Let's talk about boudoir
A few years ago, I started marketing my boudoir sessions as Daring Sessions. It was about being bold and brave and owning your body and accepting yourself just as you are. And it still is about that - but over the years, it has become something more. The first boudoir session that I ever photographed was about 5 years ago. It was for a bride who wanted photos to give to her groom on their wedding day. I was nervous, but it became clear very quickly that this kind of session was the perfect thing for me. I adored it. I soon launched Daring Sessions and love even more the feedback from women who hadn't seen themselves in a beautiful light in a long time - or ever. I got tearful messages back and the heartfelt "thank you"s poured in. What an honor. Now. I know that the word boudoir has a stigma. I have heard everything from "nudey pics" to "soft porn." But the feedback I get from my clients tells a different story. I can talk about how it is empowering and can change the way a woman feels about herself all day long, but the words of my clients tells the real story. The tearful messages bring it home. One woman wrote "I never believed people when they told me how pretty my eyes are, but I see it now. I have tears. Thank you." I have heard from women who struggled with a new body after having a baby. I have heard from newly single women who needed to feel whole and worthy again.
So maybe boudoir is the wrong word for what I am creating. And maybe daring is the wrong word too. I am feeling a shift here in my portraits, and maybe it is my love of classic art or my passionate love of contrast and color and beauty - but these are badass women's portraits. There might not always be a sexy butt shot. There might not always be nudes or that lip biting thing or fake lashes. Each session is unique to each client, and it is about more than being an object or eye candy. I love boudoir. Don't get me wrong. But these portraits are about more. For hundreds of years, women have been portrayed in regal, beautiful statues and portraits, and I want to continue in that tradition. Celebrate you and your feminine form in whatever way feels right to you. Call it boudoir. Call it Daring. Call it women's portraiture. Whatever it is to you, I'm here for it.
The point is - this is about art.
I have photographed women over the past 5 years in multiple stages of womanhood, if you will, and to see their bodies change over the years and the evolution of their view and relationship with their bodies reflected in their portraits - it has been wonderful and an honor to see and create. Some women were very timid in their first session but came back for more sessions after losing weight, gaining weight, pregnancy, and after birth. Their bodies didn't have less value, nor were they less deserving of portraying. There were simply different. Womanhood is a constant journey as we learn to love an accept new and changing version of ourselves through a lifetime of story. Choosing to hate or shame or cover up our bodies does disservice to the journey.
So I challenge you to ask yourself- what makes you feel powerful? Beautiful? Feminine? What makes you feel like a queen? That thing, whatever it is, that is what Daring Sessions are about.
Follow along as Daring Sessions become more inclusive and individual to each woman. I will be sharing a few different "journeys" in the private Facebook group Daring Session Divas- feel free to join!
Want to book a session? Email me, and let's talk about what your session should look like. <3
Comments