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Hi, friends! Today I am excited to talk about why I don’t really model much anymore. 

I have not officially retired, but I am super extra incredibly picky about who I will pose for and honestly, it’s not very many people. So I don’t really model much anymore for a few reasons, but some of them are… I feel like I have kind of… 

Posing for other people has kind of run its course for me. I used to super enjoy it, it was a really fun adventure. I really liked meeting new people and helping them create art in whatever way that they were excited to create and posing for them. But now, it doesn’t feel as exciting for me anymore to make art for other people. I’m much more interested in making art for myself, which is why I prefer self-portraiture. 

Another reason is, I’ve had my gender realization and I’m agender. I’m like, I’m a trans person. I’m non-binary, agender. I’m not a woman, and I feel like most photographers that want to hire me see me as a woman and are not really capable or willing to see the full spectrum of who I am. And kind of want to push a feminine idea and feminine imagery on me, which I’m no longer willing to participate in. It was okay before, I was never really comfortable with it, and then, when I had my gender understanding it became a lot more clear that, yeah, I’m just really not willing to feminize myself for other people’s art.

So that’s probably one of the main reasons why I basically only model for women and trans people now because I feel like they see me more as who I am instead of who they want me to be. It’s not that there are men who can’t like… there are men who can see me as me, but I feel like the majority of them are just kind of guys with cameras who just want to take photos of a naked woman and that’s not me. I am naked but I’m not a woman. Posing for other people is not as exciting and fun for me as it used to be. And that’s the primary reason why I don’t really model much anymore. I’d rather take self portraits. 

If you would like an opportunity to take self-portraits with me, we… me and Lior Allay and Roarie Yum are hosting Conscious Creativity in Ypsilanti Michigan, in person on a permaculture farm. I’m so excited, August 27th and 28th. It’s a two-day workshop. I have a lot of information about it in other vlogs and on the Eventbrite that I’ll link below. But if you are curious about self portraiture, and if you would like to take self portraits and have all of my tips and tricks for those, and also the opportunity to take self portraits in a group with me and Lior and Roarie, join us! Buy a ticket, come to Ypsilanti and pose with us, take self portraits with us! I’m very excited. I’ll put all the information below, but I don’t want to ramble on about Conscious Creativity because I have more information about that in other places, but if you’d like to join us, I’ll link it below.

More info about Conscious Creativity

I hope you enjoyed this video. And if you’re a cis male photographer who would like to hire me as a model, I hope this helps you understand why I probably said no. Not that I have anything against cis males, like cis men, but I just feel like women and trans people can see me as who I am. And yeah, it just feels more fulfilling to create art with people who can understand me, than people who want to like, push something onto me. I love you so much and I will talk to you soon! Bye!

Join me, Lior, and Roarie for Conscious Creativity on August 27 + 28! All the details are here 💖