Rockford area breast cancer survivors find power, beauty in boudoir portraits
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Two years ago Ashley Noto’s body bore the toll of breast cancer.
She had undergone a double mastectomy, and her chest was left flat on one side while the other had a tissue expander to prepare for reconstructive surgery. She had lost her hair, and her skin was stamped with radiation markups.
Then she did something many women in that condition would never consider.
“I just laid it all out there,” said Noto, 40, a breast cancer survivor.
Noto, in her most vulnerable state, connected with Toni Ashley McLaughlin of Whisper Studios to bear her body for a boudoir portrait session.
“I wanted to showcase that women still needed to feel beautiful even though they didn’t feel beautiful,” Noto said. “I thought if I put myself out there I could make someone else not feel the way I was feeling.”
Rockford-based Whisper Studios specializes in capturing authentic beauty — the kind that comes with no post-production touch-ups or Photoshop effects.
McLaughlin, who herself is a breast cancer survivor, has built a community at Whisper Studios of fellow survivors who capture their journey through cancer treatment in revealing and empowering photos.
The portrait sessions happen at different stages after diagnosis, whether it’s the raw state Noto was in post-surgery, or Kayla Wood who decided to preserve pictures of her body before her mastectomy, or Susanna Carter, who opted to capture her comeback a year after cancer.
“Women in general struggle with self confidence,” said McLaughlin, the owner and lead art director at Whisper Studios. “We live in a world where we’re constantly hit with we’re not enough from every direction. We’re standing up against that and we’re saying it’s not about who we were yesterday, it’s not about who we want to be tomorrow, but as we stand today, we are enough.”
Whisper Studios runs a campaign each year around Breast Cancer Awareness Month that provides, among other special offers, a free session to a cancer survivor for every three portrait sessions booked. Whisper Studios calls the promotion flawless.
“Cancer takes a lot away from us, but it doesn’t have to take away our confidence,” McLaughlin said. “I believe that boudoir is quite empowering and it’s so much more than just taking photos. It’s an entire healing journey from beginning to end, and it’s a lifetime where you get to look back and see these keepsakes.”
Wood was diagnosed in 2021 with Stage 2A breast cancer, facing the disease at the same time as McLaughlin. Both were 29 when they received their diagnosis.
“Even through our journeys — after the photo shoot — we kept in touch, and we talked about where we were at through everything,” said Wood, a 32-year-old certified veterinarian tech from Beloit, Wisconsin. “Now here we are almost four years later and we are still connected.”
Wood plans to do another session with Whisper Studios once her hair has further regrown so she can document herself post-recovery. She said the initial photos, taken pre-surgery, were for herself and her own sense of empowerment.
“I’ve looked at them when I’ve having a hard time with my self-confidence, or I’m going through something with my breast cancer journey and I’m experiencing some kind of self doubt and I’m feeling emotional,” she said. “I look back to where I started and think about my journey.”
Carter, a 47-year-old mother of three and 23-year career pharmaceutical representative, did her photo shoot in August on the anniversary of the completion of her treatment. She underwent chemotherapy, radiation and a lumpectomy.
“I wasn’t going to let cancer take away who I was,” she said. “I liked who I was before. … It’s a real F-you to cancer.”
Carter is a lifelong lover of fitness and yoga, and when she first decided to do the boudoir session she took it as a fitness challenge to look the same way she did before. She was also initially expecting touch-ups on the photo, but McLaughlin told her,”This isn’t about Photoshop, this is about who you are,” Carter said.
“I think that’s important to embrace that. This isn’t about fixing anything,” Carter said. “So much of what’s on Instagram and what’s out there is all filters. This is about the reality of who we are as goddesses now.”
In the end, Carter said she adores her photos, even if her hair is shorter and her body does not have the same proportions it once did.
“Can I love that person now the same way I loved who I was before,” she said. “For her to be able to empower me to feel like I got it back, it was invaluable.”
Noto recalls reading her diagnosis alone on June 7, 2021, at the towing company where she works. Her cancer was at Stage 3A, she said, “and I was like, but Stage 4 is a death sentence.” That’s when she decided to showcase her entire journey.
“I didn’t hide anything: I was raw, I was out there because I just felt like so many people have a stigma around cancer and it being a death sentence,” she said. “I just wanted people to be able to look at it and not see a dead person.”
McLaughlin, who was diagnosed 11 days before her 30th birthday in 2021, said there is an emotional toll for her to relive her own journey through cancer as she photographs women going through their treatments.
“The power behind it is worth that,” she said.
The photo shoots can be, in a way, a therapeutic experience to connect with someone who has faced the same fears. It can let them know that they’re not alone, and allow them to see the beauty that they may overlook during their toughest stages.
“In the fashion industry and in the beauty industry there’s so much negative. I just want to be a light into the world,” McLaughlin said. “Yes, these women are beautiful and it’s about time they see it.”
About | Whisper Studios
Online: whisper.gallery
Contact: 815-200-1168
Email: whisperfineart@gmail.com
Women’s only Facebook group: WhisperStudios
Instagam: @Whisper_studios
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
