Photographer Madison Machen knew she wanted to feature a unique perspective of something she has been seeing a lot of on social media. Taking the celestial goddess, Machen wanted to queer it up by featuring a male model tapping into feminine energy, pulling out the inner goddess that exists in all of us.
Marrying the dimensions of both masculine and feminine, Machen wanted to encompass a statuesque quality, an otherworldly beauty, while keeping her model, Jacob Higgins, intact.
Machen, who has been doing photography for about three years, is exercising her creative muscles again after taking a brief hiatus and is thrilled with the outcome. Machen and Higgins live in the same apartment complex, and after forming a friendship, the two thought it would be fun to collaborate and execute this glittery, celestial goddess look. After a trip to the dollar store, Machen got out the glitter and set up a backdrop in the bedroom of her 650-square-foot apartment, and the pair got to creating.
“We just had fun with it; we were laughing, and we took photos for over an hour; it was so great,” Machen describes. “He’s never modeled before, so he was like, ‘Oh I don’t know what to do; I don’t know where I should look.’ Within the first like five photos we took, I showed him. I’m like ‘Jacob, look at this! You are stunning.’”
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For Higgins, this photoshoot couldn’t have come at a better time in life. After recently going through a divorce and relocating to Colorado from Palm Springs, he is reclaiming a part of himself that he had lost in that relationship.
“It’s really interesting when you have this ‘battered wife syndrome,’ I don’t know what else to call it, that you’ve been put down for so long. It took about a year to gain my self-worth back and remember who I was,” Higgins explains.
We often think of February, the month of love, as a way to celebrate the love we have for others, but so often, we forget that the most important person we must learn to love, respect, and appreciate is ourselves.
“I’ve never been happier being in a relationship with myself,” Higgins divulges. “For 14 years, I forgot who I was and became a doormat, so it’s really exciting to rediscover these passions.”
The traumatizing and abusive relationship that Higgins left carried with it a set of scars that took some time to heal from, and he says that it was through the love of those around him that he was able to grow into owning a love for himself.
“I felt so ashamed of what I had been a part of and how I had cocooned myself from all my friends and family. It was amazing to see how many more people believed in me than I believed in myself. The fact that they were just waiting and ready to help and support and love me really helped me gain some self-worth again,” he says.
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After some intensive therapy and taking care of his body by losing 50 pounds over the course of six months, Higgins looked in the mirror and began to truly love who he saw.
He finishes by saying, “Basically, dating myself has been incredible. Now, in my opinion, if you want to join my life in a relationship, you should be a bonus to my life.”
A Renaissance of sorts, this collaboration has been a kind of rebirth for both Higgins and Machen. A reawakening of the excitement, passion, and drive that reconnecting and realigning with oneself can truly bring.
*Photos by Madison Machen
