Body Shots Photography, Beautiful images of women

"Winning isn't everything but it certainly is a wonderful confirmation that we are doing something right." Says Body Shots Photography of Newmarket, Auckland.

Body Shots photographers have won 33 awards at the annual Kodak Gold Awards Professional Photographic competition in the commissioned portrait section over the last three years.

The majority of the women we photograph at Body Shots have never had their photographs taken by professionals before so we give them a very pampering experience with full makeovers and hairstyling. It really is Girl Power-we have a 22 strong female team and do all our own printing, so the quality is very high.

Tania Newman " My background is newspaper photography but I always used to feel frustrated with the lack of quality. I love the quality of this work, larger format , studio lighting, beautiful reproduction and it's not a one off thing like in the paper, people take these photos home and treasure them for a life time.

My greatest thrill though is in making a woman feel wonderful about herself. I see the raw potential, every woman has her own type of beauty , and I love realising it. I almost cried one day when I showed a woman her test shot because she realised how beautiful she looked. Another lady hated her legs and didn't want to show them but by just a little twist of the ankle in the pose she loved them. I work with humour it brings out their personalities and its a bonding thing. It makes people able to say what they like, it opens them up."

Yvonne Hayson, "Working with our every day clients rather than using a professional models is in some ways more challenging but it is much more rewarding.

The average women who has never experienced a professional photographic session and makeover is often really nervous at first and doesn't know how to pose. It can be quite confronting for her especially as we specialise in Body Shots , ' no that doesn't mean you have to show flesh ,' we just like working with the whole person and encouraging women to feel good about their body types.

I enjoy helping the client relax and placing her in the most flattering positions . Her nervousness leaves when she sees how good she looks in the test shot. It's a great feeling seeing the transformation of a woman who walked in the door feeling scared and nervous and leaves the session on a high".

Body Shots Photography specialises in photographing women. Their goal is to make women proud of who they are and raise their self esteem by demystifying the beauty myth.

"Unfortunately the current mass media emphasis on physical beauty i.e. images of youthful , long legged, slim hipped, full busted women, is a narrowly defined beauty stereotype which preys on womens' insecurities and often leaves them with a feeling of not measuring up."

"At Body Shots we help women realise their individual beauty. We demystify the media images as a woman discovers that with professional make-up, lighting, posing and photographic techniques she too can look beautiful no matter what her age shape or size. We have found to our delight this empowers women and often has a lasting positive effect on their self esteem."

At Body Shots women receive: Hairstyling (not cutting), make-up artistry, professional photography, studio sets and lighting, six different looks e.g. sophisticated, romantic , casual, etc., 40 photographs in colour and black and white, professional hand done prints and retouching, specialised quality photo albums and wall portraits.

Match the before shots to the Kodak Gold Awards! Click here