It always a pleasure working with musicians. The passion the hate to the act of playing is so incredible to see. This is a part of a photo session that Erminia has hired me to do. Music is not her profession, but the love to art is as strong. She wanted to memorise herself with the her most favourite hobby.
How to prepare for a Boudoir photo session?
Have you always wanted to experience a boudoir photo session, but maybe felt some insecurity about taking your clothes off in front of a stranger?
Worry no more, I got you, girl! I’m here for you!
My boudoir sessions are tailored for women with or without experience in front of the camera or with minimal clothing. The target is always one - to feel more comfortable in your own skin. I believe boudoir photography can help women feel freer and unapologetically themselves when they appreciate the beauty and intelligence of their own bodies. Bodies that go through so much transformation during their life and fully deserve to be acknowledged for it, appreciated and valued for their magnificence.
That’s why I’m here - to help people enjoy themselves in their own skin. Clothes and accessories are fun, but they also build a barrier, restrictions, putting certain norms and telling a story. But it not our nature, our authentic appearance as species. The clothed body is not what we actually live in and experience life with, but the nude body is.
The boudoir session is not necessarily a nude one, however surely it could transform if you decide so. I understand the sensitivity of the matter, that there could be certain boundaries and fully respect every individual's point of view.
So what do you need to prepare for a boudoir session?
It is actually very easy:
-decide how you’d like to be photographed
-pick up some outfits/looks
-decide how much of makeover suits you best
-and then just bring your gorgeous presence in the studio!
How would you like to be photographed?
We’ll discuss this more in detail in your pre-shoot consultation. Meanwhile, you can see examples in my work that resonate with you most and you would like to have your own photographs in the same style. Or you’re more than welcome to share any ideas that you have and dream about. I’m always open to experiment and create the best visuals of yourself you’ve seen.
What outfits would you like?
Feel free to share with me even before something that you’d like to wear. I would suggest you to get out of the box and norms if you secretly wanted to. This is a safe space for you where we’ll play, laugh and enjoy your beauty and uniqueness. A place where you can experiment and dress up as whoever you want. You can be with lingerie or any intimate wear or much more minimal and bare. The less the fashion, the more it focuses on your and your gorgeous body. But I let you decide.
If you feel like trying more nude look, you don’t necessarily have to be fully nude. For me is health and safety first so you can wear some minimal thongs that I can hide with poising or later on Photoshop if you want to look nude on your photographs.
How much makeover suits you best?
This option I left open for clients as some of them prefer more natural and minimal look. Boudoir sessions don’t have to have the heavy saturated makeover where you can’t recognise yourself. I’m here to capture you the way you want it to be and won’t force on you anything that can make you feel not yourself. I know make-up can sometimes change the look and idea of who we want to appear as. Therefore, the sessions I do include natural makeover, focused on your natural beauty. But if you prefer to go beyond the way you usually present yourself, we’ll help you with that. We can discuss all the small details before the session to make sure everything is the way you want it to be.
And last one is to just bring your awesomeness in the studio!
Again, keep i n mind this is a safe place for you. Somewhere where you can be yourself with no norms or ideals. I’m here to portray your uniqueness and celebrate you, because you deserve it! Feel free to share anything else you have in mind or any concerns that come up.
I listen carefully what clients tell me about their bodies, what they like and dislike about them. So I try to capture all of it, the more and less loved parts of they bodies in a way that they’ll love all of it. Our bodies are beautiful, despite the differences. In fact the differences are those that make them so unique, so let’s celebrate it!
Why seeing yourself in pictures can make you more confident?
Seeing yourself in pictures is an experience much deeper than we usually assume. As we live in our bodies day in and day out, we don’t usually spend a lot of time seeing our own physical appearance than those of other people around us. We spend more time looking at our family, friends, colleagues, than looking at ourselves, which can cause disconnection with our own bodies. Observing ourselves in the mirror for example is a proven technique that does magic in connecting us with ourselves on a profound level.
I truly believe seeing yourself in beautiful pictures can boost self esteem and be a reason to celebrate life as it is. It also helps for accepting and valuing the body you live in in this lifetime.
I’ve noticed that in the early years of our life we usually gain confidence from our physical appearance, being phrased for it, liked by others or gaining attention due to it. As time goes and life forces us to go through hardships and unexpected, unplanned situations, our source of confidence changes. Our confidence becomes based on our personal and professional achievements, goals we have achieved or obstacles we have overcome.
And as time goes, so do our bodies change. We age, we collect scars and traumas - it’s the inevitable circle of life. This is another reason why photography can actually help us stay connected to and appreciate ourselves more.
So, you might ask, why can help with our confidence? Why two dimensional images, that are often additionally manipulated in Photoshop, can successfully boost our internal state of being? Isn’t this cheating and how come our brain believes it?
Why with Photography?
Photography is an art form that plays with light. The light by itself can be manipulated in order to gain the most pleasing to the eye result. So even before Photoshop, the light that paints the photograph is a tool that photographers use to capture moments, create art and visually freeze a fraction of time for eternity.
As humans, we consume the world 90% through our visual senses. What we look at can have uplifting or damaging effects. How we think about ourselves is usually not how we actually look. Our self critic is judging hard without even pointing at the preciousness we already possess as humans.
It’s not cheating - it’s Self care
In our everyday life we are exposed to vast amount of images of other people's life and journeys. Social media made the comparison and strive for perfection a normality that has vast amount of pros and cons. Photo retouch and filters just add on to that illusion that somebody else’s life is perfect than yours. ‘‘Grass is always green on the other side’’. Or isn’t it in fact greener where it has been watered?
We’re all different, we look different, we have different lives, we value different things. Having beautiful photographs of yourself is a way to accept and appreciate more who you are in this physical form, to accept and value the body you live in for some years. We believe what we see, and so a beautiful presentation of yourself can boost up your confidence and mute the negative voice in your head that keeps comparing you to others. I truly believe everyone can look beautiful in pictures and one must own many of them.
It’s a way to know yourself more
We spent most of our time observing the world around us. We look at our partners, family, children, friends more than we look at our own selves. We stare at them filled with love and admiration of their spirit and/or body. But we don’t really observe ourselves as much and often with much less of any appreciation at all.
When you see your body presented in a pleasing to the eye way, you start valuing more the beauty of it. The shapes and forms it has, the symmetry, the colours and textures that compliment it. To know yourself more is to acknowledge and learn to respect both your inner and outer self. Accepting the body you were given to live in will bring you peace and compassion. A body that does its job to keep you alive, healthy and intelligently notifying you when you need to change or re-adjust.
Your body is your best friend and it deserves to be appreciated, admired and looked at with love and compassion. To have beautiful photographs of it is a way to celebrate it here and now. It is also a way to be remembered in history and for future generations.
How to photograph musicians with their musical instruments?
Most professionals require certain tools or instruments to be able to perform or create their work. Musicians included. As creators, their musical instruments are an inevitable part of their everyday life and quality of their work. They spend hours in practice and usually carry their own instruments for their performances or rehearsals.
When photographing musicians with their music instruments you should keep in mind that it’s important to capture the essence of the artist, but also to compliment their pride towards their craft and tools.
Here are a few tips of what to keep in mind during your photoshoot:
Don’t hide the person behind the object
Not every professional (especially in the early stages of their career) is confident to be photographed. Some might try to hide their body or expression behind the instrument. Your job as a photographer is to capture the passion, the movement, but also the performer. Make sure you have enough frames of your subject with their instrument in movement/performing and also of them proudly posing with their instrument. Keep in mind how you crop your frames, how natural the image looks and how both musician and instrument stand together. Even if your sitters might not feel it at the time, later on they will thank you for sure.
Reflections, reflections, reflections
Most music instruments have glossy, shiny finishing that reflects not only the light but also the objects surrounding it. So, while you’re thinking about the framing and position of your subject, you should also keep an eye on the reflections that appear on the instruments. You don’t want to see a selfie of yourself or the backstage on your amazingly lit and positioned professional photographs. And more often than not, it’s easier to correct it on the spot, than later in Photoshop.
No fingerprints
One way to make your life and job easier is to make sure the instruments that you photograph are well polished and clean. This will not only save you a good amount of time in post production, but it will bring the best out of the item. It’s like when you like your shoes but if you polish them you fall in love with them again. Also the performer would feel more proud while posing for their photoshoot when they see their instrument shining bright. After all this is not a performance, but a photoshoot and you can take your time with every detail on the set. (Of course, this is not the case when you want to explicitly show the work marks of the craftsman on its equipment.)
Environment
A photoshoot of musicians with their instruments doesn’t necessarily mean live, stage performance. But the place where you do your photoshoot might be the same. When planning your shoot be clear with yourself and the brief (if there is one), what is the feel/effect that you’re going for. In or out of a music environment, your photographs can capture the essence, the vibe, even the sound…
How to photograph objects in a more creative way?
Why not in a way you would usually capture portraits?
As a portrait photographer, sometimes I find it hard to photograph images of still objects. Even during the quarantine this year, I challenged myself to experiment and shoot something outside my comfort zone. Interestingly enough, I found out that I’m definitely not a still life photographer. I’ve tried to move the positions of the object or the light, but something always wasn’t right in my opinion. In the end, I found it easier to arrange objects similar to the way I would usually position human beings.
This summer, during my photoshoots of musicians, I’ve met one of the three luthiers in Bulgaria, who make guitars. I was blown away - never seen or met anyone who makes musical instruments. His name is Stefan Kudef and he goes under the brand Qdeff Guitars - custom made boutique pieces, that sing in an incredible way. You can follow him and find more about his work on his Facebook page.
Beautifully crafted pieces, made with love and attention, but unfortunately not photographed in the best, most complimenting for them way. It hurt to see how such beautiful objects don’t have a proper online presence, so I’ve offered Stefan my photography services. We worked together on coming up with the place and time of the shoot. He insisted to be outdoor, by the sea or in a forest, so it matches the feel of the guitars and complements the wood they are made of.
We did the shoot at sunset, at a small out of town beach. As locals, we know many of those spots, so it was easy to just come up with the location and just drive to it. When we arrived, there were a few people that were about to leave, as the sun has already passed the horizon.
Even though we shot on one location only, I wanted to capture each guitar on a different background, complimenting its beauty. We had 3 guitars, 3 variations of Izabel.
I’ve used:
1 light
Natural background
Last colours of a sunset sky
Natural stands, such as stones and broken stumb
