Take a look at other boudoir photographer's work....
How do the clients look? To me, they look objectified. The photos look like they were taken for their client's male partner. They're very posed and there's a lot of unnatural arching. Don't get me wrong, they're flattering photos, and I'm sure their clients LOVE them! But they look like they were taken for male consumption, and they lack emotional depth. They lack the client's complexities. They lack the female gaze.
female gaze photography captures the emotions, desires, complexities, and agency of the subject.
So let me dissect two of my own boudoir images from before I started photographing for the female gaze vs after.
Pre- Female Gaze
In this first photo, my client is arching pretty heavily. She’s sticking her butt up in the air and the focus is kind of that arch in the back. Now there are some bits of the female gaze peeking through- the lighting is soft. The curtains flowing over the bed. This was taken in the transitional period where I realized I wanted to move away from the male gaze, but wasn’t quite sure how to achieve that yet.
Post-Female Gaze
In this photo, my client is posed very naturally. The focus is on the atmosphere of her drinking wine, in a casual but cute little silk dress. There is cleavage, but that’s not the focus, and even still, it’s very natural. There’s no artificial pushing-the-boobies-up-in-your-face. When I look at this photo, I can tell how she’s feeling. She’s relaxed. Pensive. Even feeling a little sexy, but for herself. Not for some man. In fact, Brittany did this session FOR HERSELF- and this is what she had to say about it after.
“The session was such a wonderful reminder to see myself in that light every day. It gave me a new level of confidence, not just for my external appearance but also just as a woman (especially because I did the shoot for ME and I'm proud of myself for investing in something so fun and unique solely for myself).”
