An amazing way to end 2010

Apart from the loss of Mr. Jester (our large 32 pound cat that was one of the great personalities of the studio)  2010 has been an amazing year.  We have had proposals in the studio, bachelorette parties, new pregnancies, heaps of brides, women and men celebrating weight loss, a huge increase in couples sessions, an amazing client in her wheel chair, heaps of crazy prop’s and so much more. With well over 200 clients it’s been an amazing experience that we are totally grateful for with so much tears and laughter from us and our clients.  

As the studio settles down after the holiday rush there is a buzz about our last client session of 2010, scheduled for Thursday.  Last week Erin received a call from a young lady wanting to book a session for her Grandma.  This won’t be the first Grandma, but even so this is pretty special for a very specific reason.    So the grand daughter, lets call her Ms. J is arranging this as a total surprise session for Grandma E.  They are scheduling a fresh hair tint for her, bringing along quite a few of the family to support her.   So what is the reason for the photography session you might ask, well it’s Grandma E’s birthday and she is going to be a super young 100 years old! 

We have always said that our boudoir sessions are independent of size, shape, age and this totally proves it!  

From Both Sides of the Lens: A Client’s Day as an Assistant Futzer

Guest post by Ms D.   

I am one of Seattle Boudoir’s clients.  When I decided to do a boudoir shoot it was all about me.  I’m a wife and mother to one wonderful four year old boy.  I work full time and I spend most of my free time doing errands.  Sound familiar?  For years after I had my son I tried to forget my body.  It was the last thing I wanted to think about.  You’ve got these new boobs and this little creature pawing at you all the time.  Feeling sexy was last on my list.  But then something clicked a few months back and I decided it was time to acknowledge I had a body again.  Reconnect with myself and let out my wild side.

First up, Nicole handed me a glass of “champers.”  It would be good to mention that photographer Phil Holden is British, so I think that means he is allowed to make up his own words.  Then make-up artist Jane and stylist Nicole stood back and took a good look at me in my rumpled top and too-big jeans. But they see enough ladies in there that they put me at ease and could see past my baby pooch to the sexy lady I wanted to feel like.  My nervousness and uncertainty melted away while I was pampered and made to feel like the star of my own show by Phil, Nicole, Jane, and Kim.

Since then I have been back to visit the other side of the camera as an assistant “futzer” aka someone who makes sure everything is in the right place.  I gained a new appreciation for all the work that goes into the shoots the team does sometimes three or four times a day and also the effect that it has on each individual who comes into the studio.  The clients that day ranged from a spontaneous boudoir photo session on a weekend getaway, to a surprise for a military homecoming, to the ever popular present for a bride to give her soon to be very pleased husband.  One client came in with nothing but the clothes on her back and another came in with tons of choices.  In both situations the team’s inventiveness shined through. 

After the team has a chance to meet you and see what is important to you they stage several scenes for your photos.  That day we had one client squirted down with a water bottle for that “wet t-shirt” look.  We also had a casual sexy scene with a football jersey on a couch.  I can tell you her husband would certainly have stopped watching the game if he saw that!  And one client got to lounge on a reindeer pelt.  These sets are designed on the spot and are individual to each client.

Another client’s advice I heard is a sure thing to pass on to all of you.  Do not work out the day of your shoot.  The team will give you their own brand of work out.  They are constantly there to make sure that every part of you is in line for the perfect shot. It’s not easy looking beautiful.  “Stick out your girls!”  Phil, I want a shirt that says that.
 
As each client left and a new one entered it was awesome to see how the nervous smiles in the beginning turned into knowing grins, the same one I walked out with.  I got the privilege of telling the amazing Seattle Boudoir Photography clients just how fabulous they are.  In each instance I am sure that Phil captured that on film.  And I can tell you from experience (that’s me below).

Seattle Boudoir Team Photography Session

Guest Post by Autumn Adams.

As a photographer of weddings, maternity, senior portraits and whatever else comes my way, you have the pleasure of meeting a lot of people whose personalities cover a wide range.  As a friend of Jennifer Mobley (do-er of hair extraordinare for Seattle Boudoir Photography) for about 5 years now, I knew I was walking into an energy and fun filled experience when I went to photograph Seattle’s fabulous Boudoir Photography team, but man oh man…I got way more! 

You can’t help but automatically love everyone that makes up this team, and believe me, they love you right back.  The environment alone is very inspiring with huge windows, loads of natural light, exposed brick walls and then the lovely ladies and epic photographer, Phil Holden, seal the deal with their smiles, energy, sense of humor, artistic abilities and their professionalism.  They love what they do and it shows. 

I can’t wait to go back, whether it be for another project, or perhaps….to be the project. Here are just a few of the team photographs taken that day. 

Click on this video if you want to see some of the funny video outtakes from the session plus a few more photographs. 

Tales from the Boudoir: What is your favorite part of the male body?

I know we haven’t been posting anywhere near as often as we should be or would like to – that’s our bad, but we’re getting back in the swing of things!  There is lots of stuff going on already this summer and we are hopeful that we can post more updates over the coming few weeks.  In addition to some of the fun marketing things happening we are also in the middle of wedding season with many brides visiting us over the past month and quite a few more scheduled.  We haven’t yet received permission to post any of those photographs because obviously we would hate to ruin the surprise, but hopefully soon.   July is getting pretty booked already with maybe 2 or 3 sessions free and August is heating up nicely – pun completely intended!

Now to the point of writing this note…  We need your help on a little survey that we are conducting to help us on a new project. If you have read the title to this post, it’s pretty obvious what we’re after, but to repeat, we are trying to get a sense of what everyone loves and finds sexy in their men.  Now we totally understand that it’s not a simple question, as they are many things that we love about men in general, and our own man specifically (and lets be honest, an occasional one or two that we don’t, but lets not go there now!) but we want to boil it down the basic physical things that get us excited. Knowing that most of our readers are women, I realize that the answer maybe be skewed to the female perspective but guys, don’t be shy. Share your thoughts too. This is a super short survey, just two questions in hopes that we get lots of respondents.   No personal details will be captured or shared in anyway.

One last thing, our goal for this quick survey is to understand what you find sexy in your man, the everyday man.  Now I know that occasionally we might check out some hot actor, singer, sports star, someone like Brad Pitt, George Clooney, David Beckham   or some other well known figure, but we are hoping to find what you find sexy in your guy.  So ideally, please try and answer this from that perspective. If you aren’t dating anyone right now (or even if you are!) tell us about how you felt about someone that you have dated in the past.

To take this extremely quick survey, just click the link at the end of this sentence.  Make sure you click ‘Done’ on the survey to save your results.  So folks, please click here and help us out!

We will publish the results in a couple of weeks.  Thanks a lot, the team from Seattle Boudoir Photography.