Are You the Shooter?

Before her initial interview, often during her first phone call, she’ll ask if I’m the shooter, if I’m the person behind the camera. It’s the type of question that must have prompted Deborah Tannen to write in You Just Don’t Understand, “Many men honestly do not know what women want, and women honestly do not know why men find what they want so hard to comprehend and deliver.”

But comprehending and delivering the answer to the real question here begins the essential work of creating the partnership I wrote about earlier.

She may have heard we’re a husband and wife team and wonders if Patty is the shooter—perhaps hopes. Making the call liberates her, excites her, too. Beneath the surface, though, lies a layer both shy and apprehensive that wants to know the person who’s going to see her and how she’ll be cared for.

I could not be a boudoir photographer without caring for women, loving them, actually—no one could, really. I love women, not as a womanizer, of course, but as someone deeply committed to understanding their unique feelings: the way they feel about their privacy and independence, their appearance, and their desire, at any age, to be sexually vibrant and desirable. These feelings stand guard over her as we begin the conversation, a conversation that may last a few minutes or a few months. Whatever she decides will be based on trust. With this work, the enormity of that trust can never be ignored.

“Are you the shooter?” she asks.

“Yes, I am. And may I tell you a few things about me? I could not be a boudoir photographer without caring for women…, and my wife, Patty, and I will take care of you every step of the way.”

PS: Today’s image: Cristie on the Bed.

What Is Boudoir Photography, Anyway?

In the beginning, I had only the slimmest of understandings — really nothing more than urban legend, if you will. I’m not talking about my craft or style or experience with the subject matter: By the time I decided to offer boudoir, I had been photographing people for years and had long since narrowed my work to women only. In any case, after some years refining it, my definition of boudoir photography is this: Erotic photography of and for one. Seems simple enough.

But read it again, and this time, pause on the last word and ponder all that it could mean knowing that the “one” is one woman, multifaceted and mysterious as all women are, probably a little apprehensive or shy, and that this singularly-focused intimate work must be done within the privateness of her space, not to be shared with the outside world. This is what makes boudoir photography different from other types of female photography. It’s not about the photographer, an art director, or wider public acceptance. When I fully understood this (or as fully as I could), it forever changed the way I work.

I could tell you this came to me all at once, as an epiphany, resulting in a state of photographic perfection that has remained true to this day. Right…

The truth is, I made adjustments to my process from the very beginning, with every client and every shoot: gear, lighting, clothing, and post-processing techniques. Sure, some good came of all that, but nothing earthshaking. Then, as a result of my evolving definition, I made a fundamental change in the relationship I created with my clients. We moved from you’re-the-client-I’m-the-photographer to a partnership striving to share the same mindset. This was a paradigm shift: I abandoned any concept of a one-size-fits-all approach for client interactions; and clients learned how to push through their issues and take on the persona of an erotic exhibitionist. The results were astonishing.

But those results—and the definition that forever changed the way I work—came about not because of a better use of props and tools, but because I made the effort to meet and understand my clients on a fundamentally different level, and because I had the good fortune to realize that that’s where I’d find their most stunning images.

Boudoir photography: Erotic photography of and for one—other egos not welcome.

PS: Today’s image: Lexi Learning to Climb.

A Quick Note to Mac Users

All of the images on this site were created on a PC. So, for you Mac users, like my wife, your best viewing experience will be had by setting your monitor profile to sRGB with a white point of 65K and a gamma of 2.2. On newer OS X systems you can do this by setting system preferences > display > color = sRGB IEC61966-2.

You’ll find an article with more info on the subject here.

Update on Friday, January 9, 2009 at 10:38AM by WillT

Is your browser showing you the right color?

Here’s a link to a page where you can find out: Web Browser Color Management Tutorial

I'm a Pretty Lucky Guy, Really...

Definition of a pretty lucky guy: A boudoir photographer whose wife is not only supportive but also wonderfully enthusiastic about his work. Moreover, she’s also his friend, lover, business partner, photo shoot assistant, and stand-in model. I married well.

Our public work is shown and sold at art shows and here on our site, but most of our work is for women who commission us privately. They want beautiful, sexy, erotic images of themselves—images more often than not intended for their significant others. In many cases, they’ve marched or trod into the thirty-something crowd or beyond, been married at least 10 years, and given birth to one or more children. So, they have issues. Our mission is to obscure those issues and create images for them that mirror what a lover would see through a lustful haze.

But creating boudoir images of this kind doesn’t begin and end with the photoshoot—that’s only one part of a much larger process. And that was the impetus for this blog: I wanted to write about the entire process—not only for other photographers but also for women interested in learning more about boudoir photography for themselves.

But being someone with many interests (probably too many), I’m sure there will be a few other topics as well—both photographic and not.

And speaking of many interests, please take a moment and look at the photography blogs on the links page. There are many, many more, of course, but these are some of my favorites. They’re authored by smart, insightful, creative photographers and models who have shared a staggering amount of knowledge—check their archives.

I’m the newbie here, so I have no archives, but I’ll be adding content regularly, so please check back. In the meantime, take a look at our books and prints, and note that each image posted here will open to a larger version when clicked.

PS: The golden girl in the shower is the assistant and stand-in model I told you about at the beginning of this post. As I said, I’m a pretty lucky guy, really…