Empowered and at Peace | New York Boudoir : Rebecca

November 27, 2022 Rebecca Sigala

This breathtaking session took place last year, in October 2021. I know, I know. I can’t believe I haven’t posted it yet either!

As the first cold breezes flew through New York, my makeup artist and I arrived at our gorgeous Airbnb to begin the first of many boudoir sessions.

In my client’s words, “I’ve been speaking with Rebecca for years now trying to work with her. Splitting time between Israel and the US, conflicting schedules, and of course, Covid, we were finally able to make it work. This was years in the making!”

When my client, also Rebecca, walked into the Airbnb for her boudoir session, she lit up the room. After all this time, I could not wait to photograph her.

Through the pre-session process, I had the chance to get to know Rebecca more and help guide her through the physical and emotional preparations. I remember her telling me about her journey, sharing her feelings about her body, and giving me all the details of her stunning tattoos. Her coaching call gave us the opportunity to have a collaborative vision for her experience and the art we wanted to create together.

Afterward, she said, “This was the most intimate and personal set I have ever done in my life. Rebecca made everything so personal and important in all the best, happy, and healing ways. She makes you look within and asks the questions you are afraid to answer. I felt so much lighter and empowered after talking with her and spending time with her makeup artist, Rhonda.

Film photography has always been my favorite and most personal because of my late Aunt, so I’m not surprised that seeing the developed rolls, I feel at peace. I loved every second of this experience.

I feel at peace. I hope everyone can find that.”

The session really flowed so beautifully and naturally, and I see how that energy came through in the portraits…

I love traveling to new places and having different backdrops for the sessions. Even through the window, you know I’m not in Israel anymore!

Her eyes and the connection shots just totally blow me away.

When Rebecca saw this picture for the first time, she said, “This is the one photo I would want to represent me for the rest of my life. My jaw is on the floor. I can’t believe it.”

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have photographed you, Rebecca. Thank you for trusting me with these intimate and vulnerable moments on your journey.

For those of you who are in the U.S. and want to have this unique experience, there are still some openings left for the first week of May 2023 in New York. Feel free to e-mail me at rebecca@rebeccasigala.com to explore the possibilities together. xoxo

Follow my incredible client, Rebecca, on her Instagram page. @embersofbecca

Makeup and Hair by Rhonda Lev

No More Hiding | Tel Aviv Boudoir : Gabi

October 24, 2022 Rebecca Sigala

I grew up in New York in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, when women's weight and bodies were constantly demonized. From gossip tabloids to the news to overhearing other girls and women speaking about their bodies, no one seemed pleased with their appearance.

The idea that my body should be something different than what it was became so internalized and was a part of what led to a painful eating disorder in my adolescence. I “recovered.” I regained weight, my period returned, and my skin brightened, but the true suffering continued in my own mind for years.

Through being in therapy and fully exploring myself through meditation, I am now able to observe my thoughts and feel compassion for myself, something I so desperately needed when I was younger.

When I moved to Israel and found Rebecca’s Instagram, I was blown away by the photos she was posting. There were different types of women with all different types of bodies, all being celebrated as they were. It was revolutionary!

Every single human she photographed looked so beautiful and so perfect. Each body looked exactly how it should…

When I first came across Rebecca’s work, I was in a long-term relationship and wanted to gift my boyfriend photos. However, my fear of not being sexy, fit, or tan enough kept me from following through.

Since then, that relationship ended, I completed a bachelor’s degree, became a registered nurse, adopted a dog on my own, came out to family and friends as bisexual, and began dating my current girlfriend.

At some point last year, Rebecca reached out to me and asked if I wanted to have a call to discuss what was holding me back.

On that call, I realized that I would probably never feel ready enough to actually make the final call and decided to do it anyway! We booked the session for 2 months later.

I felt so nervous to totally expose myself. I spent so many years hiding who I truly am, hiding my sexuality, and trying to make myself seem perfect from the outside. The idea of literally and metaphorically stripping down all of that was incredibly daunting.

Rebecca was there every step of the way. She sent me journal prompts and mindful ways of fueling my body and mental health leading up to the shoot, nothing about a diet or rigorous exercise. She suggested I sleep properly, drink enough water, and set boundaries so I wouldn’t feel drained as The Big Day approached.

This felt so refreshing and obvious, and helped me feel acceptance and compassion towards myself and my body.

Something else that Rebecca helped me through was an idea for the shoot.

Since admitting to the world that I am bisexual and love women too, I felt my own internalized dread that I don’t “look the part.” I feared I presented as too feminine and people always seemed surprised when I mentioned my sexuality. I received a wide array of reactions when sharing my bisexuality. This included shock (“how can someone so girly be attracted to women?), disgust (“how do you two girls… do it?” nose wrinkle), and disbelief (“someday your husband is going to love that you had a bi-phase”). I felt I wanted to appear more masculine, just to relieve myself of some of these reactions.

I expressed this idea of bringing both feminine and masculine aspects to the shoot, and Rebecca asked me how I imagined what masculine energy would look like in the shoot.

The adjectives I thought of surprised me: confident, bold, daring, and self-assured. So why didn’t I believe feminine energy should also embody these traits?

This helped me see how I was judging myself both as a woman raised in our society AND as a queer woman.

When the morning of the shoot arrived, I felt so nervous and excited. Getting ready and dolled up with Rhonda made me feel so confident and ready.

Rebecca helped guide me into different poses (I was never one to feel comfortable in front of a camera or posing) until it felt totally natural!

I thought I would be excited to see the pictures and not necessarily enjoy the actual photoshoot. I was pleasantly surprised to realize the photo shoot was so enjoyable and fun!

I received the photos from Rebecca and probably stared at them, dumbfounded, for about two hours before I excitedly ran to share them with my girlfriend. I couldn’t imagine all the things I saw as applying to myself.

I saw a confident, comfortable, sensual, beautiful, and strong woman in the photos. It reminded me of how I felt when Rebecca sent me the prompts and suggestions before the shoot. These conclusions I drew upon myself were so refreshing and obvious.

It has been almost a year since my boudoir session, and I still feel the effects of the whole experience. I didn’t realize it would stick with me as much as it has! What started as self-acceptance and compassion bloomed into a strong belief that my body looks exactly as it should, and I love the way she looks! On my “down” days I love to look at my album and remember what a fun day I had and how strong I am.

I feel every woman should be able to experience this at least once in their life. Aside from just a fun day and beautiful photos, it has really improved how I view myself and has seriously helped my confidence!

Gabi, thank you for allowing me to go on this journey with you. From the very beginning, you were so open and willing to go outside of your comfort zone and use this experience for personal growth.

It was such an honor to witness you as you stepped fully into your power. No more hiding. No more staying small to please others. Just being completely real and content with where you are at and who you are.

It was incredible to see that unfold through this process.

These photographs are more than I even dreamed of creating with you, and I’m really happy that these tangible results feel aligned with your internal experience. You’re amazing! And SO beautiful.

xoxo Rebecca

When Women Rise Together | Dressed by Danielle : Tel Aviv Boudoir

November 28, 2021 Rebecca Sigala

I first came across Danielle Williams, founder of Dressed by Danielle, while I was scrolling through Instagram one day. A woman, in Israel, running her own business, empowering women, and promoting body positivity?!

It gave me so much joy to see her posts about embracing her own body and how she was helping other women do the same through her gorgeous pre-loved clothing. I immediately reached out and made an appointment for my 10-year-old daughter and I to have a personal shopping session with her. Hitting her pre-teen years, my daughter has surpassed my own height and shoe size, and I wanted to give her an empowering experience where she could find clothing that she loved. The fact that Danielle offered a body-positive environment made all the difference, and over a year later, my daughter still talks about how incredible that day was.

As Danielle and I got chatting, we realized how aligned our values were. We realized that although I am a boudoir photographer and she is a personal stylist, what we do for women is actually very similar. We are both blessed to be able to witness women when they are their most vulnerable and authentic selves and help them actualize the power that is already inside of them. Her with clothing. Me with photography.

And part of that vulnerability is women coming face to face with their bodies exactly the way they are.

We spoke about how we are on our personal body love journeys alongside our clients and that our businesses really helped us grow into the women we are today. That our clients constantly inspire us, and that self-love is an ever-evolving journey. You don’t just wake up one day and love everything about yourself, it’s something that you have to compassionately work on.

And so the idea for a creative collaboration was born in hopes of creating another safe space for personal and collective healing.

Danielle posted after the session, “As we were shooting, I asked Rebecca to get some close-ups of my tummy rolls and stretch marks. If you had told 2020 Danielle that 2021 Danielle did such a thing, she would be shocked. I’ve spent many years of my life hating my body and even editing my photos to hide all the things I considered to be imperfections. But I’ve come to realize this year that you can’t hate yourself into a version of yourself that you love.”

This image inspired us to collaborate further with artist and calligrapher, Malka Klein, who brought these words to life…

Danielle wrote this beautiful letter to her body to go along with the image above,

”Dear Body,

I love you. ⁣

I love your stretch marks because they remind me of the time when we shed a massive amount of physical and emotional weight. ⁣

I love your cellulite because it reminds me how voluptuous and sexy we are.

I love your hairy skin because it reminds me how we’ve begun to embrace all that we are, as we are.

I love your flabby stomach because it reminds me that someday we will literally create humans inside of us, and that’s freaking magical.

I love everything about you, because you are me. You are the one and only vessel through which I will get to exist and experience life, and for that, I will always be grateful to you.
⁣
I am sorry for all the negative things I have said about you.⁣
⁣
I love you. ⁣”

Being part of this collaboration and witnessing Danielle in her power, just like we do for our own clients, was an incredible honor.

Special thanks to Rhonda Lev for the beautiful hair and makeup, and my husband and business partner, Yehoshua, for making sure all the working parts of this project came together as they did.

In collaboration with Dressed by Danielle

Hair and Makeup by Beauty by Rhonda

Calligraphy by Malka Klein

Kodak Film // Processed and scanned by Panda Labs

All Women are Beautiful | Tel Aviv Boudoir : Sheerle

September 14, 2021 Rebecca Sigala

When I came across Sheerle's Instagram page, I could literally feel her sensual, goddess-y, Divine feminine energy coming from the screen. It wasn’t only her breathtaking beauty that struck me, it was the way that she honored her body and her being. It was the unapologetic way that she embraced her womanhood with love and confidence. I sensed it was coming from a deep place, a place where she’d been through shit and came out stronger on the other side.

In the past I’ve told people, “I don’t photograph models, I photograph real women.” Well, funny enough, models ARE real women.

Some may fit more into the imposed beauty standard, but we still don’t see the full picture when we open up a magazine. We generally don’t see stretchmarks and body hair. We don’t see women with bare faces. We don’t see the layers of body image issues, eating disorders, trauma, or other struggles that this woman may have gone through.

So while Sheerle has modeled professionally over the years, this shoot wasn’t about working or selling anything or fitting any of kind of mold. It was about creating a space for her to embrace her femininity on an even deeper level.

It was about her saying, “I don’t want any makeup,” and me supporting that.

It was about her saying, “fuck it, I don’t want to shave my armpits today.”

It was about her connecting, moving, feeling, and appreciating how far she’s come on her journey…

Sheerle is incredibly insightful and has so much wisdom to offer the world.

I was honored to able to sit down and ask her a few questions about this special experience we shared together.

Sheerle said, “Photography in the past has actually been traumatic for me. I’ve had photographers who didn’t respect me or the art we created together so I’ve learned to really be specific about who I work with.

I use photography as a way to document my journey but as well as share it with others. It’s a glimpse into my essence.”

How was this session different than those traumatic experiences you’ve gone through?

”Firstly, I loveeeeeeed that you were or are religious and a woman.

It was a dream being able to find commonality and passion for liberation of women and their bodies.

Before the session, I felt excited. During I felt soooo comfortable and seen and beautiful. And after I felt really free and beyond happy with the outcome.

I feel I gained a deeper sense of sisterhood.

I really loved that you, Rhonda, and I were a team of badass women and our intention behind the creation was just love for our bodies and to create art out of that love.

When I saw the pictures the first time, I was honestly shocked at how incredible they turned out. Being captured by a woman is so different than men. I felt you captured a more wholesome version of me whereas with many men they capture the version of me that they see which tends to only be sexy.”

What message do you hope these images convey to women?

“I hope my images will convey self-love.

Despite what your body looks like, it’s still your home. If you can start loving your home now you’re more likely to take the steps that feel aligned with you to truly honor it. But it first starts with being able to say you love your body.”

That is so beautiful. Can you tell me a little bit more about your relationship with your body hair? I really loved that you chose to embrace it for this session.

“So I believe all of us have body hair shaming deeply engrained in us, and I am a truth searcher.

I always ask myself, do I truly believe this or this societal programming? With the body hair, I came to understand it’s both. I love having no armpit hair, but I also love not shaving.

I like spending my precious time doing other things honestly. Just like men are accepted with hairless chests or hairy chests women should Have the same freedoms. It comes down to you making up your mind that despite what anyone else thinks you’re going to be okay with yourself.”

How did you feel about posting these images or posting nude images in general?

“I’ve done a lot of work around judgement and nudity. I overcame it a long time ago, and these days the people who don’t like it have already unfollowed me and created space for new followers who truly love me for me to enter. My followers are amazing and respectful and for the few who aren’t I try to communicate kindly, but if I see they don’t respect me, I just block them and move on with my life.”