What does geography have to do with Boudoir?
Okay so I did actually come to a conclusion about art and porn. If you’re new here, check out my last blog post where I thought through this in a little more depth. I do think that art can be porn and porn can be art. Is all porn art? Absolutely not. The vast majority of it is not, however there are some studios that are making ethical porn where they use lightning in beautiful ways, the stills from them are gorgeous and I can’t help but ask how is this not art? This took creativity and skill and an artist’s eye to create. So do we decide that it’s not art just because of the sex? Or is it just because they are making money off of it? Both seem like flawed arguments to me. I digress, I want to talk about something else today.
How we think about art and space/place.
So I studied geography in college, and before you go, yeah okay Penelope what the fuck do maps have to do with boudoir photography, let me explain.
Geography is the study of human and environment interaction.
I have been thinking a lot about how much I absolutely love the long form couples in home session that I am developing. Or the way people photograph outside versus in a studio. And I think it all comes down to this idea of how people are interacting with their environment.
I know that in home sessions are not the norm. You want the beautiful in studio pictures with perfect light, clean lines etc. But let me make an argument for in home.
When you walk into a studio or an airbnb to take photos with me, you walk into a foreign space that you have had no input on designing. While the lines are clean and beautiful and the environment is controlled, it isn’t a reflection of you (or your partner if it’s a couples shoot). And that effects the way you interact with the space. Maybe it makes you feel like you can be someone totally different because it is outside the normal. Or maybe it leaves you just a little uncomfortable because it isn’t a defined safe space. What it definitely does, is create a space where you’re interacting with the environment for the very first time while also experiencing something that is very vulnerable.
But in homes are different. The one that the photos in the post are from lasted three hours. I took 1750 photos (of which I will probably edit 70… okay lets be real probably more). And it was such a lovely thing to be invited into someones space. To drink coffee with the couple, to take the time to chat with them a little before shooting. And it also was such an honor to be invited into their space and into a home. Because a studio is not a home. Someone’s home has their favorite blanket on the couch. Their favorite mugs for coffee. Their favorite color bedspread. It is imbued with the people who live it in and it is intensely human.
So imagine a session where there is no rush on time. We can bop to from room to room. If its a couples session, you can drink coffee together, snuggle on the couch, play cards, make pancakes, and also have some sexy and sweet boudoir photos to go with it. If it is a solo session, do the things that you would normally do on a lazy Saturday. Read books, drink tea, have a bath, bake cookies, play video games. Literally anything that you would normally do without me here. Became it’s not just about the sexy photos, its also about the things that make you you, the things that I can’t possibly capture in foreign space of a studio.
Because a studio is not the only space where we are allowed to be naked. And homes lend to having both the sexy photos and also the simply beauty of the human body and love. It is also the beauty of what makes a home a home. Is the lighting studio perfect? No. Do I care? No. Because I am way more interested in your story than I am a perfect photo. Humans are meant to be perfect and it makes me so excited to catch the little imperfections and help you see them as beautiful. Whether those imperfections are at the scale of your home, or your body, which is also your home.
So, while I design these for the next month or so, I am going to have them discounted (no full media release required). All in home boudoir sessions will be $500 (normally $800 for 90 minute individual and the long form couples work will be priced between $950-$1100).
Cheers,
a raging feminist/geographer with a camera
