Today we’d like to introduce you to Cait O’Brien.
Hi Cait, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
Hi, my name is Cait O’Brien and I am the face behind Cait O’Brien Photography. I was born and raised in New Jersey went to the University of Vermont and got a BS in Environmental Science. While working as an Environmental Scientist I met my husband who then joined the Navy. The Navy has taken us from South Carolina to New York to Virginia and back to South Carolina. In 2017 I received a certificate in photography and photoshop from Auburn University. I started my photography career shooting families and started to focus on newborns as that was the stage of life, I was in. As I grew older and stopped having babies my focus started to shift toward the boudoir.
As a teenager and young woman, I beamed with confidence and was so secure in my body and who I was. Maybe a little cocky even. As I hit my adult years, got married, and had kids all that changed. I gained over 100 lbs. with each child. I hid behind baggy clothing trying to hide my body and the stretch marks and the hormonal acne scars. I didn’t think I was skinny enough to wear certain clothing and all around didn’t feel good enough.
I constantly have razor burn. I have hormonal acne on my ass and back. I have stretch marks on my hips, ass, and legs, I have body hair. My boob is deflated sacks of skin from breastfeeding. I have every insecurity you could imagine and I’ve let it hold me back from doing the things I love. I thought that losing the weight would bring my confidence back but now at my lightest weight since high school, I still did not feel good in my skin. It wasn’t until I started doing boudoir that I finally realized that I am imperfectly perfect and beautiful just the way I am. Now I do have to constantly remind myself to be nicer to myself and that my body is normal and all the imperfections are normal and beautiful.
That is why I got into a boudoir. This is why I want to inspire women to step out of their comfort zone so that they can see the beauty that their mind likes to pretend isn’t there. To show you that those insecurities do not need to rule your life.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it has not been smooth by any means. Between rebranding to be a boudoir-only photographer I lost a lot of my previous clients and had to find a completely new clientele and marketing strategy. On top of that, the Navy moved us and I pretty much had to restart here in South Carolina. However, my biggest struggle was the one I struggled with within. Loving myself. I still to this day struggle with loving myself all the time and it was really difficult to preach self-love when you struggled to practice it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a boudoir photographer! I am most proud of helping others see the best in themselves.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
I love all of Denise Duffield-Thomas’s entrepreneur books and The Geode Theory: Chipping Away at Body Image by Teri Hofford
Contact Info:
- Email: caitobrienphotography@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.caitobrienphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caitobrienphotography/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caitobrienphotography
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1077224603087583
Image Credits
Cait O’Brien
