Boudoir, Tacos, and Kari’s First Rodeo
Kari messaged me a few weeks before our shoot, she was moving to the area from Texas. She said she wanted to get some photos done, that she was new to this whole thing. She was polite, friendly, used exclamation points like someone who means them. I was in.
On the day of the shoot she showed up with her boyfriend which, in this world, is just good planning. If you’re a woman meeting a photographer for the first time, bringing someone along isn’t paranoia, it’s wisdom. I get it. I'd do the same if I were a lady. Once we got to talking and shooting, though, he relaxed. She relaxed. We were good.
This was Kari’s first real shoot, but you’d never know. She’s one of those people you’d describe as “naturally pretty,” and not in the way people say it when they’re trying to be nice. She had the kind of face that held the light well. Some people are just built for the camera. It’s not fair, but it’s real.
That said, being pretty doesn’t mean you know how to pose. That part’s a skill. And yeah, I had to pose her. Walk her through where to place her hands, where to tilt her chin, how not to lock her knees like a nervous bridesmaid. But the expressions? The emotion? That was all Kari. I could tell she’d practiced in a mirror more than once. Maybe a hundred times. Maybe more. The way she looked at the lens...like she was half curious, half daring it to look away, it didn’t feel rehearsed, but it didn’t come out of nowhere either.
We started with a silky blue dress that shimmered. Then a dress shirt, classic, understated, the kind of look that always works. We even went outside, where she wore a green dress and made a solid argument for why boudoir doesn’t have to live indoors(take that, Pinterest). At the end, there was lingerie. There was soft light. There was a little magic.
Her boyfriend joined in for a few couples shots, and they were oddly tender. Un-posed but present. Oh, and somewhere in the middle, Kari took a break to eat tacos. Just pulled them out the bag and unwrapped them like it was the most natural thing in the world. Which, honestly, it was. That moment told me everything I needed to know: she wasn’t trying to be someone else. She was just Kari.
First shoot or not, she brought herself to the frame. And in the end, that’s all boudoir really asks.
