Boudoir is art & sometimes therapy ~ so don’t be a prude!

Boudoir: (noun) a woman’s dressing room, bedroom, or private sitting room (From Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Boudoir Photography
The term “boudoir” may also be ascribed to a genre of photography. Boudoir photography is not generally a new concept and numerous examples including ones of Kathleen Meyers, Clara Bow, Mae West and Jean Harlow photographed in a boudoir style.

Typically shot in a photographer’s studio or luxury hotel suites, it has become fashionable to create a set of sensual or sexually suggestive images of women (and occasionally men and couples) in “boudoir style”. The most common manifestation of contemporary boudoir photography is to take variations of candid and posed photographs of the subject partly clothed or in lingerie. Nudity is more often implied than explicit.
(From Wikipedia)

 

Okay.  So I love Boudoir Photography.  I love it for a number of reasons.  It is sexy but not in a dirty way.  There is great difficulty in making nude photography look classy.  It takes a level of skill beyond which most photographers and models have.  Boudoir photography is no different.  You don’t want to look like a Victoria’s Secret catalog and you don’t want to look trashy.  There is elegance to it.

What made me want to do a shoot myself?  Well I have a bit of a body image issue.  I don’t see myself the way others have told me they see me.  My purpose in taking the pictures was to be able to see myself as someone who is sexy.  Of course now that I look at the pictures… I don’t particularly see myself.  Well I see myself I just don’t see me.  (See previous blog… LOL)

I grew up with the idea that sexy was a bad thing.  I place no blame on anyone for how the idea got into my head.  It just did.  Sex and all things associated seemed to be dirty.  I didn’t dress to be noticed.  In fact I still find that sometimes I go out of my way not to be noticed.  I am willing to admit that the downfall of most of my relationships has come from this type of thinking.  It is something I am working on… too late for those who weren’t patient enough to work with me but just in time for the love that GOD has destined for me.

Step one for me was seeing myself as sexy.  Glamorous Divas Photography (www.glamorousdivas.com) is a company run by a friend I went to high school with.  Now I saw several pictures that she had done when she first started out and I liked them.  I just could never get up the nerve to do a shoot myself.  One day I finally got tired of hearing people tell me I could be a model and decided to try it for myself.  The first shoot was great.  My only mistake was that I had a boyfriend at the time and a few of the shots were motivated just for him.  That prompted my second shoot a year later.  The second shoot was just for me.  I wanted to capture me with no guy hanging in the wings to claim that it was for him.

In my opinion boudoir should first be about the model, regardless of if she is taking pictures for her significant other or not.  When it is about the model, or diva, then that is when it is the sexiest.  That is when it is the real.  That is when she is channeling her inner sexy, her inner diva.

There is nothing wrong with boudoir photography.  It is nothing to be ashamed of.  Now I understand if you don’t want to see it on a billboard or broadcast to everyone you know and don’t know.  But there is nothing wrong if you do.

We need to own our body, especially women.  We need to own our sexuality.  Damn what “society” says is okay.  Use the good judgment that your GOD gave you.  You don’t have to pose in lingerie but you do need to be okay with being sexy.  You need to be able to see yourself as sexy.  Who else is going to see you as sexy if you don’t?  Take pride in yourself.  Know what you are comfortable with and don’t let anyone tell you it is wrong.  As long as you aren’t breaking any laws or hurting anyone then go for it.

I didn’t take these pictures trying to get a man.  Any man with good sense knows that I am not going to look like that every day.  I took the pictures to boost my self confidence.  I see young people on the blogs and social media sites taking all kinds of pictures of themselves and posting them.  Some are provocative and some downright pornographic.  I wonder about their motives behind it.  I hope it isn’t for attention.  I hope that it is to make them feel good.  I hope it is a form of expression and not trying to attract some man or woman.

Not everyone shares the same opinion as me.  I just want everyone to make sure that they are not imposing their beliefs and values on others.  I want people to understand that it can back fire.  It can hurt people.  You don’t know the motives behind the action.  If someone is an adult, then you can feel free to state your opinion but then let it go.  If they aren’t an adult then you really need to find out motives because there could be deeper issues going on.

Boudoir photography is an art.  Like most art, it isn’t for everybody.  If you don’t like it, don’t look at it.  But don’t label it as trash just because it isn’t what you like.