Afterglow

The moment may only last a few seconds. The feeling can stay with you much longer.

What exactly is an afterglow?

It was a term we started using years ago. Most people hear the word glow and immediately think about pregnancy. We have all heard someone look at an expecting mother and say, “You’re glowing.”

But pregnancy certainly isn’t the only time someone glows.

Behind the camera, we have been lucky enough to see that glow appear in many different ways.

Confidence After the Camera Clicks

One of the places we saw it most often was during boudoir photography.

Many women would arrive for their session nervous, self-conscious, and wondering what they had gotten themselves into. The first few camera clicks could feel uncomfortable. The poses felt unfamiliar. Sometimes it took twenty or thirty minutes before they really started settling in.

Then something changed.

They stopped worrying so much about the camera. Their shoulders relaxed. Their confidence started showing. And when we turned the camera around and showed them one of their photographs, there was often this look on their face.

That glow.

It was the realization that yes, that really is me.

The woman who walked through the door unsure of herself was suddenly smiling, standing a little taller and saying something we heard more than once: “I need to do this again.”

That feeling afterward—that confidence that stays with you after the camera stops clicking—is an Afterglow.

That same idea of confidence and connection also helped inspire Midnight Lace, Afterglow’s darker sister story.

The Glow of Accomplishment

But we’ve seen it in many other places too.

We’ve photographed graduates walking across a stage after years of studying, long nights, early mornings, setbacks and hard work. Someone places that diploma or certificate in their hand, and suddenly everything it took to get there becomes worth it.

Look at their face afterward.

There it is again.

The glow.

The Glow of a New Beginning

We’ve photographed newborns too. There is something completely different about watching a new parent hold their baby and seeing that tiny child look back into their eyes.

For a moment, the rest of the world disappears.

Then comes the smile. The pride. The excitement.

And afterward comes that glow.

The Glow After Giving Everything

Then there are the athletes.

Imagine spending four months—or much longer—preparing for just a few minutes on stage.

Meals planned throughout the day. Gallons of water. Early alarms. Training when your body is exhausted. Saying no to the snooze button because every workout, every meal and every decision matters.

Then comes competition day.

A bodybuilder can spend months preparing for perhaps three minutes on stage and only seconds directly in front of the judges.

All that work for one moment.

Then they walk offstage.

Whether there’s a trophy in their hand or simply the satisfaction of knowing they gave everything they had, there is something different in the way they carry themselves.

That is an Afterglow too.

And, just between us, there might be a little clue hidden in that last part about another Wilson & Wick™ candle currently being worked on. If you’re reading this someday and those words link you to our bodybuilding-inspired candle, we finally got the scent exactly where we wanted it.

If there isn’t a link yet... we’re probably still smelling fragrance samples.

And Vicky is probably wondering why I keep putting another scent under her nose.

Helpful advice from the Wilson & Wick workshop: make sure your partner is awake before asking them to smell another fragrance sample.

What Remains After the Moment

Afterglow isn’t one single moment.

It’s what remains afterward.

It’s the confidence after stepping outside your comfort zone.

The pride after accomplishing something you once weren’t sure you could do.

The happiness after welcoming someone new into your life.

The quiet feeling after a moment you know you’ll remember forever.

At Wilson & Wick™, we say Every Candle Has a Story.

Afterglow is for the stories where the moment ends...

but the feeling doesn’t.

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Keep the Story Going

Start with the deeper confidence of Midnight Lace, or see how the two stories fit together in Date Night in Scent.