Women Supporting Women Through Photography | A Love Letter to Sisterhood, Strength, and Storytelling
There’s a quiet revolution happening, one started through ancient elders, and woven through small acts of support, creative collaboration, shared struggles, and fierce celebration. Women are lifting each other. Choosing community over competition. Showing up for one another in ways that matter.
And at the heart of this movement? Storytelling. Witnessing. Holding space.
Women Supporting Women | It Takes a Village by Marley & The Wildlings Photography
That’s where photography comes in for me, especially when it’s by women, for women.
Whether we’re capturing the power of motherhood, the confidence of a woman owning her body, or the quiet strength of rebuilding after heartbreak, female photographers have a unique way of seeing, feeling, and holding space. We know what it means to need support, to crave visibility, to long for someone to really see us.
Because we’ve been there, too.
Why Women Supporting Women Matters, Especially in Photography
Photography isn’t just about pictures. It’s about being witnessed.
And for so many women, that’s a radical act.
We live in a world that asks women to shrink. To be quiet. To self edit. To prioritise being palatable over powerful. But photography? When done with care, with intention, with heart, it gives women a mirror that says:
“You are enough. Just as you are. You are allowed to take up space.”
When we photograph each other as women, when we tell each other’s stories, we create ripples. We normalise softness and strength coexisting. We honour the messy middles, the sacred milestones, the in between seasons.
That is sisterhood in action.
That is photography as activism.
That is women supporting women, lens first, heart always.
Women holding women, holding women, holding women by Marley & The Wildlings Photography
Why It Matters to Hire Women Owned Photography Businesses
Every time you book a female photographer, you’re not just investing in photos. You’re investing in her art, her dream, her livelihood. You’re saying:
“I believe in your vision. Help me see myself.”
Supporting women led photography businesses is a powerful form of economic empowerment. It helps mothers build careers that allow them to be present with their children. It helps survivors build lives rooted in healing and creativity. It allows women of all backgrounds to rise, on their terms.
It’s a ripple effect. When you support one woman, she supports others. She hires other women. She collaborates. She lifts. She gives back.
Photography as a Tool for Healing, Empowerment & Community
Photography can hold us through some of our most vulnerable moments:
Becoming a mother.
Reclaiming your body.
Building a business.
Leaving a relationship.
Starting again.
As a female photographer, I don’t just snap pictures. I see you. I listen. I create a space where you can show up as yourself, unfiltered, unposed, and held with compassion.
This is especially important when it comes to sessions like:
Boudoir and maternity photography, where women want to feel empowered, not objectified.
Soul sessions, where the goal isn’t the perfect photo — it’s an honest one.
Personal brand photography for women in business, where we celebrate what you’ve built and the woman behind it.
We cry. We laugh. We drink coffee (and sometimes Asti!). We honour the sacred in the everyday.
This is what it means to be in community. This is what it means to raise each other up.
A Couples Photoshoot in Nottinghamshire by Marley & The Wildlings Photography
Why Representation and Inclusivity Matter
Women supporting women means all women.
That includes:
Black and Brown Women
Mothers and non mothers
Queer and trans women
Neurodivergent women
Women of all shapes, ages, and abilities
Photography should be a space where all women feel welcome, seen, and safe. That’s a responsibility I hold with deep care. Because when women see themselves reflected in art, honestly and beautifully, it’s life changing.
Creating a Village, One Photograph at a Time
The idea that “it takes a village” doesn’t end with raising children. It applies to all of us.
It takes a village to rise. To rest. To begin again.
And for so many of us, that village is made up of women:
The friend who shows up when you’re heartbroken.
The sister who reminds you of who you are.
The mentor who believes in your business.
The photographer who sees you, fully, and hands you back a version of yourself you forgot.
Through photography, I get to build tiny pieces of that village. one connection at a time.
How You Can Support Women Right Now
Donate to charities that support women in any way - (FIVEXMORE | Refuge | Women for Women International | Muslim Women Network to name a few)
Shout out women you love working with, word of mouth is gold and costs nothing!
Buy from women owned small businesses
Show up in your own power, so others feel safe to do the same
Hold space, listen, celebrate, without conditions
Book a female owned photography business (like mine ✨)
Some of My Favourite Women, and Their Businesses
Here is a selection of just some of the women in my life’s badass, colourful, nurturing, soulful, vibrant, supportive, natural, holistic, expansive and endlessly poetic businesses. Do give them a visit if you have time!
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My wonderful, supportive and very long time friend Mel runs Herbalist Workshops, and creates Herbalist Resources under her business Around Rowan’s Table.
Follow her on Instagram to hear about upcoming workshops.
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My incredibly talented, creative, gloriously kind hearted, florist friend, who had the biggest hand at talking me into crossing over into the world of Wedding Photography.
I cannot explain just how stunning this lady’s floristry work, or heart are.
If you need flowers for any occasion - Weddings, Farewells, a Random Bouquet, and also not forgetting her workshops, CHECK HER OUT.
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My endlessly talented sister in law’s artwork is beautiful, minimalistic, and is based on “Crafting the stories of our human experience through the medium of textile.”
Check out her website HERE
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My gorgeous, supportive, and far too supportive in the getting my privacy notice »just right« friend Emily, is one of the best in the biz if you’re looking for support in getting your business GDPR up to scratch, and keeping them that way!
RMGirl Website
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I feel so utterly strongly about how amazingly nurturing and supportive this environment is, that the proof is in the pudding by me putting my trust into the lovely Claire who owns WN, and the other women leaders there, to be responsible for a chunk of my children’s lives. I definitely don’t trust environments for my children that easily.
And that is thanks to the beautiful roots Claire has been putting down there for years (well, generations if you count the fact it’s her family’s farm it’s ran from!), that it has grown into something so beautiful and inclusive.
Could not recommend this place enough! It has all day forest school for big home ed kids, stay and play for with the littles (or older kids if you’re the parent who refuses to give up your own forest school fun), and holiday clubs too!
Woodland Nurture
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Lesley is a client turned friend, who has been the biggest cheerleader for this little photography biz of mine.
She also happens to be a pre and postnatal doula, holistic parenting support and actual scientist.
The Holistic Doula Instagram
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Tessa is my little, vibrant, witchy, ethereal mystic.
She was the first to jump at my SOUL session photography, and wow was she made for it.
Her business offers Spiritual Life Coaching, Psychic Services, Healing, Education and more!
Fabled Moon Mystic Website
Instagram
Ready to Be Seen, Celebrated, and Supported?
Whether you’re a woman in business, a mother to be, or someone simply craving connection and visibility, I’m here to hold space for you.
I offer relaxed, soul led photography sessions across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and beyond, celebrating real women and their stories. I believe in the magic of honesty, in the power of sisterhood, and in building a more compassionate, inclusive world, one photograph at a time.
📷 Explore My Soul Sessions & Portraits
💛 Support a Female-Owned Photography Business
Let’s create something beautiful together.