Ten reasons to do a boudoir shoot for yourself
Let’s face it. The obvious reason to do a boudoir shoot is as a gift for someone else, typically a partner.
And that’s a perfectly valid reason.
But…
But that means that people who don’t have someone to do a boudoir shoot for ultimately don’t do a shoot.
But here’s the thing. Back when the whole idea of boudoir shoots started out, it was totally for the male gaze; it was generally photography of nude or nearly nude women that would get traded around between gentlemen interested in admiring the female form.
To be clear, there is nothing wrong with that. The female form is one of the highest artistic achievements ever, and it deserves to be admired.
But it doesn’t have to be the only reason. Indeed, these days, boudoir is as much for the person doing the photos as it is for anyone else, sometimes more.
Here are ten reasons you might want to do a boudoir shoot, even if you don’t have a partner to share them with:
Empowerment: Seeing yourself in a different light, through the eyes of a professional photographer can be a life-changing experience for some. My role is not to give you power, but to remind you of the power that you already have, to give you space to grasp your power.
To celebrate a personal milestone: You turned 40. What a great reason for a boudoir shoot. You ran your first ever marathon, and want to celebrate the body that allowed you to accomplish that feat. You dyed your hair. You got a piercing.
To remember who you were. As we get older, we change. Sometimes we want to remember who we were. Sometimes, women get breast cancer, and want photos of themselves to remember what their body looked like beforehand. Sometimes they want photos to celebrate what they looked like after.
To say, screw it: Let’s face it. Society sets a high bar for what is considered beautiful, and even if you hit that bar, it will move. Too often we fall into thinking “My hips are too wide/too narrow, my boobs are too big/small,” or any of a dozen other beauty traps that are set for the unaware. And sometimes you just need to say “screw it, this is me, and I love who I am, just as I am.”
To celebrate your sensuality: who you are in public is different than who you are in private. The word boudoir is french for pouting room; back in the day, there was a literal room in the house where women could go to be alone (or not, if they didn’t want to), where they could get changed, yes, but also where they could let their guards down. Where they could just hang out, and do the things they wanted to do, from embroidery to entertaining romantic partners.
For art. There is no higher artistic creation than the female form. Okay, I’m biased, but I believe this with all my heart. A beyond boudoir shoot is not me imposing my vision of who you are on you, but finding ways to draw your character and personality out of you. To find ways we can create cooperative art.
For therapy. I don’t want to sound high falutin’ here, but sometimes the best form of therapy is to get outside your own head. To see yourself from a different angle. In a different light.
For confidence. We build walls around ourselves to protect ourselves. But the chick that never hatches never grows. If it remains inside its shell, it can only get so big. By allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, to learn how to be comfortable in our own skin, we become stronger. More confident. And maybe we discover that those things we feared were just in our own mind.
For the experience. When was the last time you went down to the river in a rainstorm and just enjoyed the feeling of rain on your skin, like in the photo above? I’m big on experiences. And yes, if you want, I will come to you, and photograph you in your own house. But if you are willing, we can hike to the top of a mountain, head to the base of a waterfall. We can shoot in the front range of the Rocky mountains, or at a remote lake in northern BC. We can take a boat out to a hotsprings that is only accessible by boat, or a helicopter to the top of a mountain. There are no limits when you go Beyond Boudoir.
For you. For all these reasons, and more besides.
If you are here before Dec 24, 2023, and are interested in going Beyond Boudoir, we are giving away a shoot and digital package, valued at over $1200 over on our Christmas page.