It’s Thursday and I’m feeling a little nostalgic, so here’s a little throwback for you!
This is the shoot that started it all. Late summer, 2010.
This is when I discovered what boudoir really meant to me…before this day, my idea of boudoir was just sexy pictures of women in lingerie. Something for women to do for their husbands to enjoy.
I wasn’t wrong…but I was wrong. Let me back up a little.
Six years ago, I was not a confident woman. I was a timid girl who never thought of herself as particularly beautiful, despite daily reminders from my husband that he sure thought so. I was beyond insecure about my body, something that almost ever woman struggles with in one way or another. The thought of photographing women in sexy outfits had never crossed my mind…how was I supposed to make other women feel like the queens of the earth if I felt “meh” about myself?
But, after what may have been one-too-many trips to Vegas, something got in my head that made me want to try a boudoir shoot…so I asked my husband, who took very little convincing. We had been running our little photography studio out of our home for a couple of years, and after a little shopping outing and a trip to the makeup counter, I was suddenly ready to do something I never imagined I’d do. My husband curled my hair – he likes to make sure people know that detail 😉 – set up some lights, and we spent the afternoon trying all kinds of ideas.
And then it happened. All of a sudden, I felt sexy! As the shoot went on, I started to feel a confidence I never knew I had.
My whole life changed that day.
Seeing these photos made me feel truly beautiful for the first time. I had tapped into a part of my femininity that changed my outlook on life and what it means to be a woman, and I knew that this was something that other women desperately needed. Boudoir by Wallflower was born soon after, and it wasn’t long before I had to quit my day job to keep up with all the women that were seeking the same experience I’d had. Soon after, we had to move the studio out of the house and into our first commercial location, and all the while, my husband was turning over the reins to me. He knew that I was the one to make Boudoir by Wallflower succeed because I had experienced firsthand what a difference it can make in a woman’s life.
Fast forward to 2016, and I have had the amazing opportunity to photograph over six hundred women of all shapes, sizes, ages, and backgrounds. I have seen so many women in tears because they’re seeing themselves in a way that they’ve never seen before, and it melts my heart every. single. time.
Because I’ve been right there.
I still look at my photos every day and am reminded that I am beautiful, and it’s an absolute joy to not only tell other women that, but to show them in a way that they can’t ignore.
That’s what Boudoir by Wallflower is all about, and has been since day one.