A Boudoir Session for Valentine’s Day
Valentine's Day is right around the corner...y'all ready for the arrow-wielding, halo-wearing, child-bird? Bring on the reds, pinks and chocolate! For those of you considering doing a boudoir session for Valentine's Day, I thought I'd walk you through how so many of my clients think the shoot will go and how the sessions actually work.
First of all, reaching out to book a boudoir session is vulnerable. Maybe even a little scary. Mostly because there is this fear that you could fail and no one likes to fail. One of the biggest issues for women who are *considering* booking a boudoir session is that they have a complete misconception around how it will go.
How they FEAR the session will go:
They think they are going to show up to the studio a shaky bundle of nerves. They will then greet the photographer who they think will judge their thighs/stomach/size of their head/shape of their ears/color of their areolas/angle of their elbows.
They think they will begin the shoot with the sullen, expressionless photographer who will continue to stare at them, waiting for them to perform and saying over and over “Just be sexy! No. Not like that. Just BE sexy...ya know...sexy? Do you know what sexy is…? Ugh...nevermind.”
They think they will leave in tears feeling disgusting and terrible about themselves, go immediately to Wendy’s for a burger and then to McDonald’s for the fries (because that’s the best of both worlds...oh, you’ve never done that? You totally should. Game changer.) They will think there’s no way the photographer got anything good and use the drive home to rack their brain around what other options they can gift their significant other for Valentine’s/their birthday/anniversary because there’s no way the pictures will look good. They think they will FAIL miserably and horridly.
Buuuuuuuuutttttttttttt (come on, you knew I had a “but” coming!) they are WRONG!!!!!!!
Here’s how the session will ACTUALLY go:
You will show up to the studio to an *almost* obnoxiously upbeat photographer (ME!) who will be beyond excited to see you! I will introduce you to my incredible hair & makeup staff who will make you feel comfortable and at ease. We will chat while you get ready and I’ll get to know about you and what you’re looking to get out of the shoot. I will then sort through all the outfits you bring and plan the best shoot possible for your body, lingerie, comfort level and personality.
You will go through a 10-15 minute teach of my posing so you can see exactly what I’m referring to when I’m talking you through it. I will never ever EVER ask you to “Be sexy”. Everything I will use to pose you will be concrete direction like “arch your back” or “breath through your mouth”. All of my instruction is informed by what we do physically when we are aroused/flirt/desire someone. It’s science!!!
You will leave feeling like a freaking ROCKSTAR! In fact, I just shot a client who said that was one of the things that shocked her the most. She thought she would leave feeling insecure about the shoot, but she left super excited to come back and see her images. Doesn’t mean you won’t hit Wendy’s/McDonald’s on your way home...but it will be in celebration, not defeat!
You will come back for your reveal and FREAK OUT over how stunningly gorgeous you are!!! You will be giddy and worry more about how you are going to keep yourself from showing your partner all of the things early because you’ll be so excited to see their reaction. Or, if the shoot is for you, you will check the mailbox constantly waiting for your pictures to arrive!
I’ve shot over 800 women at this point, and I’ve never had anyone hate their images. I feel like that gives me some authority in which to say that the one thing that absolutely, positively will happen is that YOU ARE GOING TO SLAYYYYY YOUR SESSION!!!