17 Apr Freedom | Austin Boudoir Photography

This is a letter to my fellow photographers…

Remember, back in the day, when you used to shoot purely for the fun of it?  

When there were no “rules” to follow.  You didn’t care about busy backgrounds, or not enough bokeh, or distortion from a lens…  Your only concern was capturing a moment in time.  That was it — just, “Oooh pretty!  Get it!”

I was given the gift of freedom last month when I took Denise Birdsong’s “Stripped Down” workshop in Vegas.  We learned the art of coaching our clients for raw emotion.  I was SO bogged down with rules and CC (“constructive criticism” or “comment and critique”), and tearing my work apart and feeling unfulfilled and stuck —– and I didn’t even really realize it.  Not until I took this workshop and I was forced to ONLY deal with getting that gorgeously beautiful emotion out of my clients and, in turn, have an even more intimate experience with each and every one of them during their session.

I used to be exhausted after every session.  Like, crazy tired and just spent.  I would literally come home and fall onto my bed while my hubby unloaded the car for me.  It’s crazy — now, I am working even harder during my sessions…but I leave feeling re-charged and beautiful, myself.  I feel powerful and sexy.  And I feel like I made a difference in that woman’s life.

I also miss focus, chop limbs off and under/over expose now.  The technical aspect of my work has sort of fallen to the way side.  You’d think that would bother me.  But it does the exact opposite.

It gives me the freedom to create ART.  Photographs with raw, intense, sensual, connected, hardcore, vulnerable, life-changing, happy, feminine, powerful and sexual emotion!

I posted the above image for CC in a photography group and got a lot of good feedback.  It reminded me, though, why I don’t post for CC very often at all anymore.  And it really reminded me of an awesome article written by Nino Batista, a colleague of mine, called “When CC Becomes WTF: My Problem with Online Comment and Critique”.  He spoke about why posting CC for your photos in photography forums is utterly useless.  You must read it (HERE) — it’s great!

Here are a few of my favorite emotions to capture…

Pleasure:

Joy + Happiness:

Vulnerability + Serenity:

I’ve found my love and passion for creating beautiful images again, with no fear and an open mind.  I go into my sessions feeling excited and adventurous!  It’s amazing!  And it’s all because of you, Denise, Lacy, Shelby & Kate!  You ladies are amazing!

Thank you for the gift of freedom!