Influencer and mum of four Aimee Connor takes us behind the scenes of her fashion shoot at The Photo Studio Sydney, and reveals the photographs that helped her see turning 40 in an entirely new way.
By Aimee Connor
If you read the first part of my story, you’ll know that this all started with one very simple decision. I decided to say yes.
Yes to turning 40. Yes to doing things that frightened me a little. Yes to stepping outside the comfortable world I’d built around motherhood, family and responsibility, to find out whether another version of me was waiting on the other side.
Today I finally get to show you what happened. The fashion shoot, the behind-the-scenes moments and, most importantly, the photographs.
Even now, looking at them feels a little surreal. When I walked into The Photo Studio Sydney that morning, I thought I was there to have my photograph taken. I had no idea I was about to change the way I saw myself.
The morning I nearly lost my nerve
I arrived excited, but incredibly nervous. Hair and makeup aren’t part of my everyday life. Professional styling certainly isn’t. And standing in front of a camera while an entire team focuses on you? Definitely not my comfort zone.
For years my world had revolved around four children, work, school runs and all the little responsibilities that quietly fill every corner of your life. Somewhere in there, I’d forgotten what it felt like to do something purely because I wanted to.
Part of me was wondering: what am I doing here?
But the team put me at ease almost immediately. They explained everything before it happened. Nothing felt rushed. I always knew what was coming next. That might sound small, but when you’re stepping into an unfamiliar environment it makes an enormous difference. I didn’t have to walk in knowing how to be a model. I could just be me.
Then the fashion started
Working with stylist Taylor was where the transformation really began. We went through my wardrobe, talked about different looks and started putting outfits together.
What I loved was that the idea wasn’t to turn me into somebody else. It was almost the opposite. We were finding different versions of me – some elegant, some stronger, some playful, some well beyond what I’d normally choose for myself.
Then photographer Angelo and I sat down with the mood board and talked colours, backgrounds, lighting and the feeling we wanted each photograph to capture. That was the point when it stopped feeling like having my photograph taken. We were creating something, and suddenly I wanted to see how far we could take it.
Welcome to my fashion-shoot moment
Walking onto the set was surreal. Cameras, lights, giant reflector boards, wind machines, music, wardrobe changes, hair and makeup artists stepping in between shots. For one day, this mum of four was standing in the middle of her own fashion shoot. And I loved it.
The first few photographs probably still had a little nervous Aimee in them. Then something changed. I stopped wondering what I looked like. I stopped worrying about where my hands were or whether I was “doing it right”. I started laughing. Moving. Playing. Trusting Angelo. Having fun.
That’s when the real photographs began.
And then came the pink dress
Of all the looks we created, there was one I kept coming back to: the pink dress. Playful, bold, joyful and not something I’d normally choose – which, looking back, is exactly why I loved it.
Perhaps that’s one of the lessons I’m taking into my forties. The things we instinctively dismiss as “not really me” might be exactly what we need to try. Maybe they aren’t “not us”. Maybe they’re simply parts of ourselves we haven’t met yet.
Then I saw her
When I first saw the final images, I almost didn’t recognise the woman looking back at me. Not because the makeup or lighting had transformed me into someone else. Quite the opposite. I recognised myself. That was what surprised me.
I saw happiness. Confidence. Playfulness. A woman who looked comfortable taking up space. And I realised I hadn’t seen her for a very long time. Maybe I hadn’t allowed myself to.
It was unexpectedly emotional. When you’re raising children and building a family, you don’t suddenly disappear. It’s quieter than that. Your attention simply moves towards the people you love. You become Mum. Partner. Worker. Organiser. Sports taxi driver. The person who remembers what everyone needs and where everyone has to be.
Those roles matter enormously to me. But the photographs reminded me that Aimee was still in there too.
Why 40 suddenly feels different
Here’s the strange part. I don’t remember feeling this confident when I was younger. At 20, I’d have searched these photographs for everything that was wrong. At 40, I looked at them and thought: maybe confidence isn’t something we’re handed when we’re young. Maybe we earn it – through motherhood, mistakes, relationships, difficult years, starting again, and discovering what matters and, more importantly, what doesn’t.
I’ve spent so much of my life thinking about what other people need from me. Turning 40 is making me ask a different question: what do I want from the next part of my life?
I think I’m finally beginning to answer it. I want to keep growing. To be curious. To do things badly before I learn to do them well. To feel butterflies. To embarrass my children occasionally. To laugh loudly. To wear that pink dress for real. And most of all, to keep saying yes.
I thought I was booking a photoshoot
At the start of this, I said I wanted to find that rush you get when your heart beats faster because you’re doing something you’ve never done before. Walking out of The Photo Studio Sydney, I realised I’d found it.
But the greatest thing I took home wasn’t a beautiful photograph. It was permission. Permission to be seen. To try something new. To stop putting myself at the bottom of the list. To become whoever I want to become next.
That’s what these photographs represent to me now. Not a woman trying to look younger at 40, but a woman excited about becoming 40. There’s a huge difference.
Thank you to Taylor, Angelo and everyone at The Photo Studio Sydney for making me feel safe enough to step outside my comfort zone. And thank you to everyone who has followed my journey through motherhood – the messy moments, the funny ones, the vulnerable ones and now this unexpected adventure of finding myself again.
In Part One, I said I wanted to start saying yes to life. This is what happened when I did.
Forty isn’t the end of the woman I used to be. I think it might be the beginning of the woman I’m becoming.
Come and grow with me.
Aimee x
