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I hear it all the time… “She’s outside, that’s not really Boudoir”, “She’s not in lingerie, is that really Boudoir?”… Well, I’m here to tell you (aren’t you lucky?) that Boudoir has come a LONG way baby. Of course the meaning of the word Boudoir is a woman’s private bedroom but the word has really taken on a larger meaning where photography is concerned. Sure many people are still very traditional, which is totally their call. But really, Boudoir to me is about being seductive, intimate and sexy. And you can be those things in almost any outfit, in almost any location!

I like to shoot my clients in as much real clothing as lingerie. Doesn’t a sheer blouse, a fallen strap, a soft faux-fur coat or a well worn undershirt, have more yumminess, mystery and excitement than a boring chain-store bra and panty set? I think so. Isn’t having a suggestion, an invitation, WAY sexier than just having it all right THERE in every shot? Again, I think so. Don’t get me wrong, real clothing doesn’t mean covered up. I just want everyone to start thinking outside the Boudoir box a little bit. Lingerie is awesome, but choose one or two key pieces. One bra & panty set after another is just not exciting. So mix it up! Have some fun! You don’t have to look too far to find something that will make you feel confident, comfortable and extremely sexy. But whatever you do, don’t forget those heels

Now just to letcha know what I’m talking about… this outfit was part lingerie, but mostly real clothing. Is it Boudoir? Is it seductive, intimate and sexy? I think so.

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I had such a fun day with these two… we weren’t able to make a full day out of it due to their schedules but these two are so fantastic that I didn’t care! Brittany wore a little black vintage dress that belongs to me that quite frankly, I’ve been DYING to put on someone! We ran off to San Francisco and hit a few favorite locations, ending in one of the sexiest stairwells I’ve ever seen and was determined to get to before sundown! Brittany was shy and stunningly beautiful, Ryan was intense, sexy and Uber funny… together, well, I just can’t ask for a better combo. Thank you to both of you for wanting to work with me and for getting me out of my January funk. I could just squeeze you both! But that would be weird.

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That was pretty much my day yesterday with the amazing Meghan. Let it be known that this girls LOVES her cupcakes. The subject was barely brought up before she sat at her laptop and searched all the nearby cupcakeries to see who would deliver (she’s from NYC so delivery is a little easier to come by there). She was most disappointed to hear that MY favorite place, Sibby’s was located in another town. So she went to work. As I’m in an adjoining room I mention that it’s too bad that the place she called couldn’t deliver until 6:30pm and she said ‘Ok, no, I have this application… that gives me all the best cupcake places that deliver in this area’. Yes, you heard right. She has an application. Lord, help us all.

In the end the cupcakes were not acquired before she left but she said she didn’t really need them anyway (although I have a pretty sweet BS detector and it was going off like mad) so when all was said and done… whose to say? I’m guessing there was some sweet, chocolate confection in her life after we parted ways and before she hopped back on a plane to NYC. I just bet.

Another thing we need to know about the stunningly gorgeous, easy-going and smart as a whip Meghan is that she is a lipstick fiend. I’ve seen a few in my day, believe me, and she’s right up there. The girl needs lipstick and she needs a lot of it. Oh, and did I mention it has to be RED? I’m not gonna kid you, my bossy side (okay saying my bossy ’side’ is pretty ridiculous, I know) took over and just told her ‘it aint gonna happen. Not right now. You can have red lips at the end crazy pants’. So for the most part she obeyed but she did ask for more lipstick um…. twenty three thousand times??? lol… no, it wasn’t nearly that bad but you know, I get it. When you love something so much, when it’s a part of your life… you want it to be with you in such times. I guess, if not when you’re half-naked on a rooftop, then WHEN?

The last thing I want to tell you about our sweet Meghan is that she is a little bit…. silly. The girl can climb a 30 foot vertical steel ladder in open air and stilettos but she can’t walk a runway without tripping. When I gave her one outfit, she emerged with her undies inside out. Giant printed label on her booty and all. I had to point it out to her in a LOVING way of course, HA! So she went and changed them, started to walk out and then we heard the words ‘Oh dangit, now they’re BACKWARDS!’

And this is why we love Meghan. Not because she kept telling me how talented I was, not because she worked it like a friggin supermodel (she’s done some modeling but she was in-fact an actual Client), and not because she made a special stop on her west-coast trip just to have this shoot done. Well, okay that stuff is awesome too. Or as Meghan would say, ‘SO Sick!!!’

Meghan, thank you so much for choosing me to be your photographer and for deciding to celebrate who you are, right here and now. Thank you for letting me capture your beauty as I saw it and for loving the process. Thank you for wanting to document your experience and have something beautiful and personal that you want to remember for the rest of your life. You’re the best, girl!

more to come!!!

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So on Sunday I participated in my very first Wedding Fair. I never wanted to do them before because when I was planning my Wedding, I went to only ONE Fair and I immediately knew it wasn’t for me. There were limitless photographers and there was an obvious lack of ’screening’ on the part of the Fair organizers. I was underwhelmed and a little disappointed. So I’d never really thought about doing a Fair myself and sort of never gave it another thought. It wasn’t until last year that I realized that there’s a few premiere shows in the Bay Area and one in particular that had strict limits on their vendors and kept the event extremely classy. I was intrigued but since I’d never done a single Fair before, I didn’t know exactly how to approach it. I contacted my friend Andrew Hsu of Studio MSV who was participating in the event and he was kind enough to give me the contact info for the coordinators. I then proceeded to have a lack-of-confidence-meltdown and decided I couldn’t make the call because I’m just lil’ ol’ me and who would want ME in their amazing high-end Wedding Fair anyway? He humored my insane panic attack and called up one of the women coordinating the event. Then of course I felt ridiculously embarrassed and decided I needed to grow a pair and deal with it!

I spoke with the coordinator and she essentially offered me the spot right then and there over the phone! I was blown away and so excited and SO grateful. Then began the labor intensive process of designing my ’space’ and planning for the Fair. I’m not sure how many times I stepped through the door of several favorite antique stores in my area but I can tell you, it was epic. I was determined to not have just a boring space with a couple albums and a table. I was going to make it ME! Every extra dime went into the planning of my space and it’s SO weird to say that it’s now all over! And I learned a few things….

I didn’t know what kind of crowd I’d be dealing with since this was in fact at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. I knew the event was fairly high-brow but also a good mix. Boudoir has come a long way and I think I’m safe in saying that the SF Wedding Fair hasn’t had a Boudoir Photographer in the mix until I came along. So the reactions I got were both surprising and expected. What I wanted to get across to those interested but unsure of Boudoir is that it’s a CELEBRATION of who you are. That it’s no longer taboo or cheesy or uncomfortable. That it’s a perfect gift for your groom or for your hubby but that it’s truly a gift for YOU. Sure, I got a few eye-rolls, laughter and just plain confusion but I was completely overwhelmed by the number of girls that came running up, so excited and so in love with my images. Several had already seen my work online, others had been thinking about it for awhile and the rest were simply intrigued. There were girls that drug their girlfriends over, their fiancees over and some that just wanted to hang out, chat and excitedly rummage through my albums. The big eyes and squeals of delight were so satisfying and I met SO many amazing women. A couple of whom worked the event and weren’t engaged but wanted to celebrate themselves regardless, which is how it SHOULD be! I barely had a couple minutes free without people to talk to which I think is a stunning success.

I am so proud and happy and excited that women are beginning to feel more comfortable being in their own skin, not apologizing for wanting to feel sexy and wanting to do something nice for themselves. Wanting to celebrate who they are, right now, in this moment. I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to give that feeling to women, to be able to say when they leave their photo-shoot that they feel sexier, stronger, happier and more alive. I don’t know too many causes greater than that. Boudoir may be for his eyes… but it’s for our souls.

Here’s my space! There’s a few things I would’ve liked to change but when I say it came down to the wire, I truly mean it. It was a labor of love and what I got out of it was so much more.

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Inspired by a couple of my favorite girls, I decided to share with you all a little piece of what gets me through my days. After a long day of visiting the vet’s office, going to the damp, cold and very muddy dog park, having a doggie bathtime SO epic that it left me dripping with sweat and exhausted, then editing and uploading images for the rest of the evening… this is pretty much what brings back my sanity, makes me laugh so hard I nearly pee my pants and just generally puts me right again. I figure if it can cure my bad-day-blues, the opportunities for all of you are limitless! Enjoy!

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I am a photographer for a reason. My love of all things lovely and my genuine terror at being photographed myself. At every event, every get-together, whenever someone said ‘let’s take a picture’ I was the first to volunteer to shoot it, and if I wasn’t then I was the first one out the door with a pathetic excuse. Well today I could hide no longer. I’m SUPER excited to be speaking at a panel discussion for PPGBA in February about my Boudoir photography and I can’t wait for it! However, I was asked to submit my headshot ASAP. *GULP* Oh dear. This was it. The moment I’d been dreading. My previous little picture was taken oh… 4 years ago and on a particularly crazy night out with the girlies. Not exactly professional headshot material, not to mention I look nothing like that now! So, something had to be done.

My assistant and friend Melanie took the task willingly and didn’t get nearly as annoyed with me as I would’ve gotten. And after what felt like an eternity of shooting (which was likely about 7 minutes) I announced ‘okay, I’m done’. I’m so pleasant, HA! Seriously, there’s a confidence I have behind the camera that mysteriously disappears when it’s turned around. And okay, I’m not about being model-thin at ALL but I’d like to be a little more towards ‘normal’ for me so probably there will be another brief and traumatic photo shoot in a year from now when I get there. But today, this is what I’ve got. And I couldn’t be happier to have it all behind me! I’ll be honest, all my images made me look like a sassy-pants (mmmmmmostly because I am a sassy-pants) so I’ve chosen a couple and I’ll try and keep the sass to a tolerable level. (Professional me at the top, normal me below).

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We had quite a brief yet eventful trip to NYC including a not-so-fun experience with our Hotel. While my New Yorker was somehow totally MIA, My makeup artist pulled out her inner New Yorker with ease (we’ve both lived there but I only lived there briefly). We were still having trouble so I pulled out the big guns. My New York City client! I didn’t want to bother her with our little mishap but it became clear that we had to do… something. So I called her up and said ‘give ‘em hell girl!’ Her response? “Honey, I’m a New Yorker”. Yeah, she rocks.

So what started on shaky grounds ended up being one HECK of a fun photo shoot! As our gorgeous client was getting dressed to leave (coat, hat scarf, the works) she suddenly had a huge smile and then exclaimed ‘I’ve never felt this sexy in my LIFE!!!’ and proceeded to bounce up and down like a giddy schoolgirl. Which then got all of us into a state of giddiness also and we became three grown women jumping up and down, clapping and giggling like idiots. I love my job.

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A part of me will always be a New Yorker, even if it was just under a year that I lived there. Something about it feels like home to me. Maybe it was because it was where Peter and I first lived when we were married. We had nothing but each-other in the city. So aside from the fabulous energy, the nightlife, the restaurants, the shopping… it has that special sweetness for me that I think I’ll always have.

Sarah and I just returned from NYC late last night after doing an amazing Boudoir Photo Shoot in a stunning suite on the Lower East Side. (see view below). I was already missing it when we got on the plane, I didn’t want to leave! I love to travel to NYC for my clients, so I’m very lucky that I have amazing clients like my wonderful Amanda who think highly enough of me to fly me and my makeup artist out for a shoot. You’ll see Amanda’s images in a few days so check back because this girl is fanTASTIC! I’ll be planning another trip in just a couple of months so please let us know right away if you’d like to do your shoot soon (we can’t stay for too long so we can likely only do a max of 3 shoots per trip).

Although it was completely too short, we did have fun. Sarah somehow talked me into taking the subway (dinner in Union Square) and I don’t know how. I’m pretty much up for anything but I took the subway almost every day for many months so for me, not so much of an enticing proposition but I didn’t want to rain on her crazy parade so I obliged. She of course befriended a energetic subway artist and they chatted away like old friends for the 30 minutes or so we waited for the train (orange line trains after midnight are few and far between, hooray). Then, we ended up in Queens, hmm… yeah, we were out of it, lol…. But all’s well that ends well and it sure did end well. Our client Amanda couldn’t have been happier and exclaimed that she’d never felt so sexy in her entire life! We love that!!!

Here’s our view from one end of our room (just a quickie iPhone snap)… can’t wait to see you again NYC!

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I was so happy to work with Sherri and by the end of the shoot, I knew it was one of my all-time favorites. It’s all about attitude. I am so blessed to work with clients who give me complete creative control and have total faith in what I can do for them. I even got to choose her album images and order it without her even seeing a single image! Sherri has such a beautiful presence about her. She’s silly and hysterically funny but also very sweet and entirely genuine. A true breath of fresh air. Thank you so much Sherri for allowing me into your home and letting me do my thing! You rocked it!

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It’s a day for the Books! My lovely new assistant Melanie is sitting to my right setting up my Quickbooks account. And it’s quite the daunting task if I do say so myself. I have a collection of receipts and other printed paraphernalia that’s been lying around in giant heaps for much longer than I’d like to admit! The process has barely started but I already feel like a new woman. Clean, organized, renewed.

I finally have the time and the clarity to focus on all my exciting events that are coming up, like the SF Wedding Fair! Mark your calendars for January 10, 2010! www.sfweddingfair.com I will be displaying and booking my Boudoir Photo Shoots and I’ll be offering a Show Special! This is a one-time chance to book your shoot at a discount!

So in the midst of all the excitement of plotting (yes, plotting, not planning. It’s just a funner way to say it) I need some downtime. You may not know it but this girl loves to read read READ. Only at bedtime though, it’s the only way I get tired enough to actually fall asleep (been a night-owl since I was a baby – ahhh my lucky mom). I love books, I love the way they look, I love the way they feel and I love the way they smell. I know the electronic ‘readers’ are all the rage but I’ll always love the printed page. There’s something deeply satisfying about turning the pages of a book. Something private and profound. But my love of reading didn’t start until my 20’s. In fact, my rebellious nature prevented me from doing too much reading in High School. If I was told to read it, I didn’t. If I wasn’t supposed to read it, I might think about it. The first book I first fell in love with was ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ by Zora Neale Hurston. From then on, I was hooked. The emotion, the imagery, the joy, the heartbreak, this drama queen love it ALL. These stories have all found a small place within me and I believe we all change for the better when we let these people and their experiences into our lives. We can learn from them, grow with them and we can get a surer sense of who we want to become.

As a photographer, I put a piece of me in every image I shoot. And I think those images become so much richer when WE ourselves are richer as people. When we are wiser, more compassionate and more loving. Who we are should reflect in our clients portraits. We are seeing them with our eyes and our artistic sensibility and they are trusting us to use those things to the bring out what we see as beautiful. And when I’m able to do that and look at an image and see that I’ve put my heart into it, then I’ve done something real and something valuable.

Maybe one day I’ll put it in a book

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