introduction
Before I show you the letter I received, I want to share something from my own experience. Throughout my career, many of my clients have not been professional models. They are real women, over 40, with all kinds of careers: architects, dentists, teachers, stay-at-home moms…
Most of them are mothers. Some are married, others divorced, but they all have very personal reasons for wanting a photo session: some want to boost their self-esteem, others want to surprise their partner with an intimate gift, and others simply want to fulfill a dream they put off for years.
Many of them reach out to me shyly. Some are friends who don’t know how to tell me they want sensual photos, even nude ones. They want to do it before more time goes by, before shyness and age take that chance away from them.
To all of them, especially those who are still hesitating, I want to say this: do it. With me or with any other photographer, but don’t let this experience pass you by. Life is today! There may be no photographers in the afterlife… 😄 📸
P.S. I never publish photos without permission.
— Germán Canón —
Some context:
A photographer recently received an unexpected letter from the husband of one of his clients. She, a 40-year-old woman, wanted to give her husband a set of sensual photos. She asked the photographer to lightly retouch her figure in Photoshop so she would look a little better.
She wanted to rekindle the spark in their relationship. But what her husband received was not just a gift… it was also a call to the heart. Here is his reply:
THE LETTER:
Hello Germán,
I am the husband of [client’s name], my name is [husband’s name].
I’m writing because I recently received an album with the photos you took of my wife.
I want to make it clear that I’m not upset with you at all. But I do feel the need to share with you what I felt when I saw them.
I’ve been with my wife since I was 18. We have two wonderful children and, like every couple, we’ve had our ups and downs. I’m sure that was one of the reasons she decided to do this photo session: to light the spark between us again.
Sometimes she tells me she thinks I don’t find her attractive anymore. That she wouldn’t blame me if one day I noticed a younger woman, because she doesn’t feel beautiful anymore.
When I opened the album she gave me… my heart started racing.
Wow! The photos are incredible. Your talent and professionalism really show. But… the woman in those photos is not my wife.
I know you did exactly what she asked: retouch her figure and remove what she sees as “flaws.” But in doing so, you also erased a part of our story.
You removed her stretch marks… and with them, the traces of our children.
You erased her wrinkles… and with them, more than two decades of shared laughter and worries.
You smoothed away her cellulite… and with it, all the desserts, meals and cravings we’ve enjoyed together.
I’m not writing to blame you. You did your job. And you did it very well.
I’m writing to say thank you.
Thank you, because seeing those images made me realize I need to tell her more often how much I love her. That I need to remind her every day how beautiful she is to me, just the way she is.
Now it’s clearer to me than ever:
I want to keep loving every one of her marks, because each one of them tells our story.
Thank you for this album. It’s a work of art.
And, beyond that, it was a gift that woke up my soul.
With gratitude,
[husband’s name]
Conclusion:
This letter is not only a testimony of love, but a powerful reminder that real beauty lives in the marks life leaves, in every shared laugh, in every moment lived. Sometimes we want to hide exactly what makes us unique. But for someone who truly loves us, those “imperfections” are treasures: scars that tell stories, wrinkles that hold laughter, curves that speak of shared experiences.
The husband didn’t reject the photos; he affirmed something even deeper: that true love needs no retouching. That the body that ages is also the body that has loved, raised children, laughed and fought. And that remembering this in time can turn a simple photo session… into a powerful life lesson.
Because, in the end…
what remains is not the perfect image, but the imperfect love we choose every day.
German D Canon C.
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