Coming Out Portraits with Shira Rosenbluth at Tourmaline Beach in Pacific Beach, San Diego
Straight out of camera.
Edited image (composite of two images).
She’s here, she’s queer, and we LOVE it!
Shira is an eating disorder therapist, licensed clinical social worker, and promotes body positivity and health at every size. She was playing with the idea of booking a coming out portrait shoot and was referred to me by a mutual friend. I felt so incredibly honored to even be considered for this very important shoot. The weight of it all was not lost on me and I wanted to do my absolute best to bring her vision to life.
Initially, Shira asked if it was possible to use smoke bombs and create a rainbow effect to represent the LGBTQ+ community. I have used smoke bombs in photoshoots before so I didn’t see why not! However, after extensive research, it became apparent that using smoke bombs was riskier and would require heavy editing to create rainbow smoke. Furthermore, Shira had her heart set on a beach shoot and as protected as San Diego beaches are (thank goodness), smoke bombs were not an option. We then came across holi powder which is made of cornstarch and food dye making it non-toxic and biodegradable! I ordered a package with a variety of colors and asked my friend Sarah if she would join us and be our designated powder thrower. She enthusiastically agreed.
I did not have experience with holi powder so it took a bit of trial and error to get the shot. I started by lining up each color of the rainbow side by side on a piece of cardboard and positioned Sarah where I thought would be the best place to fling the powder. I started by placing Sarah to the side but I positioned her too far away. On the second throw, I placed Sarah behind Shira but that didn’t create the powder cloud we desired. On the third try, I mixed all the colors together on the piece of cardboard and that created the rainbow cloud we were after. By that time, we were running low on powder so some colors came through stronger than others but with the power of editing, I knew I could create some magic.
Shira also has a trusty sidekick - her service dog Bamba who stole the show with her beautiful rainbow tale and angelic personality. Of course we had to incorporate Bamba into the shoot as she is a huge part of Shira’s life and so photogenic! They strutted down the beach as a pair which was a joy to witness and resulted in some of my favorite images from the shoot. The rest of the time, Bamba had a blast behind the scenes rolling around in the sand and greeting passersby.
Without further ado, here is Shira’s coming-out story that she posted on Instagram:
“I went back and forth about whether or not to share this publicly but secrets have a way of eating at you. So here I am today sharing my truth. I am queer.
I chose to create joyful, rainbow imagery because I know that coming out will feel anything but joyful because of the pushback I’m going to get when my family and community finds out. So these images are for me — to remind me that I get to be all of me.
Yes, rainbows symbolize queerness but for me they’re also about living a full life in technicolor. Free of my eating disorder, free to be fat, free to be queer, free to be all of me.
Sharing this is terrifying. Some of you might be thinking that coming out isn’t a big deal anymore. But in the community I grew up in it sure is. I grew up ultra orthodox and for most of my life it was all I knew. There were rules around what I wore, what I ate, the music I listened to, what I said, and who I could spend time with. Sex wasn’t talked about and being completely sexually repressed was the status quo. So obviously being anything but straight wasn’t even a consideration since sex and intimacy wasn’t even a consideration.
More recently, I learned that I can practice Judaism in a way that wouldn’t reject me. I also started realizing I wasn’t straight - something that couldn’t have occurred to me when I was younger because of how repressed I was.
I shoved it all down for a while. I didn’t want to come out to my family because they would be distraught, disgusted and horrified. And who wants that kind of reaction from the people you love? I didn’t want to disclose it on social media because I knew it would lead to some orthodox people talking about me as if I weren’t human.
But the secrets got heavier and heavier to hold. I started to feel angry that I had to hide the fact that I’m queer in order not to lose respect and love from people who are important to me. I don’t want to pretend anymore. And although some of you already know from the subtle (and not so subtle) hints over the last couple of years, I wanted to be direct and share this with you.”
Thank you Shira for trusting me with capturing this very important milestone in your life. I am forever grateful and congratulations on coming out!!! ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜
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