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When your passion is your job: the 'Meh' syndrome

Turning your passion into a full-time job. It's a lot of people's dream. Everyone deserves to wake up energized, ready to conquer their day with a smile and be happy to start working. We are part of the "lucky" ones, we've made it happen by opening Scandaleuse full time a year ago. Yet, being a photographer full-time (or any creative careers for that matter) can also burst your creative bubble.

 
"Submerged: Pisces / Aquarius" by Deanna Colosimo

"Submerged: Pisces / Aquarius" by Deanna Colosimo

 

Meet your Little Muse

I like to think that we all have a little muse that follows us around. I picture mine as a mini-me who throws ideas out of nowhere. She's the one that's like "hey let's cover that model in pink glitter and put her under the rain okay? It'll be awesome!!". She has taken me on some glorious photoshoots, and sometimes, I have had to ignore her because seriously, this idea was way too insane. But the thing with muses is that if you shut them up too often, they just go somewhere else. See you sucker.

We wrote a blog post a while ago about dealing with creative funk when you are doubting your work and feel like you can't seem to produce anything good. Well this is a different kind of funk: it's the "meh" syndrome. Your drive has been AWOL, like it's on a vacation in Mexico or something. And Fanny and I have contaminated.

The "meh" wall is silently building itself.

Without you noticing. Sneaky SOB.

Truth is, we have been insanely busy with both of our boudoir and wedding divisions, working our first wedding workshop, booking sessions, finding new locations, taxes, admin tasks. There is no one else but us behind Scandaleuse, so naturally we have to take care of the not-so-fun stuff on a regular basis. No surprise here, welcome to Managing your business 101.

Anyway, it felt like something was wrong but I just didn't know what it was. I have been feeling constantly tired, my excitement for our current projects was close to the ground. The energy I had for new projects was slowly being shattered by real life, unnecessary stress and unreliable people (YES I SAID IT!), making the process a lot less enjoyable. Picture your little muse pulling on your sleeve to get attention and you flicking her away because, hey, you don't have time, alright?!.

The "oh sh*t" moment.

I was sitting in my living-room/office, scrolling through Instagram & Pinterest and I realized I was dodging any beautiful and creative posts from other photographers. Why? Because it gave me a weird feeling in my stomach that I had been shutting down for a little while. The ugly truth is that I was feeling envious. Envious of artists showcasing their awesome work when I felt like mine was just "meh". I was not looking at other peoples' work because I didn't want to see better work than mine. After all, we pride ourselves to push our own creativity limits here and this made me realize that we hadn't done it in what felt like an eternity. I mean reeeeally done it.

We had just stopped putting our creativity first. Which is super ironic, considering that our creativity is our bread and butter. It is why people hire us to begin with.

But life got in the way, we are dealing with other things that, yes, need to be done, but have been taking all of our time, leaving no room for brainstorming crazy ideas like we used to. The only moment my drive was back was when we were actually shooting with a client, I guess Little Muse is responsible for that too.

 
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It is time to grab the bull by its horns.

We have been thinking outside the box our entire lives and there is no way that Scandaleuse becomes "just" a job with standard quality. We swore to make it exceptional for every session (that's actually why we shoot in different locations) and we lost sight of it for a second.

Making your passion your career involves turning it into something quite commercial to appeal to the masses. Because hey, you gotta make some $$$, your work needs to be consistent, and not everyone wants an insane photoshoot concept.

But we need to make a crazy idea come to life once in a while. We need to do shoots for fun and more importantly: we need to make time for it. So I started my own list of super cool ideas for shoots that may not happen immediately, but are here when I will need them. I have put one into place already, and I had forgotten how much fun putting together different photoshoot styles is. It is thrilling and I know I want to live my life that way.

Little Muse is back, baby, and she's ready to rock.

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Camera Roll - March 2018

If you follow us on social media, you can see that we try to go to multiples events, exhibits and other fun stuff around the city. To keep this motivation going and share even more with you, we are starting a monthtly Camera Roll in which we will show you some glimpse of what we have been up to.

 
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Since we just started the concept, we definitely have to get better at taking (and saving!) more pictures. Duly noted for April!

We celebrated Juliette's birthday with a pretty colorful treat

Fanny took me to Versus Coffee to get a very Instagramable latte! Check them out at Adelaide/Church.

Femmes en Or down at the city hall

On March 8th, we went down to the city hall to listen to 5 women entrepreneure to celebrate International Women's Day. Francophone event organized by Oasis Centre des Femmes. On top of meaningful conversations, we also got a chance to see the Chamber of Council. They gave us way too much power.

Babes who Brunch

The Ace Class is a collective of women, originally from Calgary, who activate, cultivate and empower each other. We went to their first Torontonian brunch at the Gladstone, in which we met Julie Harrish, founder of 6ix cycle, whom you might meet sooner than later around here...

Rocked with Deadset Society

Just because we are all about girl power doesn't mean we don't love good rock bands. Not gonna lie, Deadset Society has a special place in our hearts since we did their first promo shoot a year ago. They don't play a lot in the city, so when they do, you can make sure we are there. And you should too.
(we didn't take any photos - ugh - so thanks Michael Amaral for the pic!)

Women & Fitness Panel

As you may know, Fanny and I are both into fitness via our aerial silks passion, so when we bumped into this event at the Love Child Social House, we just had to go. We heard 5 very interesting panelists, got rubbed by MyoDetox, and met the beautiful Jessie & Chloe (same, you will likely meet them soon!)

 

 
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Dreaming Big & Being Bold

Again, Eventbrite is a good source for events like this. Dreaming Big, Being Bold is a book gathering multiple author's life experiences, aiming to motivate you by their stories. We have met so many insightful people during that evening. Not gonna lie, almost 90% of people were from London, ON and were fairly surprised to see random people (aka us!) coming in. Oh well, we're pretty curious and it was a nice discovery!

Our one year anniversary is coming up!

Yep, that's right! On April 4th, it's Scandaleuse's birthday! We are working on a video you shall see soon!

She Leads Conference by Her Campus

The conference brought together five female reporters to discuss the topic of women in journalism in Hart House at the University of Toronto. While we are not in this industry at all (and not even students at U of T for that matter), it was super interesting to learn more about female journalist's everyday's accomplishments & struggles. Best advice: β€œreport like women, publish like men.”

Well, ladies & gentlemen, that's pretty much it for this month! Going to events regularly is our 2018 challenge and so far, we've been doing pretty good. Follow us on our instagram to see these in real times & feel free to message us to tag along!

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"You are morbidly obese" - Marine's Story.

We meet wonderful people all the time during our sessions. Each of you have a very specific story, and you are always so willing to share it with us, which we are extremely thankful for. We are not going to write a blog post today. We decided to let one of our most recent Scandals tell her story, in hope that it will help you if you need to.

‒ Version Originale Française Disponible dans la deuxième partie de l'article ‒

 
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β€œβ€œYou are morbidly obese”
This is the sentence that changed my life. My name is Marine, I am 26 years old and I lost over 90 pounds.
”

This visit at the doctor's office changed my entire life. The word "morbidly" is pretty hard to hear when you still have your whole life ahead of you. But for some reason, here I was. It was iduring this split second when I finally decided to put my life back on tracks.

Everything started when my brother passed away when I was 13. That day, I lost a piece of my soul and  heart too. This is pretty much when the whole overweight phase happened: I was eating to compensate my loss. While I was at an age when you're supposed to start understanding your body and learning to love it, but my part, I just hated it.
Years came by, so did multiple diet plans... I am losing weight one day, gaining twice as more the next, until it hit me:

I am 25 years old and I weight over 220 pounds.

It was such a shock. I start seeing specialists who tell me that together, we can beat that obesity, that the secret is not drastic diets, it's a good BALANCE. Balance is what you eat, sure, but I also learned to exercise again (and trust me, that's not easy!). I also learned that indulging myself sometimes is not the end of the world. I just think they taught me how live properly again.

β€œIt took me two years to lose those 90 pounds.
Two years of doubts, tears, reassessment, anger... But also hope, self-acceptance and pride!
”

Boudoir photography, a rewarding challenge

While browsing online, I stumble upon one of my former highschool comrade's photography website. She and her partner take beautiful boudoir photographs and I jump on the occasion to ask if I could book a session during their trip to France.

I had a meeting with Juliette to discuss it. She was very welcoming and managed to make me feel comfortable right away. I am still having a hard time to accept myself, so taking pictures in which my body was the main focus was scaring me.

We had a chat, booked a date and worked on what atmosphere we would be going for and off we go!

The day of, I was super excited but also very nervous. Juliette started coaching with a smile right away which made me feel comfortable despite my non-experience in this field whatsoever. The session flew by and the woman I have been wanting started showing up bit by bit.

This session gave me a chance to appreciate my new body, but also to accept it. I felt sexy for the first time ever, and I never thought I would feel that way.

β€œThere is still a long way until I accept my new self completely, but this session gave me confidence I never thought I had.”

So thank you so much ladies for this moment. I hope that I will be able to do it again one day and I know it will be with Scandaleuse.

 
 
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β€œΒ« Vous Γͺtes en obΓ©sitΓ© morbide… Β»
Voici la phrase qui a changΓ© ma vie. Je suis Marine j’ai 26 ans et j’ai perdu plus de 40kg.”

Ce jour chez le docteur qui a changΓ© ma vie. Le mot morbide c’est plutΓ΄t dur surtout quand on a encore toute sa vie devant soi. Et pourtant j’en Γ©tais là… C’est Γ  ce moment lΓ  que j’ai dΓ©cidΓ© de prendre, enfin, ma vie en main.

Tout Γ  commencer lorsque mon frΓ¨re est dΓ©cΓ©dΓ© alors que j’avais 13 ans. Ce jour-lΓ  j’ai perdu une partie de mon Γ’me, de mon cΕ“ur aussi. Mon surpoids est arrivΓ© Γ  ce moment, je mangeais pour compenser ce vide. L’adolescence c’est le moment oΓΉ notre corps se rΓ©veille, on l’apprivoise, on commence Γ  l’aimer. Moi je l’ai toujours dΓ©testΓ©.
Les annΓ©es passent, les rΓ©gimes s’accumulent… Je perds des kilos, j’en reprends souvent le double et puis un jour je me rΓ©veille…

J’ai 25 ans et je fais plus de 100kg.

LΓ  c’est le choc. Je vais voir des spΓ©cialistes qui me disent qu’ensemble on peut vaincre cette obΓ©sitΓ©, que le secret c’est de ne pas faire de rΓ©gime mais l’EQUILIBRE. Γ‰quilibre de la nourriture oui, mais pas seulement: j’ai appris Γ  faire du sport (et c’est pas facile!), j’ai appris que se faire plaisir de temps en temps ce n’était pas la fin du monde, bref je pense que j’ai rΓ©appris Γ  vivre.

β€œIl m’a fallu 2 ans pour en arriver Γ  ces -40kg.
Deux ans de doutes, de pleurs, de remise en question, de crises de colΓ¨re… Mais aussi d’espoir, d’acceptation et de fiertΓ© !”

La photo boudoir, un challenge enrichissant

Et un jour, je tombe sur le site d’une ancienne camarade de lycΓ©e qui fait des photos boudoir magnifiques avec son associΓ©e, je saute sur l’occasion et lui demande si c’est possible lors d’un passage en France de faire une sΓ©ance.

Juliette est tout de suite trΓ¨s accueillante et me met en confiance. J’ai toujours du mal Γ  m’accepter alors prendre des photos oΓΉ mon corps le centre de l’attention me fait un peu peur.

On discute, on pose une date, on voit ensemble la direction que les photos vont prendre et nous y voilΓ  !

Toute excitΓ©e mais aussi nerveuse, me voilΓ  devant l’objectif ! Juliette est tout de suite trΓ¨s souriante et douce et me permet de me mettre Γ  l’aise malgrΓ© mes maladresses de dΓ©butante. La sΓ©ance passe super rapidement et je fais ressortir peu Γ  peu la femme que j’ai envie d’Γͺtre.

Cette sΓ©ance m’a vraiment permis de me mettre en phase avec mon nouveau corps mais aussi de commencer Γ  m’accepter comme je suis. Je me suis sentie sexy chose qui ne m’était jamais arrivΓ©e avant!

β€œLe chemin sera encore long avant une acceptation totale de cette nouvelle image de moi, mais cette sΓ©ance m’a vraiment donnΓ© une confiance en moi que je n’aurais jamais pensΓ© avoir!”

Alors merci merci merci Γ  vous pour ce moment. J’espΓ¨re qu’un jour j’aurais l’occasion de repasser sous l’objectif, et ce jour-lΓ , je sais que cela sera avec Scandaleuse Photography!

 

Thank you so much Marine for sharing your story. Boudoir photography is not only about getting pretty pictures. It's also about facing your body, challenge yourself to see it through's someone else's eyes.

contrary to what you may think, it is accessible to all shapes, sizes & genders. Don't be scared of jumping in, we can guarantee you will feel like a queen (or king).

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How I Met My Business Partner - Episode 2

Episode 2 : From London to Toronto

In case you missed it, you can catch up on how two French girls ended up in London at the first place here. Grab a cookie, get comfy, here is the second episode of your Scandals-en-chef's story.

 
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London, Wood Green, October 2012.

Our suitcases are heavy, so is the rain, but we don't care. We found a house. It looks cozy (turns out it wasn't), the rent is fairly cheap (for London), the landlord seems friendly (turns out she wasn't either) and the rooms were just re-painted (that was true. Our first night with the smell of the paint is a delirious and hilarious blur. Don't do drugs kids.)

First step was getting a job and quick. Knowing that our English was not that great, our first bet was to apply in bars & restaurants, hoping to get something fast. That's exactly what happened: we looked for 2 or 3 weeks before finding jobs as a barmaid and waitress. This is when the 17-hour shifts and the going home at 2 am started. I am not going to lie, little Scandals, it wasn't easy. But we were okay. We made enough money to pay for our basic needs. We didn't need much and we had each other. Our main activities were cooking, watching movies snuggled in one of the bedrooms (we didn't have heat for the longest time ever, told you it wasn't that cozy), and going window-shopping because with our wages, going real-shopping was out of the question. (They don't tip in the UK, guys!)

This is when you need to know one of the key element to our story: a 5"7 Canadian guy swept me off my feet and gave me the idea to start the paperwork and pack my bags to go over the Atlantic. After giving a lot of tears, time and dollars to the Canadian government, my paperwork went through and 6 months after our British arrival, I was about to leave again.

This situation was quite a bit of a pickle. See, we were kind of used to live together Fanny and I and we even started a wife/wife relationship there (our common shopping cart can be a witness of that).

Thinking of giving it up wasn't easy so Fanny decided… not to.

A blurry photo from when she took me to the airport in London

A blurry photo from when she took me to the airport in London

Fanny's second day in Toronto

Fanny's second day in Toronto

Toronto, Yonge & Eglinton, February 2013

I will always remember when she told me "you know what, I'll come too". She applied for a working holiday visa, which she got a few days before I left, in February 2013. I landed in the Torontonian winter (during that ice storm we had back then, remember?) and I am not gonna lie, the months before Fanny's arrival were not a lot of fun. Getting accustomed to a new country, a new culture, a new job, while being away from my entire family was tough. Everything seemed just... so far. It was also the first time I was dealing with a time difference between my loved ones.

The minute Fanny landed in June 2013, everything felt like a little more like home. It was even better when she found a place literally across the street from mine. We were ready to conquer Toronto, one glass of wine at the time.

We have now been living for almost 5 years in Toronto, but trust me, it wasn't all pink and unicorns. But that will be the next episode…

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Being best friend with another photographer

As you may know Juliette and I met in photography school in Paris in 2009 and we've never left each other since. And we now have two businesses together. Our friendship is strong and based on communication and trust. She is the cheese on my pasta and I am the sugar in her coffee… We complete each other.

Surprisingly, being both photographers has never been an issue in our friendship. Probably because we have rules that were set up naturally and we never break them.

 
2014 baby!

2014 baby!

 

Here are the secrets for a healthy relationship with people you love and who are in the same field as you are:

Don’t sell your service to your friend’s contact

I will say this is the most important rule we have. Juliette and I have some friends in common but also our own ones and we never consider them as potential clients, without each other's approval.

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A year ago one of Juliette’s friend contacted me to ask if I could give him a quote for portrait photography to promote his new music band. My ego was at a top level and it was of course a great opportunity to make money and develop my portfolio. But I would have never accepted it without talking to Juliette about it and see if she is ok with that, regarding the fact that he was a friend of hers. Of course she didn’t mind because as an artist you have to understand that sometimes people would prefer to go with another style than yours.

Think of your friend for a job you can’t do

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If a client requires your services but for some reasons you are not available, always think about your friend. With Juliette we know each other professionalism & talent, and if one of us can’t take a photography job, we always ask the other if she can take it, even if we know plenty of other photographers.

We also try to give each other work by selling each other as a second shooter or assistant on different photoshoots.

Avoid jealousy to avoid competition

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Sometime when I talk about my relationship with Juliette it seems to be all pink, happy and easy but we are both human and like every human, we can have negative emotions coming up to the surface. Truth is: it can be difficult to stay out the competition state of mind wehn your friend does the same job as you. Don’t let bitterness develops: don’t be jealous of your friend’ success, instead be happy and learn from it. Work on your own goals and if you are missing some knowledge on a topic to go further, don’t feel ashamed or stupid to ask people around you for some help.

If you let frustration growing in you, it will destroy everything in your life, starting with your relationship with others.

Being friend with another photographer is also lots of fun and the opportunity to create and work together on different shoots. We know how being a photographer can be tough sometimes, so we support each other and can complain about the same difficulties (we know that you know french people love to complain!)

We have been close friends for the past 8 years and of course having lots in common helps a lot, but there are no magical tricks. Like everything else if you want it to be successful, you need to work hard. Juliette and I have spent a lot of time together, we are there for each other even in the worst moments, we talked about everything, even when it's bad.

Now go hug your friends and built a stronger relationship with them!

Love,

Fanny & Juliette

 
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Fancy a personal shopping session?

Scandaleuse is not just about a boudoir shoot. We pride ourselves to create a full experience and make it unique to your sexy self. If you are having a blast, then so are we. That's why we just teamed up with Ashley, the lovely advisor from Seduction, downtown Toronto, to help you pick outfits and kill your shoot.

What's the deal?

Upon booking your shoot with us, you can schedule an appointment with Ashley for an hour long personal shopping session. The good deal? On top of the great lingerie selection that Seduction has, you get at 10% discount on your purchase at the shop. This deal is available for any of our packages.

Now, Scandals, meet Ashley:

 
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Who are you?

Hello Scandaleuse World! My name is Ashley.
I would describe myself as an old soul, who marches to the beat of my own drum. I would also say that I’m maybe a little bit of a workaholic… but when you love what you do, it’s easy to let it take over.  I’ve been working in the Adult Retail environment for 5+ years and honestly, it’s been a lot of fun. In my spare time, I’m also a freelance model, a netflix binger and a book worm.

Let's talk about your job at Seduction:

I’ve been with Seduction for just about 3 years now, and I keep myself busy in all things creative around the store. While I spend a lot of my time on the sales floor, coaching couples and singles on how to keep their sex lives interesting, I organize and style photoshoots for advertising which can be found in newspapers, online or even posters around the city. last but not least, I’m also a main contributor to our social media.

Why should our models go to you before their session?

I believe that everyone deserves to feel sexy in their skin. What you wear says a lot about who you are, or what you want to represent. Fashion, to me, is an outlet of creative expression. What I wear on a day to day basis makes all the difference in how I feel. During photoshoots, especially boudoir, it’s important that the models are comfortable, and confident in what they’re wearing. I want to make you stand out because you are beautiful and deserve to be noticed. When I accomplish that with a new client, it makes me that much more proud of what I do.

What can our Scandals expect from an hour with you?

We want you to feel special, so when you book an hour with me, you’ll get an hour of undivided attention. I want to get to know you. Asking questions will allow me to get a better sense of what kind of style or vibe you want to go for, and that will help me select outfits that will be appropriate. After the question period, we’ll walk around the store together collecting a handful of items that might be of interest, and then you’ll spend time trying the outfits on to ensure that you look and feel good for your photoshoot. When we’re done, you’ll walk out knowing that you made the right choice.

We don't know about you guys, but we are hooked. Check out our selection of lingerie and accessories we found when we met Ashley for her headshot.

Find Seduction:

  • 577 Yonge Street Toronto, On, M4Y 1Z2

  • 493 Queen St W, Toronto, ON, M5V 2B4

The day we spoke in public

Last week, Fanny and I did our first workshop. And since we never do things half-way, we chose to do it at the easiest place on the planet for regular people: the Oasis Aqualounge.

 
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If you were to remember only ONE thing about us, it's that we believe that you should be able to do whatever the hell you want with your body, as long as you are not putting yourself or others in danger. We pride ourselves to be respectful of people's choices even though they might be different from ours. In case you are not familiar with the Oasis, it is the only high end sex club downtown Toronto. Meaning that you go there with or without a partner and you do or don't do things. No it's not dodgy, and yes it's safe (and clean).

Now that we cleared the air, you must wonder why we ended up here at the first place.

We actually contacted them. It's that simple. They were pleased with our body positivity approach and the diversity of our models, and offered to give us a timeslot during their monthly event. We saw an opportunity to talk to people directly and took it. However, here is the difference between this specific adventure and a regular workshop: people pay the entrance ticket to the place, not to your speech. It is available to them if they feel like it. Meaning that people came or left half way through.

We had NEVER spoken in public before, especially in English. We had no idea what to expect. I seriously had notes with me that just said "SPEAK" so I remembered.

 
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How do you practice for an event that you know no one is coming for specifically? You can't introduce yourself multiple times if new people show up. What happens if it's boring and people leave in the middle of it? To be honest, all of these thoughts kept me up at night.

If you don't follow us on Instagram, you should. We love stories!

If you don't follow us on Instagram, you should. We love stories!

So here we were, a few days before the workshop, rehearsing in my living room, and timing our speech to keep it short and sweet. We got frustrated by our accents we think are too thick. We changed our speech 20 thousand times. We rehearsed for 6 hours non-stop one day. Again, again and again. 

The day of, we grabbed two glasses of wine, generously offered by the Oasis, took a deep breath and stepped on the stage, in front of strangers. "Picture people naked" they say. Well they already were. Surprisingly, after 3 minutes and a second glass of wine, we didn't even notice it. We did our speech - with technical difficulties and our awkward English - and we started asking for volunteers to take pictures of.

Then something pretty cool happened.

Instead of having one couple and one woman volunteering like we planned initially, we had 6 couples. We managed to make people trust us even though the first thing they said before listening to the workshop was "I don't want my picture taken". Our short intro did work. We even had to turn people down because we were out of time (and releases).

We met amazing people. All shapes, age and gender. The connection they share with their partners is unbelievable. We only had a few minutes per person and yet, we got amazing images. We saw the trust, the love and the complicity between two people and we were so honoured to be given a chance to capture it.

A lot of things didn't go as planned. We messed up quite a bit, we stuttered, we made jokes no one laughed at, saw people leaving when we were speaking, and had tough lighting conditions to shoot in. But we did it. We. Freaking. Did it. Because at the end, all that matters is that:

Some people stayed
Some people laughed
Some people were excited to have their pictures taken
Some people sent us nice emails
Some people believe in what we do.

Mission accomplished. To the next workshop!

Show Us Your Tats - Betty LaBourbon

Betty was one of the first participants to Show Us Your Tats. We fell in love with her retro look that makes you want to buy anything babydoll looking you can find. We loved her even more when she agreed to get in the water with us at Cherry Beach, with a thousand dogs (and their owners) staring at us. 

 
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Who are you?

Betty LaBourbon,  burlesque performer based out of Toronto. My classic pin up style is the cherry on top of my electric performances, both as a solo performer and as part of the Femme Diagrams burlesque troupe.

Let's talk tattoos

I have 4 tattoos. The oldest is a maple leaf on the small of my back that was done for my 16th birthday. It was done in a small town shop outside of the city. My black widow was to remind me that I am strong in my own right, and was done by a friend. I have a Winnie the Pooh memorial piece for a family member who passed away. And I have a burned branch with my family's crest to keep me connected to my past. Those two were both done at Tat-a-rama in Etobicoke. So far that has been my favorite shop that I have visited in Toronto.

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What was the time and budget allocated for each piece?

The maple leaf was maybe $100, it is not very big and it was done outside of the city many years ago. It was only maybe a half an hour to complete.

The black widow was even less than that since it was done by a friend who was an apprentice at the time. Again, it didn't take very long, maybe 20 minutes.

The branch took quite a bit longer, about 2 hours. It cost almost $300, and I gave the artist a good tip as well because he did an excellent job.

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The Winnie the Pooh piece was maybe an hour and a half, and cost about $250, but again, I gave the artist, Joe Berry, a tip because, again, the artists at this shop do excellent work. I'm very picky because I either design my own tattoos, or have very clear ideas about what I want, so I need to work with artists who are willing to listen, and not all about their own ego and personal style.

Is the tattoo fever going to strike again?

Ooh absolutely! Tattooing is a great way to celebrate and remember important things, events, people. I have maybe 3 more planned, but I'm sure more ideas will come to me as time goes on.

Is there something you wish you had known before getting tattooed?

I did a lot of research before getting my first tattoo. I had to as a requirement before my parents would sign the consent forms! But I didn't realize it was going to be such a spiritual experience. You have an image that means something so personal to you that you want to carve it into your body. You sacrifice blood and pain for this image to be with you forever. That is an incredibly intense experience. And for me it became very spiritual. A way to give back to the universe for lessons learned or gifts received. I still feel that way every time I go under the needle.

tattoo-toronto-boudoir-photography-scandaleuse

How did you immediate family/circle of friends react?

My family has always been ok with tattoos. Both of my parents have them, and since I was so young when I got my first one, I needed their consent before it could be done! Strangely enough, my nose piercing caused more issue than any of my tattoos have! As for my friends, it was never an issue, either good or bad. They all wanted to hear about it, and teased me about going through the pain, but no one really seemed to consider it much beyond that. It's become very normalized in our culture I suppose.

The Deets

Tat-a-rama in Etobicoke | @tatarama.
Joe Berry | @joe_b_tattoos

Find Betty

Her Instagram | Her Facebook