When I first fell in love with boudoir photography in high school, it
was because I appreciate a woman’s body, with or without the curves. I
love how happy some women are in the nude, they are so natural and
carefree. It doesn’t matter what size they are, every women is different
when they are in the buff. A size zero friend of mine was so afraid to
show off her body to the world, and another girl friend who is a size 20
loves showing off what she has. My idea when I first started boudoir
was to capture that happy woman who is carefree. In the real world
though, a surprising amount of women who aren’t comfortable with what
they have still want photos of themselves. It’s during that photo shoot
that I have to have her relax and become comfortable and trust me, all
within a matter of minutes. Some of these ladies I’ve only met once, and
the next time they are seeing me, they are baring sometimes everything
to me. I never imagined that getting into boudoir photography would have
some emotional challenges to it, on top of some lighting and posing
challenges.
Every year, I do a boudoir photo shoot at a local newly
renovated hotel. The hotel is beautiful. When the ladies walk into the
room, they are amazed at how beautiful it is. I think it adds a little
bit of fancy sexiness to their photo shoot.
Every woman is different
during their shoot. Some of them just drop their clothes and are ready
to have some nakie fun in front of the camera, others insist that they
will never do topless, they just want some photos of them in their sexy
lingerie. Coincidentally, they happen to bring an extra set of undies
“just in case” they do topless (which they always do, lol).
Many of
the ladies are very insecure about their bodies, which makes it
difficult for about 15 minutes. They start off in a cute, reserved
outfit like a cute shirt and boyshort undies. After that outfit change,
they usually wear a cute lingerie set. It is usually around this time
that they feel comfortable enough to be in the outfit, but they are
still doubting of how they look.
“You look gorgeous, just trust me,”
I tell them every time. I don’t tell it to them out of habit, but
because I genuinely believe it. I tell it to women who have almost A cup
breasts, a size 00 waist and legs as thick as my arms, to women who
have stretchmarks covering every roll of their body.
“But my fat! My
rolls! My lack of boobs! My stretchmarks! My lack of boobs and butt! My
this, my that! It’s so ugly,” they always respond.
“Just trust me. Smile!”
It’s
the reaction the ladies have when they see the photos that makes me so
happy. I went to drop off a disc of photos to one of the ladies,
Andrea, who brought her computer along to look at them right away. I had
my friend, Laurie with me.
Andrea popped in the disc and her jaw
dropped. Laurie sat on the other side of her cooing at how beautiful
Andrea looked in just a simple tee shirt and boy short undies. Andrea
shrieked, “That’s meeee?!”
“Yeah, I didn’t even edit you either. I just adjusted the white balance. You’re naturally gorgeous,” I told Andrea.
Andrea
couldn’t believe the photos in front of her were actually her. As she
went through them, Andrea’s friend Lindsay watched over her shoulder,
“You look amazing! You’re gorgeous!”
“I…I just…I can’t believe that’s me. How is that me?!” Andrea kept asking.
Laurie
responded, “It’s you, and it’s hard to believe, huh? When Ande did my
photos last year, I couldn’t believe that that was me either.”
“It’s
just that I don’t have a very positive image of myself, and seeing these
images of me…It’s how other people see me too. I never thought…”
“I
know, Ande just has that magic touch. She makes you feel so comfortable
in front of the camera, and it becomes something fun. By the time you’re
done, you don’t want to be, but you have these gorgeous photos of
yourself that are yours forever.”
“I was so scared at first, I was so nervous. Those lights were so bright!”
“Yeah, you thought that they would catch your every imperfection, huh?”
“Well,
yeah, I mean, here I am presenting myself to a camera in lights
brighter than I ever presented myself to my ex-husband. Those lights
were so bright!”
“They show how gorgeous you naturally are,” I responded to Andrea.
“I want to send these to my ex-husband! Ha!”
“I
know before Ande did my photos last year, I didn’t have a very high
self esteem, and I never understood what my husband loved about my body,
but after doing our shoot, I finally get it. It’s not that I’m
conceited about it, it’s that I finally see the beauty my husband sees
and my confidence is higher than ever. It’s amazing.”
I honestly
never realized how much of an impact I make on some women with their
boudoir photos. I know that mommies want photos of their families, and
every once in a great while, I will get a big thank you for boudoir
photos, but I never knew that I had that much of a profound impact on
such naturally beautiful women. My friend, Monica told me that after her
first boudoir shoot with me, she could see herself blossoming, since
she finally saw what made her beautiful physically. I never imagined
though, that so many ladies would be so in love with their photos. That
makes me so happy. That is exactly what I love hearing from such
beautiful women. I wish that all women could see themselves as being
worth it, as beautiful with what they have or what they don’t have. I
never would have imagined that my love for boudoir photos would turn
into something so heartwarming.
When my high school teacher asked me
what I wanted to do after high school, I told him, “I want to take
classy photos of nude models. Not porn status. I don’t know what it’s
called. But I can appreciate a woman’s body, and I want to capture it.”
“You’re a little perv is what you are,” the teacher responded playfully.
“No, really. It’s a type of photography. I’ve researched it. I want to be a successful photographer.”
The
reaction I receive from these already beautiful women tells me that I
successfully captured them. And that’s what makes me happy.
I can’t wait for the next shoot.
