The Watering Hole Blog

Laughing at Ourselves – Boudoir Photo Shoot…

MA & Roxanne selfie at East Sooke

Laughing at Ourselves – Boudoir Photo Shoot, Thong Faux Pas & the Pub Crawl Sprawl

 

MA & Roxanne, East Sooke Regional Park

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.”

– Michael Pritchard

The above photo of me and photographer Roxanne Low was taken a few years ago – right after our rather comical photo shoot that took place in a park. Roxanne specializes in boudoir photos, so that’s exactly what we were doing in East Sooke Regional Park on Vancouver Island.

And let me tell you, I had not laughed that hard in a long time!

The afternoon started with us non-chalantly walking out of the parking lot and wandering into the wilderness…carrying a stepladder, fluffy white duvet and a rather large suitcase (boy, did we ever get some strange looks!) and then for one reason or another, the day just got more and more comical from there.

Before I tell you what happened, I’ll first share this funny story I’d read in O Magazine, that tied in beautifully with the “lingerie/laughing at ourselves” theme:

“Recently, my pants split right down the back without my knowledge, and I walked around a friend’s house for hours, mingling and refreshing my drink, before somebody said, “Oh, honey, is that your butt?”

It was indeed my butt! I was wearing a brick red thong and a maxi pad that peeked out of it like a duck bill. Truly, it couldn’t have been worse. And still I laughed. I was among friends. It would be a funny story later. The pants were getting old anyway. As was worrying about things that don’t merit worry. Things that make me perfectly human.”

– Katie Arnold-Ratliff, O Magazine, August 2017

Can you imagine?!

And yet…on the topic of underwear (or lack there-of, as the case may be), here’s a rather embarrassing story of my own. The story is so legendary, it even has a title: 

“The Pub Crawl Sprawl” 

I was 28 at the time of the incident. I had been married to my husband John for about 6 months and we were living in an apartment in Calgary. He was out at the bar with his friends. I had been out on a pub crawl with my friends and had arrived back at the apartment before him. I’d crawled into bed – but when I heard him and his buddies coming down the hallway, for some reason I jumped out of bed, opened the front door and then turned back inside…and was heading back to bed when I passed out, face-down on the hallway carpet.

So when John and his buddies came around the corner to check on me, they found me face-down on the floor…my nightie up over my head, bare butt in the air. Oh dear. John was beyond mortified!

I dare say that was my last pub crawl.

Back to the Boudoir Photo Shoot in Sooke…

Roxanne and I laughed and laughed and laughed…at each other, at ourselves, at the circumstances. And I think that joy and lightheartedness ended up being reflected in the photos.

From the Search & Rescue exercise underway around the corner. to the multiple hikers who traipsed right through the middle of our photo shoot, to the fact that, try as a I might, I just couldn’t get the hang of “ballet hands” (a way of holding one’s hands so they look relaxed and graceful), it is rather amazing that I was able to stop laughing long enough for Roxanne to snap a few pics.

But snap she did. For I was in the hands of a pro who captured the essence of me: sassy, smart, strong & sporty.

Related blogs by Maryanne

Sassy in Sooke – Boudoir Photo Shoot Follow-Up

A Few Laughs for Father’s Day – Funny Sayings from the Alex Pope Quote Collection

Finding Faith – In Ourselves

Put It Out There – Whatever “It” Is For You

Embracing Our Embarrassments – Our Courage Gives Others Candour

Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her regular weekly blog, please sign up here.

 

 

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2 thoughts on “Laughing at Ourselves – Boudoir Photo Shoot…”

  1. Just back from my walk with Gracie and was thinking of you! How are you doing? I would love to arrange that supper “date ” that we have been talking about. We could do an early supper.and a walk one evening? What is your schedule like.?

    Brenda

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