Why I Shoot Boudoir Photography
In this blog post, our owner, Reina, discusses her WHY, in her own words.
”Almost every person I meet, once they hear that I own boudoir studios, the very next thing they are curious about is, how I came to settle on boudoir. Honestly, there is no quick answer for this, it is something that slowly built over decades, long before I was a photographer, much less know what boudoir photography was.
The short story is that I am a seeker of beauty. I find it all around me, in the every day moments and things. I especially notice it in other people, primarily women, and boudoir is my way to capture, create & show women how beautiful they are.
The long story starts in my early 20s. I was a wife and a mom of a new baby girl, and that is when my passion for photography began. I became determined that my daughter would have better than what I had growingup. Only one single snapshot even exists of me as a baby, and just a few more of me as a young child, and I was wanted my daughter to have photographic proof that she mattered and that she was loved. Pictures are SO important to me, because I know what it feels like to not have them.
Over the years, I gradually turned my hobby into a career as a family and child photographer. While I enjoyed some parts of photographing families, it honestly drained me in many ways. I much preferred being able to photograph women in a artistic way that really fed my creative soul, but not many women seemed to want portraits of themselves like that. Eventually that led me to specialize in photographing high school senior girls, which was so much fun! But something was still missing for me….that deep connection and taking more than just a pretty picture, parts, were missing.
At this point, I did know what boudoir photography was, but had immediately ruled it out. I grew up very conservatively, and was uncomfortable with the idea… PLUS, what would my family say?!?! Probaby very similarly to what my clients feel when they first contemplate a shoot, I at first told myself, that boudoir was NOT for me. I couldn’t possibly be a boudoir photographer! I don’t have the right kind of personality! And when I eventually did dip my toes into boudoir, I felt like that fear was confirmed for me. I did a boudoir shoot for a friend of a friend and we were not a good match in style, expectations and personality, to the point where I decided that I definitely was not meant to be a boudoir photographer.
Thankfully, a few years later, I decided to try again, but this time, I realized that I needed to maintain control of the environment and to set clear boundaries and expectations from my clients. It was such a HUGE difference! Because I brave enough to put out who I was, I begin to attract clients that wanted the same from their photographer. My clients wanted sexy & classy images and a safe experience, and that’s what I wanted to give them. Very quickly after that, things fell into place. Showing my clients their pictures and helping them see how beautiful they really are became my addiction….I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. I found my home.
Many women have NEVER seen themselves as beautiful or even pretty. Most women are working on overcoming some sort of childhood or relationship trauma. We all have stories and experiences that have shaped our views on how we see ourselves, and I can absolutely relate to all of that. My studio is a safe place to talk about all of that, and to heal. I think that a boudoir shoot is one of the most powerful and empowering experiences a woman can do for themselves. It gives the opportunity for each woman to take charge and responsibility for how they see themselves, to smash down walls and boxes and the limitations we put on ourselves.
I consider it one of the biggest privileges of my life to be a part of each client’s journey, whatever it is! Let me show you how beautiful you are, you deserve to know it and feel it to your core. You deserve to exist in beautiful pictures of yourself. You matter and deserve to be seen.”