They say that 40 is the new 30. Still, for Trinidad and Tobago-based Photographer/Makeup artist, Jaime Rampersad, instead of ushering in this new chapter in her life with enthusiasm and hope, she was overcome by a mini midlife crisis. Fortunately, she didn’t go out and buy herself a red convertible; instead, she started questioning beliefs about herself she had held onto for many years. ‘Was beauty just for the young, and were there certain things that were no longer acceptable for her to do because of her age?’ ‘Was she supposed to consider herself old and not as attractive as a younger woman now?’ These were the questions stirring in her mind that made her feel uneasy about this milestone. But let’s start from the beginning.
When she became a full-fledged Makeup Artist, Jaime knew she wanted to stand out in her field. In 2006, she decided to offer airbrush makeup and was the first to introduce it to the local market in Trinidad & Tobago. Soon, women from all over the country were coming to her to experience this new, flawless, ultra-lightweight makeup application that lasted for hours even under the humid conditions we often experience here in the Caribbean. She was able to see right before her eyes how the power of makeup to transform made them feel. Oftentimes, when they were handed the mirror, she would see a look of surprise and delight, then a broad smile, and then an accepting nod. They left her chair with a pep in their step, walking a bit taller and more confidently. This reaction was something she absolutely loved, and it became almost addictive to Jaime to witness. It was from that moment that she knew it was her God-given purpose to serve women in this way and to help them see their full potential. She wholeheartedly loved her business and the impact it was making. “Seeing women leave my makeup chair feeling great about themselves and knowing I had a part to play in that made me feel like I was doing something great…. something that mattered”.
At the age of 24, after gaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems and Management, to everyone’s surprise, Jaime decided to become a makeup artist. While it seemed radically unusual, it was the natural progression of a deep-seated passion Jaime held dear. From the moment she saw her mom apply that unmistakably ruby red lipstick, she was hooked! Every day, she sat in awe as her mom applied her makeup, taking in every single genius stroke and watching her mom use her instruments to transform right before her eyes. “It was magical!” thought Jaime, so much so that later she even started shaping her friends’ eyebrows (those who would let her anyway). When she became a full-fledged Makeup Artist, Jaime knew she wanted to stand out in her field. In 2006, she decided to offer airbrush makeup and was the first to introduce it to the local market in Trinidad & Tobago. Soon, women from all over the country were coming to her to experience this new, flawless, ultra-lightweight makeup application that lasted for hours even under the humid conditions we often experience here in the Caribbean. She was able to see right before her eyes how the power of makeup to transform made women feel. Oftentimes, when they were handed the mirror, she would see a look of surprise and delight, followed by a broad smile, then an accepting nod. They left her chair with a pep in their step, walking a bit taller and more confidently. This reaction was something she absolutely loved, and it became almost addictive for Jaime to witness. It was from that moment that she knew it was her God-given purpose to serve women in this way and to help them see their full potential. She wholeheartedly loved her business and the impact it was making. “Seeing women leave my makeup chair feeling great about themselves and knowing I had a part to play in that made me feel like I was doing something great…. something that mattered”. All was going well for Jaime when she decided to get married, have a baby, and move to Katy, Texas, all in the same year. With no support from extended family in Texas, she became a stay-at-home mom and was forced to stop doing what she loved to focus on this new stage of her life. This was a real blow to her confidence, and it affected all areas of her life. She felt lost, as she no longer had the identity of an entrepreneur, which she had held for all those years. She didn’t know who she was, and she yearned to return to the familiarity of her business. After two years as a full-time, stay-at-home mom, she decided to revamp her business right where she was. She began working with photographers to build her portfolio as a Makeup Artist, showcasing her work to new and potential clients. After many shoots and, unfortunately, not getting images that represented her work, Jaime became disheartened. She realized there was a disconnect between what the photographer wanted for the makeup and what they actually said. The photographers were using certain makeup terms differently, leading to miscommunication.
It then dawned on her that knowing both fields would enable better communication and result in better images. It was then that her study of photography began. After doing a few shoots where she was able to plan, design, and execute all aspects of the shoot from start to finish, including makeup, hair, and photography, she realized that she was on to something good and decided to merge her passion for both makeup and photography into a complete experience for future clients.
Armed with the skills of not just a Makeup Artist but also a Photographer, Jaime returned home to Trinidad & Tobago in 2015. This homecoming was not without its trials and tribulations. Having to re-enter a market that had completely changed in the five years she was gone was hard enough. She felt as if she was starting from scratch again, and that feeling, coupled with working out of her parents’ living room, was yet another blow to her confidence, causing her to suffer from Imposter Syndrome. “I really feared that clients wouldn’t take me seriously… I mean, who would come to a ‘professional’ that didn’t have their own studio?”
Despite feeling this way, Jaime pushed through, driven by her strong belief that she was pursuing her calling, and she persevered. She started shooting portraits, personal branding, headshots, and families. She got a lot of joy from this approach, but couldn’t help but feel that something was missing. She realized she craved a deeper connection with her clients and wanted their shoot to have an impact on their lives. It was on the advent of her 40th birthday that she had an epiphany. Could having that experience help her to get to know herself more and lead her to love herself more deeply?
Faced with the fact that she was getting older, Jaime wanted to do something that made her feel better about herself. That was when she came up with the idea of doing a boudoir shoot. She tried to shoot with one of her favorite photographers based in Dallas, Texas, but Covid happened, and due to flight restrictions at the time, her plans were squashed. Determined not to let this stop her, she decided to do her own boudoir shoot. Donned with her hair extensions, airbrush makeup, and a white chiffon shirt, she did her shoot. “This was my ‘how Stella got her groove back’ moment!” Jaime never felt so alive, so sexy….so sensual!!! After doing the shoot, she felt more connected to herself and her body, and this gave her a boost of confidence like nothing else. The photo shoot allowed her to see her body differently, and it helped her accept who she was becoming. There was something liberating about the experience that she knew would be truly empowering to all women. “I felt like there was a part of me that was awakened that was dormant for such a long time. I saw myself as beautiful and I felt empowered…. ALIVE!!”
Even though Jaime knew how great doing a boudoir session made her feel and how it gave her the confidence to take risks in her business and even brought back that sexy feeling within her, she was still quite apprehensive about offering boudoir sessions because she did not know how it would be received in the relatively conservative Trinidad and Tobago market. She was fearful of what people would think, considering the preconceived notions of the boudoir concept being just about raunchy, lewd pictures of young, fit women. She knew if she were going to do this, it would be a challenge because she had to change long-standing, ingrained beliefs people had about age, beauty, and their bodies. She desperately wanted to show them they are beautiful at all ages and body sizes in their lives.
Well, she was not even marketing it as a service when, as fate would have it, a brave client phoned Jamie one day and asked if she would do some ‘sexy pictures’ of her. At once, she knew that it was her opportunity to shoot boudoir photography, and she felt this was the universe’s nudge, urging her to move forward. She accepted the job. With her nerves doing the tango on her waning confidence, Jaime did her first official boudoir shoot, and from that moment, she was totally hooked.
Shooting boudoir offered Jaime a degree of freedom that was not present in the other genres she was photographing, angles of the body, facial expressions, freedom of movement, etc. Jaime likens the feeling of doing boudoir photography for the first time to getting the final piece of a puzzle in place. It was what she always wanted to do but did not know until that moment. Her client loved the entire experience and loved her ‘sexy pictures’ that were very tastefully done. This was Jaime’s chance to showcase her version of boudoir, classy and artfully prepared. Her client urged her to continue what she was doing, and it was this client’s encouragement that gave her the confidence to put herself out there as a boudoir photographer.
As a 40+-year-old woman, Jaime realizes that as women age, their bodies change and they lose self-confidence because they no longer look and feel the way they did when they were younger. Doing a boudoir session helps them to embrace who they are at this stage in life. Until just a few years prior, the self-care and self-love movement was nonexistent. Women were not given the opportunity and permission to love themselves openly, and those who did were often looked upon as being selfish or self-obsessed. Our constructs of what love is were based on a self-sacrificial type of love, and women are pressured to think that if they didn’t sacrifice their wants and needs for those of their families, they weren’t good wives or mothers. Jaime believes that loving yourself and practicing self-care is not selfish but necessary to replenish yourself on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels and help women give back even more to their loved ones. Jaime wants to empower women in their mid-thirties and beyond through boudoir photography, specifically because she knows firsthand how aging affected her self-esteem, and wants to help women who may be feeling the same way. “I think it’s so important as a woman to uplift other women.”
Shooting boudoir photography allowed her to get to know women on a deeper level and to uncover their fears and insecurities. “Many of my clients would often express that they would love to do a boudoir shoot, but first they have to lose 10lbs-20lbs… but I often express that doing a shoot like this would help them see their body in a different light and would help them to embrace the body they now have”, Jaime said. Another sentiment uttered by women is: ‘when they get the confidence, then they will do a session’. But the fact of the matter is that a boost in confidence is the inevitable and ultimate byproduct of a boudoir session. “It doesn’t come before; it happens after!” Jaime will often say to women, “You don’t need to have the confidence to do a shoot; all it takes is a little bit of bravery to take the first step and reach out to me, and I will be there to support you every step of the way after that. I will have confidence in you even when you don’t have it in yourself. Even if you don’t have confidence in yourself right now, have confidence in me as an artist who is going to bring out that beauty in you that you’ve always wanted to see.”
Continuing to fight the presumption that boudoir photography is superficial and is just about taking some sexy pictures that only showcase your body is a cause Jaime has taken up. She continues to show women that this experience goes a whole lot deeper and changes the way we see ourselves. For many women, this is a transformative experience because, before doing a session, societal conditioning has led them to believe that to be worthy, they had to be young and have a certain body type. A boudoir session gives all women, regardless of age, size, shape, or color, the opportunity to see themselves in a beautiful, positive light and discover facets of their personality they might not normally see. This gives them a newfound appreciation for themselves. Jaime realized that this was an opportunity to help many women redefine what beauty means to them. This new definition is quite empowering and is a driving force for change in other areas of their lives.
The transformation in how clients saw themselves was not just about showing them the beauty of their bodies, but also about capturing the beauty inside them. What many people do not know is that this inner beauty is often shown through our subconscious body language. This is something Jaime has spent a lot of time studying. She not only poses your body, but guides, directs, and coaches your body language, resulting in beautiful, captivating images full of emotion. This is actually the secret sauce and why we are drawn to images in magazines and feel moved by them.
A session with Jaime is like having your very own magazine-styled photo shoot. A lot goes into planning the shoot; it is a collaborative effort between her and the clients. Their needs and deepest desires are considered and incorporated into the concept creation process. Recently, she even made a pair of angel wings for a client who told her she wanted to be a Victoria’s Secret angel, and since then, many other clients have used them for their shoots. She takes meticulous care in coordinating details, which helps her to create a shoot that is utterly unique to them.
In true magazine-styled shoot fashion, a stylist is always used, so Jaime provides wardrobe and styling advice to clients, so the best outfits are chosen that flatter their specific body type. In her studio, boudoir does not only equate to lingerie. Everyday clothing items such as jackets, boots, and scarves are made to look sexy. Clients often leave the session having learnt a few fashion tips and tricks.
The shoot day is truly a day of pampering for clients that many women look forward to. As soon as they enter her warm and inviting studio space, they realize it is their opportunity to step out of their shoes as caregiver, wife, mother, career woman, etc., and into those stilettos like SJP on Sex and the City. They are free to be whoever they want without judgment, shame, guilt, or expectations from anyone else. Jaime understands the importance of first making women look good so that they can feel more confident in front of the camera, from her own personal experience and from working with everyday women. This is why a makeover with airbrush makeup and hair is done before the shoot. Once clients are looking fabulous, they move into the fully guided shoot where Jaime’s knowledge of posing the various body types allows their personality to shine in a way that captures women’s beauty with magazine-quality results.
The client’s day is not complete until they have seen their professionally edited images at the end of the day. This is by far the most impactful and powerful part of their journey. Imagine being told all your life that to be loved and accepted, you had to fit into a predetermined mold, or you were not considered beautiful or worthy. Then all of a sudden, you see an image of yourself that is utterly magnificent, and that takes your breath away. You no longer believe you are unworthy but now see your own beauty. This is a step on their journey of self-acceptance and self-love, and the power of shifting women’s mindsets about beauty. Jaime believes that her job as their photographer is not complete until she helps clients to decide on the best way to enjoy their images, whether it’s an album, wall art, or individual matted prints.
Clients leave their boudoir experience with stunning images of themselves and a sense of feeling like supermodels or rock stars. This newfound level of confidence seems to permeate through other areas of their lives. It is not unusual for clients to contact Jaime afterward, saying that after their boudoir shoot, they felt more confident being themselves in their relationship with their significant other or even felt more confident in pursuing a long-held dream. Doing the boudoir shoot has shown them that if they can do something they thought unattainable, then they can do even more. What might have been impossible is now possible.
Today, Jaime continues to empower women through her photoshoots at her studio in Trinidad & Tobago and hopes that an increasing number of women will grow to love themselves a little more. Jaime warmly invites you to her online world because she realizes that, oftentimes, normal women may secretly want to do a boudoir session but fear judgment and a lack of confidence, which can cause them to lose their motivation to try. However, being in a space with like-minded women normalizes and celebrates this new concept of showcasing beauty, which is why she has created a private, ladies-only Facebook group, Boudoir: Discovering the YOU in Be-YOU-tiful. It is a safe, judgment-free space for women of all sizes to be body positive, motivated, uplifted, and to practice self-love through boudoir photography.
To learn more about Jaime, visit her website at www.JaimeRampersad.com.
OTHER FEATURES INCLUDED
