Sometimes I find it hard to put into words why I photograph boudoir photography. To me, it’s so much more than taking photos. It’s about self acceptance, body positivity, and art all rolled up into one beautiful thing. It’s about getting glammed up, laughing your butt off, and maybe even crying, all in the same day. It’s about the transformation that takes places between the time you walk into my studio and the time you walk back out the door. It’s about feeling beautiful and that is something I believe every single woman deserves.
I started photographing boudoir portraits because I saw the beauty in every single woman that walked through our door. I believe I can help every single person see what I see through my camera. Women have told me they think they can’t look “that beautiful” because they think they’re too tall, too heavy, or have to many stretch marks. I LOVE showing them the photos from their session and proving that they CAN, in fact, feel beautiful. Seeing their reactions to their pictures for the past 14 years has changed me. From the first moment of helping someone see their true beauty, I knew I had found my passion.
It is now my job to be a “mirror” for my clients. Not the kind of mirror the world shoves in our faces full of comparisons and disappointment. The kind of mirror that sees past all the lumps, bruises, and imperfections so you can truly see all the beauty and sparkle that only you possess.
The transformation.
The transformation that takes places in our studio is the best part of the whole experience with us. When a woman arrives in my studio, most of the time she’s nervous, sometimes even visibly nervous. Shaky hands and voices & sweaty hands and faces are things I see all the time. Once they sit in the chair to have hair and makeup done, the transformation begins; they slowly start to shed the feelings of nervousness and anxiousness.
Following hair and makeup, the session starts. The first series is to get her all warmed up, but don’t be thinking that means images didn’t turn out good because she always ends up loving a TON of these “warming up” shots! When I show her the back of the camera after this initial series, I always hear, “OH MY GOSH, THAT’S ME?!” As we move into the next series, and the next, the laughter and smiles always start to come out! Then she starts to feel sexy and the sexy comes out. That’s when I know it’s all starting to click!
By the time we finish the session and go into the reveal, we’re friends. We’ve just shared an experience that she will always remember.
When she sees her images on the projector screen, her jaw drops. She sees herself like she never has before. This is one of the amazing things about boudoir photography. I get to show her how her husband sees her, how her best friend sees her, how I see her, and be her mirror! When she walks out the door, she’s smiling from ear to ear and can’t wait to tell her friends all about what she just did!
A little piece of my story.
I didn’t quite grasp the gravity of what I was accomplishing for women until the summer of 2013 or 2014 when client of mine reached out several months after her session and told me the transformation that had taken place since the day of her session was remarkable. She no longer felt shy or embarrassed around others, she now walked with their head held high instead of slumped over, and she finally felt comfortable in their own skin being who she is for the first time in her entire life! In fact, she was crying as she told me this story and I’ve never been the same since. It was that moment that made me realize every single woman in this world needs to experience this. Every single woman deserves to feel seen and heard and hold her head up high, but not only that, to see her own beauty through eyes other than her own.
Since that initial conversation with my beautiful client, hundreds of clients have told me the same thing, often through tears, and every single time my heart breaks knowing they felt how they did before their session, then soars knowing they are now literally a new person because they took a leap of faith and gave me the honor of changing a piece of their personal world. There is truly no greater feeling than this.
