My Approach to Boudoir Photography

Here’s a little thought that gets me in trouble sometimes: Boudoir photography doesn’t have to look like boudoir. It doesn't have to be dark & moody or bright & airy. It doesn't have to be satin sheets, heart-shaped pillows, your partner's dress shirt or a generic bedroom set. Your photos shouldn't look like something from an anonymous Pinterest board.

Boudoir photography can be art.

It can look like Vogue. It can look like Elle. It can even look like damn Guns & Ammo magazine, if you want.

The most important thing is that it looks and feels like you. I don't want to copy inspiration, I want to create it. I want people to see your images and think, "Damn, she looks incredible. I wish that were me." I want them to add your session photos to their mood boards. Can you imagine?

My origin story

In my early 20s, I found myself at a crossroads. I was living in NYC, assisting on fashion shoots and photographing models every weekend. I had grown up thumbing through my sisters' fashion magazines. studying the beautiful, unknowable women inside. But when some finally stood in front of my lens I found myself infinitely more interested in the friend they brought with them for moral support, or the makeup artist humming Taylor Swift in the corner, or the wardrobe person fighting with a garment steamer.

I could’ve stayed on that path, climbed the fashion ladder rung by rung until someone handed me a Vogue cover, a black turtleneck, and a pack of American Spirits. But it all started to feel too fake, too airbrushed, too disconnected. The models were real people. They were kind, insecure, thoughtful, weird; everything we all are. But the world around them felt like a beautiful lie built to conceal it.

I wanted the beauty without the performance. The elegance without the emptiness. So I decided to take the magazine mindset and aim it at people who never expected to be photographed like a cover story.

And that brings us to the pre-shoot consultation.

This is the real beginning. The spot on the timeline where you tell me who you’ve always secretly wanted to be, or who you’ve never admitted you could be. You tell me what you love, the worlds you orbit, the things you’re tired of apologizing for.

If you tell me you love Star Wars, then by the twin suns of Tatooine, it better hold up to the scrutiny of a die-hard fan. We’re not doing half-baked fan service. We’re doing the real thing, intentional, specific, and nerd approved. Anything less is disrespectful to both you and the Rebel Alliance.

I treat your session the way I would treat a fashion editorial: planning, mood boards, narrative, props, and the understanding that every photo shoot is a tiny piece of theater. The difference is that this time the story isn’t fiction. This time the person matters. To me. And, with any luck, to themselves.

T.E.A.M | Together Each Achieves More

It sounds like something stapled above an office coffee machine, but it’s true. Believe me, I can plan everything alone, (I've done it a million times) but the magic happens when we plan it together. When your personality and worldview shakes hands with my craft, and both sides agree to do something they couldn’t do alone.

Boudoir doesn’t have to be lovely or gentle or whatever the general public thinks women are "supposed" to be. It can be cinematic. It can be strange. It can be honest. It can be graceful or chaotic. Modest or spicy.

Because boudoir isn’t about lace or props or perfectly arranged limbs. It’s about a person. And people—real, flawed, magnificent people—are always more interesting than any glossy fantasy. That’s why I walked away from fashion. And that’s why I photograph the way I do now.

I just need you to make it happen.