Unbox Yourself: A Story of Liberation with Shannon

Mar 21

Some shoots are more than just photographs — they’re full-body exhalations of something long-held, long-dreamed, long-felt.

Shannon came to me with a vision she'd carried in her heart for years. A concept she had finally given herself permission to bring to life.

“Unbox Yourself” was more than a creative idea — it was a reclamation.

We began in the middle of Gillies Grove, a towering old-growth forest in Arnprior that felt sacred in its stillness. Shannon stood inside a large cardboard box, dressed in a crisp suit. On the outside of the box were words that so many of us — especially women — have been labeled with: too much, too emotional, too loud, too soft.

This was the box. The one we’re handed. The one we unconsciously tape ourselves into, folding in all the pieces of us that don’t fit inside.

And then — she broke out.

Shannon didn’t just step out of the box; she ripped it apart. She peeled off the layers that weren’t hers to carry and emerged as something transformed. Barefoot in the woods, she became a vision of self-actualization — glowing, untamed, wild and free.

Like a phoenix from the ashes of expectation, she rose.