Boudoir and Celebrating Yourself

WARNING: This is a cheesy post. About me, about boudoir.

I have had people contact me at some point before their wedding day to do a fun boudoir shoot, and you would assume that it was for their significant others, but more often than not, it was for themselves; their partners just get to reap some of the benefits :). Since I started photographing people, boudoir has remained one of my absolute favorite things to shoot. Victoria is a reminder of my why. She battled a tumultuous year, mentally and physically, and wanted to document this time of her life, that after where you realize you are stronger and more tenacious than you realized. Her fierceness, callousness, and confidence drove this shoot. She waltzed right into my studio, threw off her dress, and announced, "Oh by the way, I am super comfortable being naked in front of people. So which outfit first?" No, most people are not THAT initially relaxed with strangers photographing them :P. We ended up shooting twice as long as usual because we were too busy laughing and exchanging stories.

She sent me a message after she saw her gallery. It made me cry. It was a long wonderful message that made me so grateful I get to do this for a living, but in short, she thanked ME for capturing her so beautifully. I'm like ?!? T_T I didn't do anything except photograph what was already there. 

It doesn't really matter how confident you are or how comfortable you are, there's a vulnerability that everyone tries to hide. Mine was my photography. Once upon a time, I would rather be naked in front of hundreds of people than for anyone to see my work (SO glad I am over that, especially since it's cold right now :P). Once you get rid of all the pretense, what's left? I realized, it was just me. Well, these images are of her but, you know what I mean!!

I normally don't rant this much but I've been going through a thing. IN CONCLUSION, remember to celebrate you.