OWN boudoir client interview: Chocolate, Champagne, and Christmas lights
1) How old are you... or if you prefer, who were you listening to at age 14 :)?
24
2) What do you do for a living?
History Student
3) What/who made you decide to book a boudoir session?
Many months before my wedding, I was mulling over what to get my fiancé as a wedding present. He is very particular in his fashion choices, and I knew I couldn’t satisfy him with anything sartorial that would be “special” enough for the event … but I know he likes seeing me without clothes! A boudoir package would be a great gift for him and a treat to myself at the same time.
4) Did you have any obstacles or fears about boudoir?
I had done a “pin-up” shoot a few years before, and although my fiancé enjoyed those photos (especially during the long-distance phase of our relationship, which lasted a year), I was unhappy with them. I had lost a good bit of weight since then and was happier with myself all around, and I wanted updated photographs that reflected my new body and frame of mind. I also decided to use the session as motivation to make some necessary dietary changes — I knew that if I stuck to my plan of looking excellent naked, there was no way I would look bad in my wedding dress! Still, I had plenty of anxiety about the shoot in the months prior: Would my efforts pay off? Would I be just as unhappy with these as the earlier photos? Would it be money down the drain that I could have used for some aspect of the wedding? Etc., Etc.
5) Why did you choose OWN?
Immediately upon deciding that a boudoir shoot would be the perfect wedding present, I googled “Boudoir Atlanta” and Sarah was the first result. I didn’t have to look any further! The aesthetic she creates with her photography and her studio was exactly the sort of tasteful perfection I was looking for. Plus, reading the blog interviews reassured me that she was every inch the professional and made her clients feel at ease, which is obviously important when one is planning to strip down entirely.
6) How was the actual session different from what you expected (if at all)?
It was as wonderful an experience as I expected! I figured to be as successful as Sarah was, she must know what she is doing — her helpful and direct pointers on how to pose, her eye for the female form and how certain angles will be seen on camera, everything testified to her years of experience and skill with making women feel great about themselves.
7) What was your favorite part of the entire experience? (priming, the shoot, seeing images, giving the images..etc)
My favourite part was revisiting Sarah a week after the shoot and going through all the excellent images — although that was also the most difficult part, even more so than posing on my tiptoes with a pert butt for minutes and minutes on end! I walked out having purchased a larger book than I had intended, simply because there were too many pictures I couldn't live without. Combined with chocolates and champagne, that was definitely the best part.
8) How has the response been to your images?
I ended up showing the entire album to my closest friends from college after my bridal shower, and they were blown away. As women, I think they were even more impressed than my husband!! He was happy as a clam to see a beautifully naked me, while they appreciated the artistic lighting, clever use of props, careful and erotic posing, &c. that, all combined, resulted in photos that looked effortless and worthy of publication. I think one or two of them are even saving up for a session of their own!
9) What is your advice for women interested in such a session?
Firstly, don’t think twice about taking the plunge and booking a session. You won’t regret it! Secondly, construct specific outfits that reflect you. Even if the photos are meant as a gift for someone else, I think you should also have an eye for posterity; I will still be enjoying these pictures in fifty years as a reflection of who I was — inside and out — at age twenty-four. Thirdly, don’t plan anything exhausting for the day after, because you will be sore from head to toe!
10) Did anything change about the way you see your own beauty as a result of this session?
It is so reassuring to see oneself through someone else’s camera lens — especially a professional’s. I left the experience with Sarah with photos I considered centrefold material, and what a confidence booster that is!
