October 30, 2026
October 30, 2026
You Became a Mother. You Never Stopped Being You.
The Philosophy Behind Still Her, a Los Angeles Motherhood Boudoir Project
I’ve spent years photographing women, and there’s one conversation I keep having with mothers.
They describe a distance between who they were before children and who they are now.
It isn’t that they don’t love their children, or that motherhood hasn’t brought beautiful things into their lives. It’s that somewhere in all that change, making space for themselves became more complicated.
Their bodies changed. Their priorities shifted. Their time became less their own.
And sometimes, the woman they knew before motherhood started to feel a little harder to recognize.
I’ve thought a lot about those conversations.
And I’ve wondered what it would mean to create a space where a mother could be photographed without being asked to be anything other than herself.
That’s where Still Her came to fruition.
Motherhood Changes You. It Doesn’t Erase You.
There’s a lot of language around motherhood that suggests women should immediately find their way back to who they used to be.
But I don’t believe the woman you were before motherhood is the only version of you worth remembering.
You’ve changed. Anybody would, quite frankly it would be strange if you didn’t evolve.
Life happened. Your body has carried you through new experiences. Your relationships, your responsibilities, and maybe even your understanding of yourself has evolved.
Feeling like you’ve lost yourself in motherhood doesn’t mean you actually have.
And it doesn’t mean you have to return to an earlier version of yourself.
You can love the life you’ve created and still want something that belongs entirely to you.
Why Boudoir?
When we think about photographing motherhood, we often picture a mother holding her baby, embracing her children, or surrounded by her family.
Those photographs matter. They’re part of a beautiful and important visual history.
But they tell only one part of your story.
I’m interested in the woman outside of that relationship.
The woman with her own relationship to her body. Her own desires, contradictions, interests, and inner life.
The woman who exists when no one is calling her Mom.
That’s why Still Her is a boudoir project rather than a traditional motherhood portrait session.
Boudoir allows me to photograph you in a way that feels intimate, personal, and entirely your own.
And intimacy doesn’t have to mean performing sensuality or becoming someone bolder than you feel.
It can be quiet. Playful. Vulnerable. Strong. Soft. Unexpected.
There isn’t one correct way to show up in front of my camera.
I guide every moment of your session. I demonstrate every pose so you can simply mirror me, I always ask before touching, and we usually begin in your most conservative look and build from there.
You will not be left standing there wondering what to do with your hands. That’s my job.
Still, the experience is always a collaboration. Your comfort, your boundaries, and the parts of yourself you want to express matter.
And your images are yours. Nothing is ever shared without your explicit permission.
The goal isn’t to create a character.
It’s to make photographs where you’re still you. Still her.
Your Body Does Not Need to Go Back to Anything
One of the things I feel most strongly about is the pressure placed on women’s bodies after motherhood.
There’s an expectation that physical changes are problems to solve. That there is an ideal timeline for returning to a certain weight, shape, or appearance.
Still Her rejects that idea.
You do not need to lose weight before being photographed.
You do not need to hide the evidence of what your body has experienced.
And I won’t edit that evidence away afterward. I never retouch stretch marks or scars, and I never pose a body to make it look smaller.
You also do not need to feel confident before you walk into the studio.
Confidence is not an admission requirement.
I’m not here to argue you into loving every inch of your body. I’d rather create an experience where you don’t have to judge it first, and let the photographs show you what I see.
Your body is already part of your story.
It deserves to exist in your photographs as it is now.
You Haven’t Lost Yourself in Motherhood
I created Still Her because I wanted to give this idea a place of its own.
A project devoted to the woman who exists alongside motherhood, not as an afterthought, but as the subject.
I want women to have photographs that aren’t about what they do for other people.
Photographs where they aren’t holding someone else, caring for someone else, or fulfilling an expectation of how a mother should look.
Just photographs of themselves.
And I don’t believe every woman will want that. Intimate portraiture is deeply personal, and it isn’t something anyone should feel obligated to do.
But for the woman who reads this and feels something familiar, I wanted the invitation to exist.
Not because she needs fixing.
Not because motherhood has made her less of herself.
But because she is here, now, in a chapter of life that is entirely worthy of being remembered.
You became a mother. You never stopped being you.
And that’s the heart of Still Her.
If you’re still wondering whether boudoir is right for you as a mom, I wrote a whole post on that question: As a Mom, Is Boudoir for Me?
About the Still Her Motherhood Project
Still Her is a Los Angeles motherhood boudoir project created by Elili, the owner of ELI Boudoir.
This inaugural, limited project is open to women who have welcomed a child within the past decade, and offers a private, fully guided portrait experience centered on the woman herself, with professional makeup included.
Reservations close at the end of 2026. Sessions take place through March 2027 at ELI Boudoir’s private studio, so your artwork is on its way to you before Mother’s Day.