Veronika Teo Photography, Brighton (2026)

28/07/2022

How does love exist and manifest itself in a world of heterosexual privilege? Can love survive beyond heteronormativity and what shape does it take? These are some of the questions I ask when I think of q***r love and I strive to answer them through “Queer Love Series”.

Documenting q***r love and q***r stories helps me navigate and understand my own way of interpreting love in its infinite beautiful forms.

I recently spoke with Olive & Ruby about their love.

Olive says:

"We've been together for over ten years and every day it's a choice to be with each other. A love that is fun and light, that doesn’t show its many scars or the weight of its baggage. We’ve lived on the canals of London and up on the Trent near Nottingham but now we have a cute basement flat in Seven Dials with our dog Ronnie. We’ve been through a lot of changes, personally and together for the last decade, but every day is a choice to be together, and so far every day we have said yes.”

Thank you both for sharing your story. 🌞

***rlove ***rlovers ***rartist 🌈 ***r ***rphotographer

26/05/2021

Feel the sound of paper.

Models
Project for
Director

***rperformance ***rartist

25/05/2021

No gravity allows dance to happen.

Models Gia &
Project for
Director

***rperformance ***rartist

19/05/2021

If you got offered £500,000 today, what would you do with it? 🌱

Model:

17/05/2021

If you were made of paper, what would you be most afraid of: water or fire? 💦🔥

Model
Project for
Director

26/11/2020

How do you cope with solitude?

I love Georgie’s laughter and honesty, she’s mesmerising to be around and I still can’t believe she actually got in the ocean on this freezing weather. Well done girl 🥶 🌊

Georgie’s words of self-love are beyond beautiful:

“Solitude is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and help us decide what to do with our life."
Paulo Coehlo

“This section of one of my favourite books speaks of solitude and how important it is to our personal development. My self-love journey has been shaped by moments of solitude, where I have been able to sit with whatever comes up.

Self love has been a bit of a mad journey for me, triggered by an unexpected heartbreak and a very timely self-love workshop on the same day (coincidence? I think not). That same year I went on to teach three self-love workshops in the UK and Sri Lanka. It is a practice which is very close to my heart and part of my daily ritual.

1. Journalling is a massive part of my self-care routine, brain dumping all the emotions from the day and starting again with a fresh head full of gratitude ✨
2. Meditation has been a constant in my life for the last 3/4 years and although I've skipped days here and there, I’ve always come back to it as my refuge.
3. Dancing, music is a huge part of my family and anything coming out of a soundsystem is healing vibrations for me 💛💚❤️”

Thank you Georgie .knotted.yogi for taking part in the Self Indulged 2020 project about self love.

20/11/2020

What did you do for yourself today?

Yesterday I met Jasmine and we spoke about self-care and how aspiring to be perfect is not necessarily productive. Wherever you are in your creative journey, rather than focusing on perfecting your skills, focus on enjoying the process! Just do it, the rest with come naturally.

Part of my latest photo project Self-Indulged 2020, Jasmine told me more about self-love:

What is self-love for you?

“Self love is seeing the shadow sides of myself and sitting with them. It's holding the hand of that shadow and saying "I see you and baby, I fu***ng love you, hard!". I have found perfectionism to be a really halting force in my life, so holding space for the parts of me I used to shun, due to them being "imperfect", is really important for me to be able to serve others effectively through teaching and releasing work/projects/content.

I used to think self-love, was really bigging myself up and loving those parts of myself that others loved - as someone who is a performer, I was taught through the praise of my gifts, that they were parts of me it was socially acceptable to Love. I've found though, that the parts that need more love, are actually the less socially acceptable parts of myself.

It's not a case of loving those shadows and being like, "hey, you're really destructive so you can stay", but rather accepting them and sending them loving compassion so they can heal, rather than shunning them and burying them under mountains of denial. Its like being with a child who is acting out, and asking them what is wrong and causing them to lash out, rather than punishing them for their behaviour.”

Model: .newsome.yoga

14/11/2020

Being stuck indoors has been both a challenge and a time of acceptance. So much inner work needs doing and it’s so refreshing to be able to simply sit with myself and listen. That’s how the project “Self-indulged 2020” started.

Meeting up with Olive felt like travelling to 5 countries simultaneously and learning new languages.. Olive is an amazing inspiring yoga teacher whose passion and determination are remarkable. And so we talked about self-love..

1. What is self-love for you?
Self-love for me is accepting myself unapologetically for where I am in the present and not creating comparisons between past versions of me or others. I came across this quote about 6 years ago when I was going through a really difficult time as a result of this negative behavioural pattern: “comparison is the death of all joy”. It’s something I keep coming back to on this journey of self-love and acceptance and over the years I’ve slowly started to truly understand what it means and apply it to my life.

2. What do you do for self-love?
My yoga, my movement, my training practice is what I keep coming back to for self-love. It’s one of the ways I feel most connected to myself because I’m always right there in the present with my mind and body. The needs and wants that I crave in my practice change daily. As a result, this adaptability to accept whatever I need has spilled over my mat and into my life with how I have started to see, accept and love myself.

Thank you Olive for participating to this project and for being a source of inspiration! 🙏🏽

Model:

04/11/2020

In conversation with Ania about self-love. Project Self-Indulged 2020.

Tell me more about your tattoos and how did they help you to gain confidence in yourself?

I am not so sure from where to start with this. I never loved my own skin, since I can remember I always felt very uncomfortable in it. I always tried to hide myself. Literally. I remember hating the summer time, when the layers become less, and I could not just hide under the clothes. Until the day I got my first tattoo and I realised that my skin was my personal canvas and I had the choice to be able to change it permanently with art. It was 2008, 13 years ago. I was 17, lost and hurt in a world where I seem to do not fit.

My first tattoo has a special memory, it does carry the memory of a friend, of a person that for the small amount of time I knew her, she tought me how to approach life with positivity and a smile. It was a little tattoo, on my neck hidden from everyone and everything, a tribute to her life. I remember clearly the feeling of the tattoo machine on my skin, and how the process helped me connect and release my emotions. This was 13 years ago and it is still so clear in my mind. Since then, I started adding more and more, to the point where I have lost the count.

Each one of my tattoos has a meaning, a story to tell, something to remember and that is why they are on my skin. They helped me to remember “Who is Ania?” when I was lost and surrendering to the darkness; they make my skin special and unique, they make my body easier to carry even when it is heavy and I just do not want it. They make me smile when I look at the mirror, they make me confident to stand in front of a camera with my binder on and exposed;I am not afraid anymore of who I am and to show it to the world, and each little bit of the ink on my skin has helped me reach this point. Step by step, collecting art on my own skin, carefully select from me for myself with love.”
Model:

01/11/2020

I don’t need jumpers, just cover me in leaves 🍁
Model:
🍁 #🍁

25/10/2020

When she smiles, you can feel how much she loves herself. Today I had a beautiful conversation with Eva about self-love and how important it is to take time for yourself, to listen to your own needs and learn to be self-sufficient.

“A friend once told me "you don't find time, you make it." So for me, self-love is about making time for yourself, and knowing that having a blank square in your diary doesn't necessarily mean you're available.

I try to schedule a few things in that are just for me - a bubble bath, a face mask, going out for breakfast alone - every week. That way it feels normal to do something kind for myself; it's not a treat.”

Project: Self-Indulged 2020
Model:

23/10/2020

What is Self Love for you?

In my new project “Self Indulged”, I am talking to friends about self love and what does it mean to them.

I am photographing powerful bodies who tell the story of growth and love.

Ania talks about confidence and loving themselves with such an inspiring inner voice, it’s so remarkable and beautiful.

“1. What do you do for self-love?

What does self-love mean? I quote some random dude on the internet, whom explanation resonate with what I feel self-love is to me :

“Self-love means having a high regard for your own well-being and happiness. Self-love means taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others. Self-love means not settling for less than you deserve.”

What do I do for self-love? Or what I did to respect and love myself more?

- I have taken acknowledge of how much I am worth.
- I finally got out of the “persona” I had build for myself over the years, thinking back then that I was being true to myself. When in reality the only thing I was doing, was HIDING. Because I was too scared of not being accepted.
- I have started to have boundaires for my own well-being which I live up to, and for no matter who or what I promised myself I would never cross.
- I am compassionate towards myself when I am having a bad day with my mental health, and I choose to take a day off rather than working.
- I have started to say NO rather then always please others.
- I take all the time that I need to process and be in contact with my emotions, even when those emotions are unbareable.
- I take myself alone for a coffee date with a book and my jornual.
- I write my self small reminder around the house, reminding myself to love myself unconditionally.
- I practice meditation as much as I can as I know that helps my anxiety and to have a clearer mind.
- The list could go on and on, but basically what do it do for self-love it is anything that empowers me and my energies.”

Veronika Teo Photography

28/07/2022

26/05/2021

25/05/2021

19/05/2021

17/05/2021

26/11/2020

20/11/2020

14/11/2020

04/11/2020

01/11/2020

25/10/2020

23/10/2020

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