Why Boudoir?

Out of all the types of photography I could've specialized in, why did I pick boudoir? Why not weddings, or just families, or even just seniors, or fresh 48s?

Why did I insist on taking pictures of women in nearly naked or fully nude?

1 Word: Empowerment.

I read a facebook post today where a person said saying empowerment was in essence "the easy way out" when presented with the question, "Why Boudoir?". If I'm honest, this post really cut deep into my core because it minimized and disparaged something that I feel so very passionate about with my whole heart. And to say it's the easy way out, I wondered if this person really understood the gravity of what boudoir offers to a woman.

Finding empowerment as a woman is absolutely no easy task. We are bombarded every second of every day with how we are too much, not enough, too this, too that, take more away, put more in, use this, try that, here's the magic pill, do this tea, and at the end you are still. not. good. enough. We have magazines and movies and images to show us a standard we can never attain. We have cultures and religions that tell us our bodies are not ours, they are distractions, temptations, that moves we make are wrong, that we need to be vessels only to carry life and be the object of men's desires but only certain men, the right men, otherwise we are degenerate, perverted, and unclean.

Growing up in all of that as a woman, I felt I was not even a person, let alone that I had autonomy especially with my body. I felt as if I was just place holding for someone else to come and use me because I had zero claim to myself. I had to wear certain clothes, act certain ways, and be ready for everyone else, except me. Nothing I did was for me. It was for everyone else around me.

When I discovered boudoir my initial thought was, "I can't do this until I have someone to do it for." How sad that THAT was my initial thought. Something beautiful I had to wait because why could I do it for myself? I fell in love with the art and really wanted to pursue it one day. But I kept coming back to really wanting a boudoir session and having this internal fight that I couldn't.

It was one of the things that helped me sit down and start deconstructing the mindsets of "I am for everyone else and not for me". Deconstruction led to a journey of learning to love myself, learning to set boundaries for myself, and beginning to feel like I had choices for myself. When I finally had my own boudoir session, I found a space to truly embrace the freedom I was discovering and a place where I could fully embody the power in me that was all ready mine!

Why Boudoir?

I do boudoir so women can find empowerment - however that looks. For me, it was regaining my own power and learning to love myself for me. For others that looks like learning to accept their bodies and love themselves in a way they haven't before. Still others have the space to see their beauty for the first time. And finally some women can have moments to feel safe in their sensuality and sexuality. I am here to give you the space to explore, create, and discover your empowerment. What that means to you and what it needs to be will be completely different from the woman who came before and who will come after.

No matter what your journey has been, where you are finding yourself, and what you hope to accomplish, boudoir at it's core is about empowerment. And that is why I choose it. If you are also ready to choose boudoir for you then be sure to get in touch! Until next time, I hope you enjoy the ravishing Miss B!