Dancing Among the Seguaros
This past September I headed down to The Portrait Masters in Phoenix, but before the fun got started in Phoenix, I rented a car and drove down to Tucson to visit the glorious Jade Beall. I first heard about Jade on the Embrace documentary when she talked about her approach to photography. She spoke about how she wanted her clients to see their natural selves and seeing themselves from the female gaze - to see their bodies in positions of power, strength, softness, rawness. While I listened to her interview on the documentary, I felt a resistance boil up inside me (what I now consider “the squidge”) - it felt impossible that a photographer could do beautiful images without photoshop. It felt impossible that people would want images of themselves without skin smoothing and nipping and tucking.
But there she was.
Creating literal art with bodies being bodies. And back then, when I felt resistance I followed it even more - so I followed her work, her writing, her poetic existence. Then, a few years ago Jade reached out to me on instagram saying that she loved the work I put out and would I be interested in speaking to her community of humans about self and body acceptance - WHAT? Here was my role model telling me I was her role model!! Of course I said yes and that was the beginning of our online friendship. Since I was coming to Phoenix so often, I was certain our paths would meet, but it wouldn’t be until 3 years later that I would finally rent a car and drive my fine ass down to Tucson to not only meet Jade in real life, but also: stay at her house, explore her yurt-studio (incredible), and have her photograph me in the mountains. Being around Jade is like being in the most beautiful warm sunlight - her aura is inviting and the way she speaks is poetry and story telling and years of ancestry fueled through her voice and body. We drove out to the mountains in her camper van (where she takes her solo retreats!) and her and her partner set up the light and let me do my thang amonst these massive seguero cacti. As the sun set, I could feel the warmth on my skin and it was an experience that will remain in my mind as a core memory - I stripped down to nothing and let the environment hold me and cherish me - it was, in another word, magic.
The next morning before I drove back to Phoenix, Jade took me into her yurt and we did some studio imagery - her signature lighting + posing prompts setting the stage. When I saw the images of myself in her traditional studio style, I started to cry because I had dreamed about that back in 2015 when I saw her on the documentary. I was part of her art and she was part of my world. I will be forever thankful for the forces that aligned our stars. I highly encourage you to see yourself through Jade’s eyes because it’s nothing but love, compassion, gratitude, and safety. Check out her work and her photo books here.
