It is interesting to think about how much can change in even a single year of life. How we feel and look and the energy that comes through pictures can be completely different in this amount of time. A favorite part of my job is when I’m granted the privilege of documenting a person’s journey through multiple boudoir sessions. Leah came to me to plan a second boudoir session for a little over a year after her first. I loved her energy during our first session and was thrilled when she reached out to work together again.
When we first chatted, Kiersten and I talked about what she was really proud of in her own life recently, and a theme that kept coming up was taking time to be intentional for herself. She wanted her session to be a celebration of her full life and inner strength, and I feel like that totally came across in her photos.
I am so passionate about everyone creating space to celebrate themselves. The Illuminate Boudoir experience is one epic day to slow down, to be in the moment with yourself, to celebrate everything you love about your body and spirit and, perhaps, to create an unforgettable gift for yourself or someone you love.
Nothing is a bigger compliment than when my past clients return for a second boudoir session. I’ve so loved sharing the journey with my clients as they return and seeing how they bring new energy to the session each time we spend the day together. When Jensen reached out to plan her second boudoir session, I was so so excited to reconnect with her.
Annie came to the boudoir studio after vowing to do things that scare her. When we first chatted she said that her life had contained some big changes recently and she was challenging herself to overcome some big fears; for years she had found boudoir portraits to be both intriguing and a bit scary, so it seemed the perfect experience to embrace during a year of saying “Yes.”
At the beginning of this new year, I am feeling so grateful for all the serendipitous moments. A post about an available space made its way to me online and I couldn’t get the huge beautiful windows out of my head. After a few days of thinking about it, I went to see the building and was filled with a kind of perfect knowing that this was the place for the next step of Illuminate Boudoir.
M wanted to use her boudoir portraits to “walk the walk.” As a healthcare professional, she’s often encouraging her patients to focus on what their bodies are capable of, to have gratitude for what they can do rather than dwelling on the negative. And, while M had been interested in boudoir for a while, she thought that boudoir wasn’t for her, that she would never have the confidence in her body to do a session.
But the more she matured in her life and work, the more she saw that she needed to focus on the positive for her own body too. More than anything she wanted her boudoir experience to be celebratory and empowering, so when she came across my work, she knew she had found the right photographer for this journey. And I was so excited to work with her!!
Linnea is a therapist and when we started chatting about personal branding photography, she wanted to make sure that the photos conveyed that she was a real person. She wanted her warmth and kindness to reach out of the photo. She wanted folks who looked at her brand photos to feel a sense of the care she extends to each client.
To guide the style and direction for her session, I asked Dylan about her favorite things about herself. She told me she loved her sense of humor, she loved her work as a theatrical stage manager, she loved her “dark Scorpio side” and she loved the moments where she felt more grounded, more calm. Most important to her in these photos was creating a sense of connection, of being vulnerable and present in the moment.
Rachel wanted to see herself the way she felt. We all go through times when we feel really good about ourselves, and visually documenting that confidence can be a powerful reminder on days when we doubt ourselves, or just need that memory of being really happy and alive in your body and mind.
When I first met Emily Rose, she told me she had been drawn to Illuminate Boudoir because my work didn’t feel manufactured or overly stylized. “I’m not a pin-up girl,” she said during our first conversation. She was drawn to the idea of celebrating herself with photography, but couldn't find the right photographer to capture her vision. So when we met, there was an instant synergy in capturing boudoir photos that were elegant and organic, that celebrated Emily Rose as she is.
When I first met M, she told me that she hadn’t been professionally photographed in years. She had been following along with Illuminate Boudoir and was excited to create some portraits that were empowering, elegant and intimate.
From the beginning, Carly wanted her portraits to feel classic, fresh and elegant; blending a sense of lightness with more sensual elements for a session that was truly her.
Autumn had been thinking about a boudoir session for a long time, so when body positivity and self-love became a big theme in her life this year she decided to schedule a session with me! Autumn wanted her portraits to feel romantic, feminine and strong and I loved that combination.
I often reflect on how inspired I am by the stories people bring to the boudoir studio; their diverse reasons for choosing to celebrate themselves and their journeys with me. When Allie reached out to schedule her session, I knew the day was going to be an emotionally powerful one when she shared that she was recovering from an eating disorder and was ready to see herself in a different way.
Kelly didn’t want her boudoir portraits to feel too serious. When I met her last summer to plan a pre-wedding session, her first request was that she wanted her portraits to feel “true to her”: lighthearted, happy, full of life.
This past year, Hannah had been on a journey to body positivity and self-acceptance and, through her work as a health and fitness coach, a journey to help other women cultivate self love wherever they are.
For Hannah, this boudoir session was a gift to herself, a natural extension of the joy of accepting and loving herself as a work in progress.
One of Mariah’s passions is body positivity and, wherever she shows up, either online or in her life, she champions the idea that mental health and physical health go hand in hand. She wanted to create some portraits that were at once candid and romantic and strong. That honored her own journey towards self love and health on her own terms.
