Today we’d like to introduce you to Allie Monday.
Hi Allie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My mom bought me my very first Nikon D-60SLR camera with a kit Zoom for Christmas, 2007. I shot it on automatic for three years until I got frustrated with not getting the images I wanted, and finally learned the manual settings. (Side note: photography isn’t for the artistic elite: you can learn it too if you want).
After my first job as a sexual health educator, I jumped into my photography career by way of weddings. It was a terrifying leap, but I found tender confidence that carried me as I embarked on the path that felt right. Weddings led me to the boudoir.
A woman listens to her teacher, frustration.
By 2015, I was thigh-deep in boudoir photography, but my dissatisfaction was growing. I was tired of pearls and spiked heels. Tired of asking women what their partner’s favorite body part was. I cringed every time I photoshopped cellulite or asked a woman to pop her hips backward to “make them look smaller.” I wanted to be honest, so I started asking my clients honest questions like “what do you love about yourself? What parts of yourself do you struggle to love? How do you want to feel during this shoot?” I changed the music, burned the lingerie, and added plants and everyday objects. I wanted people to come home to themselves. I wanted to get weird and explore the deepest parts of life together through the body and photography.
A muse is born.
I fell hard in love with women’s bodies, just as they are. Soft lines and sacred cellulite. A living, moving work of art. And Ladygroove was born: an entity unto itself with the purpose of healing and connecting with every human encounter. And it wasn’t just my healing. My subjects explained their sessions as homecomings and rebirths. Tears ran like rivers. Something mysterious happened when we allowed ourselves to get curious and be seen(true story: a real-life chicken started laying eggs again after she was in a Ladygroove shoot).
The woman befriends her body.
Ladygroove has been a guide into my own boundaries, sexuality, and artistry. I practice grief and play and bring others alongside me. After suffering from an eating disorder for 12 years and navigating complex PTSD, Ladygroove has been a pivotal part of my own sexual liberation and embodiment. I am here to watch bodies go from fear to love. Because of this, I bring a more realistic approach to how bodies are portrayed. Double chin? Double delicious. Stretch marks and cellulite? A striking texture. Our flesh bags are an entry point to freedom. I welcome folx to bring all that their bodies are wanting to be seen and released.
Women see their bodies as they are.
I’m a truth-teller and a collector of beauty, and it’s my delight to translate that sacred space into images for my subjects and the world. When a client sees her photos, she begins to see her body as it truly is: a mosaic of shapes, lines, textures, colors, and stories. We aren’t bad assimilations to a cultural norm. We’re galaxies- unrepeatable and worthy of endless exploration. Every moment of healing (both in front of and behind the camera) propels me to document humans and their bodies.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I believe Entrepreneurship can be an initiation, especially in creative work. It brings up your fears, desires, shortcomings, and how you handle success. Mary Anne Williamson says something like “We are often not afraid of our failures but we fear our success” and I would agree with this sentiment. Ladygroove has been an invitation to explore what I really want in life and how I want to show up which inherently brings up resistance.
I also believe we have elevated “hard work” in our culture rather than looking for the flow in things. It doesn’t mean we don’t show up consistently it just means we don’t force the routes that aren’t working. That has been one of my biggest lessons through this business: Follow what’s working and don’t get caught up trying to please everyone along the way.
I run this business by what feels right in my body, through trial and error, and through a great belief in what I’m contributing to this world. I ask myself, “is this authentic to who I am and what I want to create?” and if the answer is no… then I nix it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Ladygroove is a movement of liberation. And I am the creator of Ladygroove. I am also a fine art nude and somatic photographer. During sessions we are reclaiming sensuality and play, learning to practice expression over repression, and photographing honest, connected bodies.
I recently launched my first coffee table book called “Her Body” which is a riotous celebration of the female form. This book couples 5 years of photographing women’s bodies as they learned to throw off the shame around their bodies and their sexuality with text that supports the journey of women’s liberation.
For example “It is safe to live inside her body” or ” Let it smell, every smell, it is capable of smelling.” You can order books on my website now.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I am seeing more creatives tap into multiple gifts at one time in their business. For instance, I am a photographer but I have also been on a ten-year journey of coming home to my body so I bring in a somatic element during my session. Meditation, a body blessing, music, and ceremony prior to photographing a person. I am seeing this all over the creative industry.
We aren’t confined to the boxes anymore and the more we allow the variety of our skillsets to converge… the greater we can benefit this beautiful world. I’m watching women grow in great success as well as other minorities & I feel encouraged and inspired by this. I’m also seeing an emphasis on the spiritual connection incorporated into our businesses.
I’m not talking about religion I’m speaking about the importance of our mental and physical health and success in conjunction with a belief in a great being or purpose. A desire to connect people back to themselves and in deeper connection with the community.
Pricing:
- Her Body $115
Contact Info:
- Website: iamladygroove.com
- Instagram: @ladygroove
