Recently I took a photo of what I felt was a lovely woman, her confidence undeniably radiates in her body.
I could not help but feel proud of the image. Natural light bestowed her, overall, in just the right proportions: natural sunlight glazed her body in all the right places, her skin tones were even and smooth.
She posed the right way to have her curves accentuated; showing off the muscles she works so hard to keep toned.
She was topless. Not only was I proud of my skills as a photographer, but I was also proud of the woman: she has children, and a career.
She loves her body enough to have photos taken of herself and she was so sweet and kind.
The scenario I just described, does that sound like pornography to you?
My client’s posing was both emotional and sensual all throughout the session. The camera loved everything about her, her very physical presence blended so well with the lighting which made her images sexy, raw, and arousing.
But given these descriptions, are they enough to be concluded as porn?
So I shared the image and someone remarked that topless images just “aren’t their taste”, “way low their standards” and that they leave little to the imagination, and that it feels “porny.”
At first, I thought how could someone compare my beautiful client — my beautiful image to something so cheap, so low, and gross like porn.
Boudoir is not porn, it is art, it is a celebration, it is an experience.
If that was porn, then I am most definitely raising its standards. And that’s a tongue-in-cheek statement.
I want my images to convey intense emotion (laughter, longing, pleasure).
I want them to be sensual.
I want my client to experience what boudoir photography is like. She needs to express herself without ever being wanton. She will understand that much difference with boudoir’s subtlety.
With boudoir photography, my clients have had the pleasure of having fun with being emotionally sexy, being a tease, yet also in the most intellectual and detached way of expressing it outwardly.
Boudoir photography is about the woman’s self-discovery; a boost of confidence, and a raw reminder that they are beautiful. These are her rights to express herself as a woman, of who she is, and what she is made of.
