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This beautiful lady was a trooper during her shoot, she withstood struggles on the four wheeler and a fight with some poison ivy. Its wonderful having a model just as determined to get great shots as you! She and I have talked about art and nudes more times than I can count and its incredible how similar our tastes are. Something about the curve of a woman’s back down through her hip is so beautiful and peaceful. Doesn’t everyone think so?
Maybe not…. One of my biggest struggles being a boudoir photographer in Kentucky is trying to overcome the southern mindset that those curves should be hidden. I was raised in Chicago and never really thought the female figure was something to be ashamed of. I guess for some reason, being raised in the south, women are taught that they have to hide their body and that nudity is always porn. Thats not the case with me. I see a big, thick line between artistic nudes and porn. They are so different. What I do is celebrate a woman’s curves. Women have lines and movement that cannot be compared to anything else in the natural world. While I’m still “starting out” as a photographer, my biggest goal during my career is to help people understand the difference between sensual and sexual. I don’t enjoy the sexual side of photography. Unless its requested of me, you’ll never see me do a straight boob shot, its boring and does nothing for me. There has to be more to the story. I enjoy the sensuality of a woman being proud of herself, her personality and her body are her own.
In the past year with the increasing amount of people who have come across my work Ive received hate mail, criticism, and many people that have tried to flag my Facebook page as inappropriate. I think its silly. Why are people so afraid of what we look like with no clothes on? Im not showing women grabbing their boobs, Im not asking anyone to do “spread eagle” shots, Im simply showing women who are beautiful inside and out.
Recently I ran a special for “Summer Nudes” for over $200 off of my normal pricing and I got ZERO bookings. Crazy right?! I thought so too. To be honest, some of my clients end up doing some nudes or partial nudes during their boudoir sessions, but none of them sign a model release for me to use them on the website because they’re afraid of who might see. Keep in mind I don’t associate any names with my models. I feel so bad and i wish I could make women understand that they’re beautiful. If people wanted to look at porn, they would look at porn and not even take a second look at my website. No one will be looking at them in a perverse manner. So hopefully this post will be a start to something good.
The woman in the photos is a regular person, works just like the rest of us, no weird habits, but is a little more open to the concept of sensuality and shape. I hope she can inspire some women to take that step to be comfortable in their own skin!
