Why I shoot Boudoir Photography?

My “Why” for Shooting Boudoir

Why Boudoir Photography?

To me Boudoir Photography is so much more than “Photos”. It’s about self-acceptance, body positivity, and art! It is about stepping outside of the everyday and getting glammed up, and coming in for a reminder of the beautiful woman you are! It’s about the transformation that take place between the time you walk into my studio, to when you leave. It is about feeling beautiful, and that is something I believe every person deserves!

I started shooting boudoir photography with the idea that I wanted to challenge a woman’s insecurities, “I need to lose weight first”, “but I don’t look like her”, “I don’t like XYZ about my body”… I simply do not believe that every woman of every age, shape and size isn’t worthy of feeling beautiful, and deserves the opportunity to have gorgeous, glamorous, sexy professional images of herself. I love showing women the photos from their shoot and showing that they CAN, in fact, feel beautiful. Seeing their reactions to their images changed me. I had found my passion.

It was now my job to be a mirror for my clients. Not the mirror that the world shows you that shames you, but the one who sees past all of the lumps, bumps. bruises and imperfections. The one that shows you how amazingly beautiful you are!

The Transformation

The transformation that takes place in my studio is the best part of the whole experience for us. When a woman arrives in my studio, most of the time she’s nervous, sometimes even visibly nervous. Sweaty hands, dry mouth, and shaky voices are things I see all of the time. Once they sit in the chair to get their make up done, the transformation begins. The client slowly starts to shed those signs and feelings of nervousness and anxiousness.

Then the shoot would start. The first series is to get you all warmed up. When I show the client the back of the camera after the first series, I usually hear “Oh MY GOD, that’s me? NO WAY that’s me!” As we go into the next series and then the next, the laughter and smiles start to come out. Then she starts to feel sexy. Their sexy eyes come out. And you can tell that it’s starting to click with them.

By the time we finish the session and go into the reveal, we’re friends. We’ve just shared an experience that they will always remember. We’ve laughed and shared stories about our lives.

Once I show them their images on the bigger screen, their jaws drop. They see themselves like they never have before. This is one of the amazing things about boudoir photography. I get a chance to show them how I see them, how their spouse sees them and be their mirror. When they walk out of my door, they’re smiling so big and they can’t wait to tell their friends about what they just did.

A Little Piece of My Story

I didn’t quite grasp the gravity of what I was accomplishing for women until Fall of 2019. I lost my father previously and decided to make changes in life for the better, I wanted to make him proud of who I would become. I started my photography in 2014 after my youngest son was born. I started dabbling in every niche to see what I loved. At first Boudoir terrified me, I thought how scary it was to take someones confidence and body image into my own hands. In 2016 A friend of mine had ask me to shoot Boudoir for her to give as a gift to herself after having children. Seeing her reaction to every image of herself all glammed up made me fall in love but not quite enough yet. Fast forward to 2020 I went through many stressful events with family. I started trying to love myself again and decided to start working out and getting healthy. During that time I had to visit the emergency room after blacking out in the studio. Many Hospital visits and appointments trying to find out why I had a sudden Vertebral Artery Dissection, causing multiple Transient Ischemic Attacks. “What?! A Stroke at 36 years old? But I am too young!”

Yep that’s me at my own boudoir shoot!

A sudden scary situation with your life can make you see things differently. I started to think about what photos I was in, and if my kids would be able to look back and remember me if I wasn’t around anymore. Would I want them to remember me being ashamed of my body and hiding from the camera? Nope. Would I want them to not have any photos of me at all? Absolutely not! Would I want my daughter to have the same self image issues? NO I DO NOT! Maybe one day when the is older she’d even APPRECIATE the photos where I wore my scars proudly.

For me, boudoir photography is a celebration of your body and who you truly are. I take pride in being able to help show women how to celebrate their bodies, their battles and their victories they’ve been through. Let me show you your sparkle. Let me help remind you how to love and be kind to yourself.