FAQS
What would a Boudoir experience do for me?
A Boudoir experience first off should be a fun pampered memorable day. Its traditionally a bucket list kind of day, think like a spa day but with more posing and no massages.
It should however be considered more like a necessary salve for your mental health. After having the wonderful day, lets say you purchase wall art because you look so damn good. Well that artwork can I believe genuinely help you to fight the conditioning that the world throws at you non stop. The reinforcement that chronically affects your perceived body image. That picture acts just by being on your wall as a subconcious frequent visual affirmation of you.
Perhaps that image will even be the catalyst for you to research leveraging your brain's neuroplasticity and then to use that piece of art to permanently counter the programmed misperceptions about your body. Perceptions that are constantly, subliminally perpetuated by an unforgiving social media landscape.
So what actually is Boudoir photography?
Wikipaedia's definition is "Boudoir photography is a form of professional photography that is intimate, flattering the curves and beauty of the client's body. Boudoir, which is French for a woman's private dressing room, inspires the intimacy of this genre of photography." In practice a boudoir photography experience means there will be a certain level of undress.
I have some hang ups about my body or bits of my body. I am concerned I will feel self concious and uncomfortable during this experience
I will do my best to make you feel comfortable by plying you with alcohol. Not really...well not much, more like I will spend most of the time telling you to imagine yourself in a scenario or move your hand to there or get changed into that and sit by that and the time will fly by and you won't have much of a chance to feel self concious and uncomfortable.
What if I don't like the photos/video because I can still see what I consider are my flaws?
Your Boudoir experience won't unfortunately instantly change a lifetime of conditioning about your body image all on its own. So you may still see flaws but we together will have presented them in their absolute best light.
If you then get wall art and its good because we worked together to make it so even with flaws, it becomes harder for you to exagerrate those flaws in your head when the evidence is right there in front of you.
I see boudoir wall art as potentially your frequent subconcious visual affirmation. Ideally it will be the catalyst to make you go further and leverage your brain's neuroplasticity to change your perception of your "flaws".
You have talked about neuroplasticity in your FAQs, can you explain why you think that is related to boudoir photography?
In a nutshell I believe boudoir photography/videography and especially in the form of wall art can help to change your body image. I go into much greater depth in this blog post
Who are you to talk about neuroplasticity and body image, Are you any kind of medical or mental health professional?
No I am not and you are absolutely free to take my answers with a pinch of salt. I will say though that this study says that "Body appreciation predicted increased self-esteem, flourishing and wellbeing" and that "Body appreciation shows promise as a viable intervention target."
I would argue that one way to improve Body Appreciation is via Boudoir Photography and the daily effect of seeing your body as a beautiful artwork.
Rather than a healthcare professional, I guess a better way to see me is as more like a bespoke gym equipment manufacturer. We can together design and create your rolls royce of an exercise bike (with the go faster stripes) but if and how you use it long term is up to you. Even if it just sits there it will look pretty good and not even slightly rust.
Alright so say I did do a Boudoir experience, do you photoshop me and if you do how can I trust thats the real me.
I will edit the images a bit, maybe to add to the overall aesthetics. My changes for beauty though are minimal. Especially so with todays AI "enhanced" bits of software, if you make adjustments and the generative AI hallucinates even a bit, there is no way that is going to convince anyone.
So instead of airbrushing, what we need to do is get it right, mainly in camera. We do this by choosing the right outfits, the right make-up, the correct lighting, the best poses etc etc. That is the way to get great believeable art.
So where does the boudoir experience take place?
In one of three types of places, each has advantages and disadvantages. They are either at a hotel room or at my home studio or at a place of your choice.
The hotel room allows us lots of options of how the background will look plus its a neutral spot so it may suit both of us. Depending on the cost of the hotel room it may already be included in the experience day fee.
My home studio is set up for boudoir work and I have access to all my equipment. However it is limited in the background looks we can achieve.
If you choose a place clearly you are likely to feel more at home but equally I may not be as efficient as I would normally be nor have all the equipment.
One additional thing to note is that wherever we do the experience I will also use body worn camera(s) for CCTV purposes.
I normally discuss where we will hold the experience during our initial conversation.
Do I need modeling experience/know how to pose?
Not at all, I will direct and pose you when needed. Also I will be filming not photographing you. That produces high quality video yes, but it also means I can take high quality stills from that video. The effect of that is you get slightly more natural poses which can lead to better, more authentic images.
So even if you can pose, it may not be the actual posed shots I take for the stills. Having said all that. If you fancy voguing I will happily film it and I bet I can extract some great if not necessarily standard boudoir images from it.
What if I panic on the day?
Plying you with alcohol, and or posing/directing you, that will sort you out in no time.
No look it will be fine, I might be a bit stumped at times too but we will both be ok, plus I am filming so I find that these inadvertant poses and facial expressions frequently make brilliant pictures later on, as long as we do the setup bit ok we should be alright.
I would do it but I am not beach/gym/tanning/boudoir photography body ready
Best way to get ready is to accept where you are at. Then love that afterwards using your beautiful artwork. Then if you still feel you need to work on your body then you can do it with less pressure on yourself because we have already made you look brilliant.
You talk about an artwork hanging on the wall, do you only want me to buy one image?
In my ideal world you would buy a load, hopefully have them all as wall art and then surround yourself with a beautiful YOU gallery, which, bonus point, you can act as a free guide for.
Or you could just buy them in a photobox or an album or even just as digital. I think though artwork on the wall is hard to miss and will subconciously be saying to you "I looked great on that day and I can again any time I want."
When do I pay for the images/video?
When you choose the images/videos at the reveal which will be either in person or via zoom. You don't have to buy anything of course.
Do I need to bring my own outfits?
Yes absolutely you should, the aim is for you to look your absolute best and only you can do that with your own clothes, that fit you properly.
What do I wear?
You should wear what you look and feel best in. Only you can truly decide what that is, although I can advise on what I think are more timeless looks.
Is hair and makeup included?
Hair and makeup services aren't included in the standard experience fee but can be arranged for an additional cost. Many clients prefer to do their own makeup. If you want a hair and makeup artist on the day, it might take a little while to arrange and I would need to check the make-up artist's availability so I would just need around a week's notice.
What happens if I need to change my experience date?
I Just need 14 days notice, If that's is not possible, there may be costs for cancellation that I will need to pass on such as room hire or makeup artist hire.
Will my photos be shared publicly by you?
Only if you want them to be.
How long does the entire experience take?
The final stage of planning via a confirmation zoom/phone call takes around 30 minutes. The boudoir videography experience itself typically takes around 90 minutes. The photo reveal session about an hour either in person or over zoom
Where are you located?
I am based in Brighton on the south coast of England. Its about an hour from London. Not far to come to make serious inroads into your body appreciation.
I love your work, but I can’t get to Brighton. Do you travel?
Yes, I do! I’d love to travel to you. Just send me an email, and we’ll make a plan for your shoot.
How far in advance should I book my experience?
As much before as possible. You and I need 3 weeks at a minimum just to make sure our plans for your day are comprehensive and then of course I will need to arrange any location booking or booking of a makeup artist if required.
How much does a boudoir experience cost?
The experience costs just £395, which includes up to 3 hours to create your high quality video. After that at the reveal you can buy a video and/or images. An edited 4K video of your Boudoir experience is £300. Each image is £50 as a digital download. The digital download is actually a tiff file at full resolution, a png at full resolution, a jpeg at full, half and instagram ready resolution. Digital files can then be converted into wall art for an extra £50 (I recommend this for using as an aid to improving body appreciation) or a box for £30 or an album for £20
How do I book my boudoir photoshoot?
Give me a call/text on +44(0)792 005 0803 or send me a message.
After I contact you what is the actual process?
I outline the process here