This is what feminine embodiment can look like. Fully being in touch with ones own power. Nurtured by the earth. Touched by the elements. The silence of unwaivering presence. In full realization of ones own self-worth.

If you do not pay attention you might think Joeke looks grumpy. If that's your conclusion I invite you to look deeper, and to feel the picture, to feel her expression. What you see is a woman who isn't trying to please anyone except for herself. Who shares herself with the world fully and authentically. Who is in touch with who she is and all she can be. And who decides to step into that power in every moment.

Regal, like a lioness overlooking the savanna.

This photograph wasn't planned or staged, it happened organically and intuitively. We did a shoot at Joeke's house to celebrate sensual embodiment. But the house felt too small. The garden too. So we biked into the dunes. As we were biking I prayed to the gods for sun. But they gave us something more: a storm. Since the dunes are on the edge of land and sea, the clouds stopped there. So we have this huge storm with rain everywhere, golden sunlight showering everything with its beauty and me and Joeke being in the eye of all of this, in our silent interaction that celebrated her, us, the earth. Soon sand was thrown over her entire body and the rain made that into spots similar to the ones you find on a cheetah. With her red hair thrown around by the wind I was blown away by her beauty, the beauty of just being, the beauty of not trying, the beauty of self love, and the beauty of celebrating all of this.