therealkatiewest: What is BABEFEST?There’s a lot of men in the world who make a lot of money taking
therealkatiewest: What is BABEFEST?There’s a lot of men in the world who make a lot of money taking pictures of beautiful women. Often these women remain nameless and have no choice over the images taken, how they’re displayed, and how they’re distributed to a public and who that public is. These woman have a singular value to the men who shoot them. The men might say things like, “Oh, she was such a sweetheart. So great to work with,” but she still is only a first name and a bust-waist-hip size.We just think it’s a cool idea for women to be the ones to take the images, decide how they’re displayed, and how they’re distributed to a public and who that public gets to be and we like for this entire process to be a collaborative one. So once a year, we get together a bunch of women to model and shoot each other. Some are professional models or photographers, who do this as their day jobs, but some work at telecommunication companies, or as teachers, or as waitresses and they just love this – making art with their bodies and making that art say what they want it to. But BABEFEST is more than just a bunch of photoshoots back to back. It’s a day shooting and then a late night sharing stories about what it means to be a woman in this business, in this world. It’s lunchtime laughs about the worst and the best sex we’ve ever had, or the way we don’t ever want to have sex and that’s okay too. It’s exploring new places with new friends and sharing experiences that make us stronger, together. It’s encouraging self-love in a way that even if we only met an hour ago, we’re now naked and shooting and we understand the agency, vulnerability, and strength involved in such an act. It’s *click* But why do you feel you have to hide what you do from your parents? *click* I know exactly how you feel. *click* Is there any way you could combine the things you’re passionate about? *click* How can I help? *click* You are such a genius! *click* That’s my favourite Drake song too! *click* Oh my god. I am so sorry that happened to you. *click* Fuck the patriarchy. *click* You are amazing. When it’s all over, we’ve created a new network of support and encouragement that we can rely on to bounce ideas off of, to help with new projects, to give advice about art and life, to go on road trips with, to exist and encourage each other to be and do and accept Better.What BABEFEST the magazine is, is just a visual representation of the days and nights of fun we had creating together – with and for each other. And then we choose our favourite shots, put it all together, and we show it to you. All of the images are chosen and approved by everyone, the covers are voted on, and the magazine is shared and talked about as it progresses. We self-publish it. We promote it. And a year later we do it all again with new women, in new cities, and with new experiences. Because yeah, we are sweethearts and we are great to work with, but we are so much more. We deserve the opportunity to be valued for more than one facet of our beings. We want to embrace all our different bust-waist-hip sizes. We want to show you how we look from our own gaze. And we encourage you to create your own BABEFEST, out in the woods or in hotel rooms – make space for the celebration of everything that makes you first name MOTHER FUCKING last name. [Pictured and pictures by: Cam Damage, Jacs Fishburne, Faye Daniels, Echo Gardiner, Joanne Leah, Magda Olszanowski, Ruby Slipper, Kate Sweeney, and Katie West from BABEFEST Volumes 1 and 2] -- source link