14 Nov 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Creative Women Photography, Glamour Portraits
Tags: Faking It before Photoshop, Metropolitan Museum Photography Exhibit, What to do in NYC
“The camera never lies” is
photography’s supreme fiction.
Faking It Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
A conspiratorial grin came over me reading the quote above from the intro to Faking It: Manipulated Photography before Photoshop, a current exhibit at the Met. I prefer a natural look in my portraits so Photoshop is not a big love. Even then, between styling and lighting choices, how I coach posing, and the angles from which I photograph, the camera becomes a tool for telling my version of a truth. So, yes, Edward Steichen may be right is saying “Every photo is a fake from start to finish” considering how each of us chooses what truth we want to believe in to cope, flourish or dominate.
You’re not likely to catch me cutting and pasting multiple negatives to get a woman to sit in a champagne glass, superimpose a figure on a lamp, or create a fantastic cat woman’s face. I’d sooner use a fan to simulate the vision of gusty winds though I’m not beneath tying strings to pull the seams of a kimono. Yet who knows? One day, my curiosity may lead me to investigate how Avedon created his simple Audrey Hepburn collage.
We all enjoy a creative trick that enthralls and keeps us guessing, be it a tall tale or a political statement using humorous juxtapositions, tweaked photojournalism or clever photomontages. When we choose the wrinkle free and less pudgy images of ourselves, what does this say about our love affair with denial? Having to endure the harsh critic in our mirror everyday, a portrait of ourselves in our best light can be a treasured reprieve, if not a siren call from our true greatness.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share how fantasy has opened doors of possibility for you. xoxox
Sharon Birke
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Photos on this page are selections from Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop, exhibit on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City through Jan. 27, 2013.
xoxox
24 Oct 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment
Tags: Old Hollywood Glamour Portraits, Studio 54 Disco theme, Supermodel Look alike
I had plastic surgery last week.
I cut up my credit cards.
Henry Youngman
When I asked what era she would love to relive, this Goddess was clear: the 80’s and Studio 54. Oh, the glamour, the music, the costumes, the parties full of high hopes and high living! Studio 54 was a Manhattan cocoon that bred a relatively sheltered party world before paparazzi, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook made celebrities too paranoid to mingle. What used to be an enclave for dressing differently to say “Look at me!” is now drowned out by reality TV.
I love how this Goddess is an open book freely relating her evolving life adventures, her fierce love for her puppy, and her faith in medical miracles to enhance a woman’s looks. I love a woman who survives tough times yet prevails with a kind and open heart as she reinvents herself. From constant all night partying in her youth, she is pleased with her very simple nightlife now: watching TV and sleeping early. After undergoing a procedure early this year, she ‘s thrilled to see her how these portraits have turned out “Beyond amazing!” Well aware that other women can judge us harshly for the choices we make, this Goddess has no illusions and says, “Nothing you do to change your face and body will change how you feel inside.”
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share what makes you feel happy already.
© Sharon Birke
Text 201 697 1947
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Makeup by Wendy Boiardi
xoxox
17 Oct 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment
Tags: Fanny Blake, Women of a Dangerous Age book, Women of Courage
If you do what you’ve always done,
you’ll get what you’ve always got.
Mark Twain
I love this Goddess for owning her life like a rock star, paving her own path of adventure, and saying “Yes!” to possibilities as often as she can. She is vibrant, sensuous, and comfortable in the full ripeness of her being–having made peace with her fears along the way. She is great inspiration for those of us who doubt our desires instead of embracing what gives us joy and pleasure. Growing in age brings us many gifts of wisdom, not the least of which are self-confidence, self-love, and self-acceptance.
Writing her novel “Women of a Dangerous Age” made Fanny Blake realize how safe her own life was: My life was getting predictable. Dull, even. I tend to follow the same routines and avoid what frightens me. I’ve convinced myself I can’t wear dresses, self-conscious about having big boobs. My major hurdle was accepting what I saw in the mirror. Where had the younger, slimmer woman I still carried in my head gone? My habit of wearing the same styles meant I was holding on to the past instead of making the most of the present. “Take some risks, step out of your comfort zone,” advised my friends. So we made a list –and I promised to try them all.
Fill in these blanks:
1. I want to stop…
2. I can’t…
3. I can’t imagine anything worse than…
4. I could dress better if…
5. The phone call I’ve been putting off…
6. What scares me…
And click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share your “Yes” moments.
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
11 Oct 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Creative Photography, Glamour Portraits
Tags: Gina Bonati, Marilyn Monroe look alike, Nikki Giovanni, poetry for women
A poem for wives and lovers by Nikki Giovanni
featuring Powerful Goddess Gina Bonati
it was very pleasant
not having you around
this afternoon
not that i don’t love you
and want you and need you
and love loving and wanting and needing you
but there was a certain peace
when you walked out the door
and i knew you would do something
you wanted to do
and i could run
a tub full of water
and not worry about answering the phone
for your call
and soak in bubbles
and not worry whether you would want something
special for dinner
and rub lotion all over me
for as long as i wanted
and not worry if you had a good idea
or wanted to use the bathroom
and there was a certain excitement
when after midnight you came home
and we had coffee
and i had a day of mine
that made me as happy
as yours did you
© Sharon Birke
Text 201 697 1947
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
04 Oct 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Bestselling Books, Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits
Tags: banned classic books, Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird, J.K. Rowling Harry Potter books, Mark Twain Huckleberry Finn, parenting and censorship
Adam wanted the apple only because it was forbidden.
The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent…
then he would have eaten the serpent.
Mark Twain
Who knew this was Banned Books Week? Who knew some of today’s popular classics were initially shunned? And how interesting that negative attention and censorship only whets our appetite and enthusiasm (and sales) for whatever is forbidden.
These authors knew how to let judgement slide with humor, if not grace:
J.K. Rowling on accusations that Harry Potter promotes Satanism:
“A very famous writer once said, ‘A book is like a mirror. If a fool looks in, you can’t expect a genius to look out.’ People tend to find in books what they want to find. And I think my books are very moral. I know they have absolutely nothing to do with what this lady is writing about, so I’m afraid I can’t give her much help there.”
Mark Twain to his editor on the Concord Public Library banning The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885:
“Apparently, the Concord library has condemned Huck as ‘trash and only suitable for the slums.’ This will sell us another twenty-five thousand copies for sure!”
And to a librarian on the Brooklyn Public Library’s ban on the same book in 1905:
“I am greatly troubled by what you say. I wrote ‘Tom Sawyer’ & ‘Huck Finn’ for adults exclusively, & it always distressed me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again on this side of the grave.”
Harper Lee in a 1966 letter to the Hanover County School Board in Virginia after they banned To Kill a Mockingbird from school libraries state-wide:
“Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that To Kill a Mockingbirdspells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners. To hear that the novel is ‘immoral’ has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of doublethink. I feel, however, that the problem is one of illiteracy, not Marxism. Therefore I enclose a small contribution to the Beadle Bumble Fund that I hope will be used to enroll the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice.”
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share your forbidden favorites.
Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
27 Sep 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment
Tags: free camera apps, iPhone 5, Retro Glamour Portraits
Middle age: When you’re sitting at home on Saturday night and
the telephone rings and you hope it isn’t for you.
Ogden Nash
I toast the iPhone 5 after Apple conveniently made my iPhone 3 email inoperable since the spring. Most days I wish all the nerds of the world would take an extended vacation so I can catch up on popular apps like Instagram and Camera Awesome.
My kids threaten to stage a rebellion, claiming that I deprive them their basic human rights of owning a laptop and cellphone–“like every other normal kid.” I threaten to send them to Ethiopia so they know what having nothing really means. Yes, I do enjoy the quiet in the house when one has the iPad, the other is on the big computer, and the third has the DVD player. I get a blank stare when I talk about the value of silence or boredom and moments of reflection. Who needs to mull over feelings, yearnings and imagination these days?
The budding lawyer among them insists this is their future: constantly occupied by electronics, restless unless hooked onto something wired or wireless. To me it eerily looks like people living in one roof but inhabiting separate worlds, rushing through meals to finish the next level of Minecraft, oblivious to blue skies and lovely weather outside when lost in another video. I sound like an old fossil missing the good old days where gatherings didn’t involve scrambling for our phones at every ping and chime. My early bird husband’s alarm clock jars me out of many sweet dreams even on weekends. There’s no escape from the teeth gritting drone of landscaper’s leaf blowers at all hours of the day. We are outnumbered by gadgets that rattle the nervous system constantly then we wonder why the rise of nervous and attention disorders? How are we to nurture our skill for commitment and sustained attention? Multi-tasking and efficiency in going through our To Do lists are all consuming. Are we in our list somewhere?
I keep my cellphone ringer off whenever possible which would make me a very lousy doctor on call. When I roll out of bed, I have to wrestle with my hand to stop it from instinctively reaching for the iPhone to check messages. It takes effort to persuade myself to begin my day by sitting quietly and listening to my inner ramblings. It is a daily struggle to remember that my most important business is to connect with my Self first.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share how you stay in touch with the person on your end of the line.
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Katrina Amato styled by Just Rosy
Makeup : Tomoko Miyamoto
Hair : Yulitzin Alvarez Funes
19 Sep 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment
Tags: books on courage for women, Curvy Women Boudoir Portraits, Katherine Martin "Women of Courage", Riane Eisler "Sacred Pleasures"
Pain nourishes courage.
You can’t be brave if you’ve only had
wonderful things happen to you.
Mary Tyler Moore
This bubbly Goddess with her playful curves and glorious head of silver had to look herself straight in the eye to arrive at a difficult professional decision. She got me thinking about what it takes for courage to overcome fear.
“So many of the models of courage we teach boys and girls are about slaying the dragon, to kill,” author Riane Eisler wrote, “It’s a courage born out of fear, anger, and hate. But there’s this other kind of courage: the courage to risk your life, not in war, not in battle, not out of fear… but out of love and a sense of injustice that has to be challenged. It takes far more courage to challenge unust authority without violence than it takes to kill all the monsters in all the stories told to children about the meaning of bravery.”
Katherine Martin in “Women Of Courage”:
We lose much when women summarily dismiss their brave acts because they don’t measure up to a narrow definition of traditional courage. Courage is not about climbing unscaleable mountains, crossing unfordable rivers, flying to unreasonable heights. Courage is a matter of the heart, a coming home to myself as a woman. Not a woman trying to be gutsy like a man.
A life of courage is not a single strike but a series of events, an accumulation of dared moments. It is a constant stretching into places demanding an uncompromised stance. Courage is magnificent in this way. It changes us–gives us presence, makes us humble. It is being emotionally available and authentic even in the glaring light of fame, being less afraid to make mistakes, more eager to see what I’m made of, to seek out challenge and not settle for mediocrity.
Courage can be a fragile, vulnerable thing, a quiet moment. It can be a deep look into our souls, a stillness with our divinity. It can be found in the exhalation of love. In the speaking of truth. In forgiving and the making of peace.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share an act of courage you haven’t acknowledged as such.
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
13 Sep 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Fashion and Style, Glamour Portraits
Tags: best selling fashion book, The Editor's Eye Vogue book, Vogue 120th anniversary book
I don’t believe in fashion.
I believe in costume.
Life is too short to be same person every day.
Stephanie Perkins, Lola and the Boy Next Door
Here’s a fashion editorial style shoot inspired by Vogue, known for arresting images that make eyes stop and hearts thrill to desires. The book commemorating its 120th anniversary, “The Editor’s Eye,” is a tribute to eight remarkable women who determined the faces that became icons of various eras and the direction of fashion’s forward movement through their reign as Vogue editors. These women have turned quirky performers like Barbra Streisand and Cher into style stars, the waifish Twiggy as a celebrity, Patti Hansen into the golden goddess next door. They created the rise of supermodels Cindy, Naomi, Linda, Christy, marrying art and imagination on glossy pages with productions resembling the scale and ambition of films in recent years.
The challenges of bringing together a variety of talents and personalities are all worth magical moments of collaboration that produce unforgettable images transcending generations.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share your favorite iconic Vogue photo(s).
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
05 Sep 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, NYC Nightlife
Tags: Kitty Cavalier School of Charm and Cheek, ladies' night party ideas, NYC burlesque dance classes, women's health and wellness
To love oneself is
the beginning of a lifelong romance.
Oscar Wilde
What I love about Kitty Cavalier’s NYC School of Charm and Cheek is that it uses the Art of Seduction to bring fun women together and, more importantly, to teach you the value of seducing your own delicious self! Drawing from the pain she endured from a lifetime of learning to make peace with her body, Kitty birthed classes that help every woman transform her own perception of whatever shape, age and size she’s in. Kitty writes:
All of us can use a little peek at how to use the art of seduction in our day to day life. Why? None of us has been taught how to use this as a way to add more pleasure and success to our existence. When we hear the word “seduction”, our minds instantly go to manipulation and sex. But seduction is not just something that occurs between lovers. True seduction is a way of making life itself your lover, and committing to the truest, most everlasting marriage you will ever have – the Divine as it expresses itself through you.
Kitty’s class Seduction is a Spiritual Practice resumes next week in NYC: www.KittyCavalier.com.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share what or who has helped you love what you’ve got.
© Sharon Birke
Let’s photograph the seductress in you!
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
16 Aug 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women Photography
Tags: Allison Schmitt, health and fitness, London Olympics 2012, Oscar Pistorius Man With No Legs, women athletes
Whenever I feel like exercise,
I lie down until the feeling passes.
Robert Hutchison
Today, I swam my first mile faster than Allison Schmitt–thanks to a lifejacket and the downstream current of the Kennebec River, Maine. One of the blessings of having three kids is that I can’t excuse myself from all family activities and had awesome fun whitewater rafting with http://www.NorthernOutdoors. Like a true Olympian, I set my eyes on the gold: if I survived this day’s epic adventure, the kids will let me have the rest of the family vacation in peace!
I am not sporty. The one thing I care to do with a pool is to strike a pretty pose or host a party. The only marathon I’d join would be sleeping. Even in watching the Olympics, game technicalities can’t distract me from the sheen of muscles, the gentle curves on impossible abs, and the colorful makeup on the women athletes’ determined eyes. As they struggled to calm their rush of adrenaline, I struggled to recall if my body was ever that lean in my teens? I was probably busy bemoaning how I didn’t have curves in the “right” places.
While the champions get all the glory and publicity, I’m interested in those who don’t get the gold. What makes these men and woman dedicate a lifetime to a chance at winning and mostly losing? What’s a life determined by the persistent ticking of the clock, the whistle, and measuring up? How do they get over losing by a millionth of a second or a single misstep after giving their all?
And for mere mortals like us who don’t have the urge to compete, or can’t stick to the persistence required by strict discipline, deprivation and diet, are we to consider ourselves less than? In judging everything by a singular standard, are we blinding ourselves to the natural variations of strength and beauty as well as ignoring the effort it takes to participate in life without accolades? Does happiness have to be derived from supremacy and other people’s opinion? Can there be only one perfect tree in the forest?
In the adulation of youth and extraordinary achievement, are we more inspired to do better or dismay at our ordinary lives? One thing I know is that Oscar Pistorius leaves me with no excuse to bitch about the size of my calves.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share your thoughts on the Olympics.
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
http://www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Model : Katrina Amato
Styling : Rosy Justo
Makeup : Tomoko Miyamoto
Hair : Yulitzin Alvarez Funes
xoxox
08 Aug 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment
Tags: Best Books for Women, modern Cinderella, modern fairy tales
I want to know what happens
after Cinderella rides off with Prince Charming.
Melissa Joan Hart
One of the magical benefits of turning 40 (or 50 and more!) is that we fit more comfortably into the shoes of “CEO of My Life.” We recognize that rules are all made up, so why not make a few of our own? We realize there’s no time to blame, just time to face up to the consequences of our (in)actions. We claim our power to relax and reinvent ourselves in ways that suit our values, goals, and reality. And even as we live under the tyranny of “gotta have it all” and “gotta do more,” we realize we can free ourselves when we are honest with our answer to “What really makes me happy?”
At the heart of Cinderella’s story is the belief in the power of transformation, the benevolence of helping hands, the importance of work done with love and great care despite adversity or while we’re mulling through our choices. As we age, we realize that when we don’t get invited to the ball, we can host our own party. When we lose a shoe, it’s ok to walk on bare feet–and sexy does not require the highest of heels! We look at the hand holding the magic wand and find that this hand has been our own, or at least, blessed by our choices.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to tell us what Cinderella’s story means to you today.
xoxox
Book recommendation:
From Cinderella to CEO: 10 Lessons of Fairy Tales
by Cary Broussard
© Sharon Birke
Book your glamour playdate with me today!
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
02 Aug 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women Photography
Tags: Argentina Peso, Evita Peron, Powerful Women
Give me a balcony in every town and
I will win their hearts.
A deposed president of Ecuador cites Eva’s success
The iconic Evita Peron has been honored in song, in film, on Broadway, and last week, on the 60th anniversary of her death, her face now graces Argentina’s 100 peso currency–the only woman to be honored in this very manly country’s banknotes.
From “Simply Irresistible” by Ellen T. White:
Pale, humorless, and uneducated, she used the only capital she had at her disposal–an uncanny ability to seem heaven sent. Some say Evita slept her way to the top, but if sex were all it took, any number of women might have taken her place. What was the magic dust she sprinkled on their eyes?
Evita’s lessons for every Goddess:
1. Take the higher road. Keep a physical, as well as psychological, upper hand. Always stand tall and establish a regal presence by throwing your shoulders back and keeping your chin up.
2. Create an air of quiet mystery. Evita had no talent for conversation, but it seems the less said, the better. Her unexpected silences made others a tad nervous and eager to please, yearning for more, curious to know what’s on her mind. Leave a lot to the imagination and set yourself apart from the reality TV crowd that’s eager to tell all.
3. Overdress for success. She charmed the masses by addressing them as “My descamisados” (shirtless ones) while maintaining a closet that was very far from empty. Even if you don’t own designer clothes or a crown, make an effort to look queenly. Always wear what makes you feel like a million–and never tell where you got it for less. 😉
4. Choose your words. Evita’s rise to power erased records of her mongrel birth. Officially sanctioned accounts of her early years began to sound like myth: “Like Venus… Eva Peron was born from the sea.” Jobless? No, my dear, I’m between opportunities. Held on drug charges a decade ago? That was a wild experiment in spiritual growth. Divorced more times that you can count? I’m passionate and tend to leap before I look. As they say, “It’s never too late–in fiction or in life–to revise.”
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to tell us what makes you feel like a million.
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
http://www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Makeup by Kristen Pickrell
xoxox
26 Jul 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Fine Art Nude, Glamour Portraits
Tags: Blake, Butterfly Scarf, Chekhov, fine art nude, Talented Women, Van Gogh
The caterpillar does all the work
but the butterfly gets all the publicity.
George Carlin
Excerpt from Brenda Ueland’s “If You Want to Write”:
Who knows if you are great or talented? No one. We don’t even know what we are or what our lives are like.
Van Gogh wrote: “Who will be in figure painting what Claude Monet is in landscape? I would be heartily glad if a kind of Guy de Maupassant in painting came along to paint light heartedly the beautiful people and things here… But this painter who is to come–I can’t imagine him living in little cafes working away with false teeth as I do.”
Chekhov did not know that he was a great writer. Or to put it another way: van Gogh and Chekhov and all great people knew inwardly that they were something. They had a passionate conviction of their importance, of the life, the fire, the god in them. But they were never sure that others would necessarily see it in them, or that recognition would ever come.
This is the point: everybody in the world has the same conviction of inner importance, of fire, of the god within. The tragedy is that either they stifle their fire by not believing in it and using it, or they try to prove to the world and themselves that they have it, not inwardly and greatly, but externally and egotistically, by money or power or more publicity.
We should all feel as Blake did. He knew about his inner fire and had faith in it. He wrote and drew and painted with enthusiasm and joy what his vision and imagination showed him saying, “He knows himself greatly who never opposes his genius.” He never hindered or discouraged it or let anyone else do so. He cast out all prudence: “Prudence is a rich, ugly, old maid courted by incapacity.” As for moderation, caution, measuring, weighing, and comparing, he said, “I will not reason and compare. My business is to create!”
Work to hone your skills because it is impossible that you have no creative gift. In addition, the only way to make it live and increase it is to use it. Third, you cannot be sure that it is not a great gift.
This is what I urge all of you and myself to do: work and shine eternally.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share your talents that have been wanting expression.
© Sharon Birke
Celebrate the butterfly that you are!
201 697 1947
http://www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Makeup by Kristen Pickrell
xoxox
19 Jul 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women Photography
Tags: Body Image, poetry for women, swimsuit bikinis
Someone showed me a glass of water and asked,
“Is this glass half full or half empty?”
So I drank the water. No more problem.
Alexander Jodorowsky
A wet and happy photo session with the Goddess Katrina inspired this poem I dedicate to every woman:
Like water, she is buoyed by joy
tranquil in self knowing
flowing with the current of what is.
Often told she’s but a fragile raindrop
she knows she has the wisdom of the ocean.
Stronger than a raging wave, she gushes
submerged passions and
creativity swelling from the depths of her soul.
She floats over adversity
Soaking in pain that wakes her to action.
No, no, no
her brave heart won’t sink into surrender.
Woman, like water and life itself,
seeps unstoppable through all creation.
Drink her up.
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Model: Katrina Amato
Makeup: Tomoko Miyamoto
Hair (pre-dunk) : Yulitzin Verenice Alvarez
28 Jun 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Health and Wellness
Tags: blue lingerie, inspirational poem, poetry for women
Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?
Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?
When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life–
What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?
–William Stafford, “You Reading This, Be Ready”
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
Powerful Goddess is a trademark of DoubleSmart LLC
13 Jun 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Relationships
Tags: Father's day gift ideas, fine art nude, funny quotes, humor, Rita Rudner, women in comedy
For Father’s Day, tips and quips from Rita Rudner, a favorite comedienne who (st)ages with glamour and style:
1. On gift ideas: If you buy your husband a video camera, for the first few weeks he has it, lock the door when you go to the bathroom. Most of my husband’s early films end with a scream and a flush.
2. On guilt: When a woman tries on clothing from her closet that feels tight, she will assume she has gained weight. When a man tries something from his closet that feels tight, he will assume the clothing has shrunk.
3. On memory: Men forget everything, women remember everything. That’s why men need instant replays in sports–They’ve already forgotten what happened.
4. On diets: Men who can eat anything they want and not gain weight should do it out of sight of women.
5. When you find yourself wishing he were someone else: No man is charming all of the time. Even Cary Grant is on record saying he wished he could be Cary Grant.
6. Don’t try to teach men how to do anything in public. They can learn in private. In public, they have to know.
7. Men are self-confident because they grow up identifying with superheroes. Women have bad self-images because they grow up identifying with Barbie.
8. On movie selections: Men are less sentimental than women. No man has ever seen the movie THE WAY WE WERE twice, voluntarily.
9. On planning what to do together: Most men hate to shop. That’s why the men’s department is usually on the first floor of a department store, two inches from the door.
10. Men hate to lose. I once beat my husband at tennis. I asked him, “Are we going to have sex again?” He said, “Yes, but not with each other.”
11. Don’t take clothing too seriously. I’ve never seen a man walk into a party and say “Oh, my God, get me out of here! I’m so embarrassed–There’s another man wearing a black tuxedo.”
12. Accept compliments graciously. Example: “Mitch, you look great.” Mitch: “Thanks.” On the other side: “Ruth, you look great.” Ruth: “I do? Must be the lighting.”
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to tell us what you love about your man.
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
07 Jun 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Mind and Body
Tags: curvy women portraits, fine art nude, self acceptance
When something is bothering me,
I write a song that tells my feelings.
Loretta Lynn
In “I Know I’m In There Somewhere,” Helene G. Brenner, PhD, writes:
Feelings, while not facts, are a highly concentrated form of information with their life-affirming story to tell. There are no bad feelings–only feelings that get stuck. And there are no bad thoughts or parts of you–only parts that you have exiled and don’t listen to. No person or authority in the world can tell you what “should be” going on in your heart, nor do you have to prove, to yourself or to anyone else, that you have a “right” to feel whatever it is you’re feeling.
While American culture adulates people who project an unflaggingly positive, cheerful, “can do” spirit, mental (and physical) health doesn’t mean being happy all the time. It’s about being resilient, knowing how to heal and recover from losses and difficulties, being flexible rather than brittle. To do this, we need to allow feelings of hurt, grief, fear or rage to be listened to, not suppressed:
1. Acknowledge. Human beings are wired to run from difficult frightening or uncomfortable feelings. The running can take the form of intellectualizing, minimizing, spacing out, panicking, blowing up or going to pieces. When a feeling is bothering you, notice the sensations you feel in your body and simply sit with them.
2. Being With. Breathe deeply, step back from what you’re doing and notice what is going on inside you, without judgment. Name the feeling as accurately as possible, “I’m feeling furious right now.” Take a full minute to sit with the feeling and the sensations experienced by your body. Notice, observe and describe the elemental feelings that you didn’t know were there, “It’s a big black hole that feels unseen and unloved.” Don’t impede its flow by thinking about how you can try to change or resolve it. Just notice what else shows up.
3. Compassion. Go as close to the bone as you can in telling the exact truth about what you feel. In identifying your feelings, you free yourself to hear them out and learn about them without becoming them. When you acknowledge the truth of your feelings, the grip of the past loosens and you begin to open up to possibilities. In paying attention to what the pure feeling has to tell you, you allow an answer to present itself.
Click on “Leave a Comment” above to share what helps you deal with difficult emotions.
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife and Mother
xoxox
01 Jun 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Mind and Body
Tags: bombshell icon, fine art nude, Lawrence Schiller photography, Marilyn & Me, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe look alike
It’s not so much that I’m always late,
it’s just that everybody else is in such a hurry!
Marilyn Monroe
Goddess Gina Bonati was such a joy to play with–a woman who has witnessed life’s ups and downs yet remains mindful of her blessings and comfortable in her skin. When I tell her she reminds me of Marilyn Monroe, she admits it’s been a long time since she last heard this compliment. In her youth, she was often mistaken for the bombshell especially when she dyed her hair blonde! We laugh as she pretends to smoke her cigarette earrings.
In honor of Marilyn’s birthday, June 1st, let’s dare say “I love you, too!” to the parts of our selves that we numb, hide or kill to be pleasing to others. What we believe to be unworthy of acceptance and compassion is what needs these the most.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) and tell us how Marilyn touched your life.
PS A new photo exhibit “Marilyn & Me” by Lawrence Schiller runs until the end of this month in NYC.
© Sharon Birke
Let’s celebrate your life today!
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
17 May 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Mind and Body
Tags: book recommendation, books, health and wellness, humor, inspirational quote, Jon Kabat-zinn, self help
Never work before breakfast.
If you have to work before breakfast,
eat your breakfast first.
Josh Billings
From Jon Kabat-Zinn in “Waking Up to Our Senses”:
We go from one thing to the next all day long, virtually addicted to distracting ourselves, afraid of what might happen if we didn’t fill it up, if we stopped interrupting ourselves and just settled into now. We fill up our time and then wonder where it all went, why we feel so far from the mark, so far from our deepest aspirations, from contentment, from peace, from really being at home within ourselves and in deep connection with others.
What would it be like to settle into our own body, just lying in bed or sitting around for a few moments? You can drop in on yourself and purposely not fill the present moment with anything, especially anxieties about the future and everything you”should” be getting done, or resentment about what has already transpired and hasn’t gone exactly as you desired. You can play with seeing what it’s like to linger with such feelings and breathe with them for a tad longer than you are likely to think you can possibly stand.
Click on the “Leave a Comment” (above left) to tell us how you connect with yourself best in the mornings.
PS Thank you so much, Powerful Goddess Gina Bonati, for gracing my blog with your divine beauty!
xoxox
Sharky
© Sharon Birke
Let’s celebrate you today!
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
18 Apr 2012
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment
Tags: Earth Day traditions, eco friendly tips, How to help save the environment
God loved the birds and invented trees.
Man loved the birds and invented cages.
Jacques Deval
How far have we strayed from Adam and Eve’s paradise? Humorist Art Buchwald wrote:
And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: “Look at this Godawful mess!”
Because everyday is Earth Day, click on “Leave a Comment” beside the title of this article to share your practical ideas for living green and showing kindness to our planet, not just on April 22nd:
1. Reuse: Pack a trashless lunch (or picnic) that fills your stomach, not a landfill. Reuse empty glass bottles to hold water (handy to grab and go for car rides, too,) pack food in washable glass or metal food containers, and use real cutlery wrapped in cloth napkins.
2. Reduce: Save a tree without buying new equipment with Kindle for your computer… My indestructible LL Bean canvas totes sat patiently in the trunk of my car for a full year before I actually got into the habit of taking them into the grocery store with me. My next ambition is to remember to bring my own washable containers for the fishmonger. 😉
3. Recycle: Donate women’s business attires to Dress for Success, cellphones/computers/cameras to Recycling for Charities, and packing materials (like styrofoam peanuts and bubble wrap) to your local shipping store. Libraries are happy to get your used books, CDs, DVDs– even their empty cases. The Lions Club is likely to have a dropbox for used eyeglasses at your post office.
4. Refuse: Before buying the next new and improved version of the latest and the greatest, take a moment to ask “Do I really need this?”
Thank you for leaving a comment and adding your ideas for creating paradise and mothering our little corner of this earth.
xoxox
© Sharon Birke
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
201 697 1947
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
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