Pittsburgh Boudoir Photography, Boudoir Photographer Pittsburgh
This post is most definitely a team effort! This client had me in stitches over email. We have almost 200 of them to be exact! We talked about cervix sizes, Brazilian waxes, boobs, butts and side jobs. No topic was off limits! I don't want to be all mushy gushy but really if you're going to do a boudoir shoot, go all in! Make a surrender and a commitment. This particular client confided it took her 6 months to get up the nerve to email me! There is nothing more anonymous in 2015 than email. In a time where no one has to make a commitment to anything because there is always another option; once she worked up the nerve she didn't let herself go back. She asked a lot of questions. Which I love! You don't know what you don't know! I enjoyed her so much I had to ask her something. I asked if she'd be willing to give an account of her shoot to share with you. I can talk all day but she has had the experience you're curious about so I want her to tell you what her Boudoir experience was like......
Hi guys! My name is Minnie, and I'm in my mid-20s. I wanted to write this because I’m in a position I think a lot of other women are in.. I've never really thought of myself as sexy - I've thought of myself as "cute" and "adorable". Literally my whole life has been spent being the cute one. I've literally never let anybody take any kind of risque pictures (see: not sexy), so when I decided to get in touch with Steff, it was to create an amazing present for my husband-to-be. It literally took me six months between finding out about it and doing it, but now that I've done it, I wanted to talk about that feeling.
Sending the email
When I first got in touch with Steff, I was nervous - what if she was booked up? What if I'm too fat, or don't have nice enough skin, or have never gotten a pedicure in my life? So as it turns out, the whole point of this is to work with what you've got. It's not enough being too much or not enough, it really is about being exactly who you are. Doing YOUR thing.
Talking to Steff
After sending the email to Steff, she got back to me and asked a bunch of questions about myself. Things like what I do, what makes me feel sexy...it really was a conversation, not just a "show up and take the pictures and that's it" type of thing. I was already starting to feel confident, which was incredibly helpful when I showed up the day of my shoot. But the other stuff that helped was finding images and outfits that worked for what I wanted to do.
Creating a Pinterest board
One of the things Steff will have you do is create a Pinterest board with images that really resonate with you. At first, I was kind of hesitant and not really sure what to pin. I chose to pin images that I thought were either really sexy or might work with my personality.
What really helped me get into it was writing my own descriptions of why I liked the pin, what I thought was beautiful about it or how I thought it might work. That gave Steff some insight, sure, but it also helped me realize what I liked or didn't like about certain poses.
Buying stuff
I'm not a lingerie girl. This was actually one of the toughest parts about the shoot, because when you don't feel sexy, strutting into a Victoria's Secret and trying on tiny silk things can feel like an exercise in defeat (especially when you're not a "mall size"). I wound up going online and buying according to my measurements, which actually worked out pretty well. I chose things based on colors I like, styles I liked, and what I thought my fiance might like. Like, I always claimed I'd get married in a lime green dress, but since I'm not, I got some lime green lingerie to wear.
I actually wound up with waaaay too much stuff, and we wound up doing the pictures in some of the more simple things I'd brought. I tossed a sweater in the bag last-minute, thinking it might work out somehow, and those are my favorite pictures. The stuff that has meaning - the sweater I'm getting married in, the lingerie I bought because it was lime green - enhances the pictures. It makes it more than just a pretty picture. It's also a story I can tell.
Think about the style, too
One thing I didn't really think about was the actual styling - the hair and makeup part. It worked out well because Dessa is a genius, but it might be helpful to give that some thought, too. We wound up doing this dark lip that I was convinced would be too much, but it would up being perfect.
Have some coffee, eat breakfast, and have fun!
I wanted to make sure I would have fun the day of the shoot, and part of having fun for me means having high energy. I don't think anybody can enjoy themselves if they're thinking about food. The whole thing really is very physical - you'll be standing in ways you might not stand everyday, or using weird groups of muscles. So definitely eat breakfast and maybe even grab a coffee if that’s your thing.
Basically, Steff is amazing. All the preparation in the world is amazing for you mentally, but I'm convinced that Steff could take a picture of a wall and make it look sexy and amazing.