She arrived nervous in a way that went beyond the usual first-session nerves. Teary. Hesitant. Scared in a specific way, not of the camera, but of what the camera might confirm about herself.

What she was most afraid of was seeing her own photos and recognising the person she still believed herself to be.

We didn’t make a big deal of it or tell her she was going to love it. We just started. Sabrina did her makeup. We talked. The studio is quiet and private and there’s no version of the morning that feels clinical or rushed. Slowly, something shifted.

By the time we were shooting, she had relaxed into it. And then she’d more than relaxed. She was laughing. Genuinely having fun. Surprised at herself for having fun.

“I couldn’t believe something so out of my comfort zone could be so fun and easy once I calmed my nerves.”

The Reveal

A few weeks later, Shauna came back to see her images for the first time.

When Jake booked her reveal appointment, she sent this:

“That is exciting and scary Jake. I really hope they worked out okay? I really began to doubt myself. Paul and I are away for a few days, can I send you some dates when I get back? I am going to come to you. I think it will be way more fun!”

She still didn’t believe it. Even after the session, even after the fun and the laughter, the doubt had crept back in.

She sat down. The images came up.

She went quiet.

Then came the disbelief. The emotion. The shock of seeing yourself, maybe for the first time, and not recognising the gap you’d been certain was there.

Jake told her: “Shauna, this is 100% you. These have barely been edited. You are so beautiful. You must see that.”

She chose our Sapphire collection. Forty-five images. A 10×10 handcrafted album.

When it arrived at her door, she sent this:

“Jake and Sabrina, the album was delivered today, thank you so much. It is beautiful, more than I could have imagined. I wish you both all the best.”

What She Said After

“You offer an amazing service and I came away from the experience with a huge feeling of confidence.”

“This has felt so safe and so pressure free the whole way through. I wish more people would do this.”

Since we shared her images with her consent, we’ve had women reach out just to say how beautiful she is. Strangers. Women who saw themselves in her and felt something shift.

Shauna still finds it hard to look at her own photos sometimes. She’s working on it. That’s honest, and it matters. A boudoir session isn’t a cure for a lifetime of feeling wrong in your body. But she walked in shaking and walked out proud. She said so herself:

“I left feeling really proud that I had overcome many of my insecurities, even without seeing any images.”

That pride came from her. We just made sure the camera didn’t get in the way of it.

Shauna’s images are shared with her full written consent. Her album was produced at our Geelong studio.

If her story sounds like yours:

If you’ve been through something significant and can’t quite see yourself clearly on the other side of it, our enquiry form is here. You don’t have to be ready. You just have to be willing to try.
If you’ve been putting this off, check this out first.

Enquire at apricotaura.com.au or DM us on Instagram @apricotaura.