This past April, I headed to Calgary to teach a workshop alongside one of my favorite photographers, Boon Ong or Figuratif by Boon Ong (he's the one that inspired me to put music to my blog posts to amp up the experience!) I had contacted him last year to see if he would be interested in teaching with me for a few reasons: 1) I wanted to learn from him 2) I knew he was the complete opposite method and approach as me and 3) There are very few Canadian boudoir specific workshops that happen! When I reached out to him, I could tell he was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, but part of my charm is that I don't give up and I pester with extra emojis and exclamation points until people come play with me, so when he agreed I was suuuuper excited!!! As we approached the workshop day, Boon and I checked in with each other here and there to chat about how we wanted the workshop to flow, what were we each teaching about and just how would 2 seemingly opposite humans create a successful workshop. Welp, somehow we made it work. We booked a stellar airbnb in Calgary, managed to convince 7 strangers to hang out with us for the weekend to learn about the ins, outs, up and downs of our businesses, and helped Boon celebrate his birthdayl! Through the 2 days that we were teaching, I learned A LOT about Boon and was so impressed with the thought that goes into his art. As an educator in the boudoir field, I always think it's important to let my attendees know that there is never ONE way to do things, and by having Boon and I, literally complete opposites, teach together, we hammered this home. We helped our attendees understand a few key things: that you don't need to be an entrepreneur photographer to be a professional photographer, the best experience you can create for your clients is by being 100% authentic to yourself, and of course, don't put yourself into a box when it comes to making art. The thing I like about having Boon as my colleague is his quiet confidence and ability to honestly critique my work....I have massive respect for this guy because every time he puts out new work, I notice something new...to the point that sometimes in the middle of sessions I will stop and say "how would Boon frame this/light this/pose this?" just to mix things up!! I think he is humble in his acceptance of my accolades, but that just makes me swoon over him that much more! Anyways, I hope we will do another Calm & the Chaos in the future!Photos featuring me were taken by the beautiful and talented Shannon Smith of Artist Shannon Smith in Calgary, AB (so you should book her for your session!!) She caught me looking my most professional, of course.
Winnipeg boudoir photography
Oh, beautiful Miss T! This lady's soul is just as beautiful as her sparkling, ocean-blue eyes! This has been her third experience in front of my lens and every time we shoot, I feel that we uncover another layer of this babe, getting her one step closer to recognizing her awesomeness. You can check out her first shoot 
I have been blessed to have had three shoots with you now, but each shoot has been so different – physically and emotionally.
The first shoot I booked after working with a Health Coach, particularly in regards to self confidence and self esteem. After our six months together, she recommended that I continue working on myself by going outside of my comfort zone (VERY outside of my comfort zone) and book a shoot with you. I did and was so extremely nervous that I didn’t sleep for two nights before the shoot. I did not tell my husband what I was doing, which made “sneaking around” even more stressful! We did the shoot, and in all of Teri's professionalism, she made me comfortable and relaxed. When I received my book, I was very happy with the pictures, but honestly a little embarrassed that I had done that.
The second time was initiated by Teri when she asked me to be part of her New Year's photo shoot. I was truly honoured to be a part of that, but was unbelievably nervous as I was meeting and working with other unbelievably gorgeous ladies that I had admired on Teri's website. They were all professional, knew what they were doing, and were about 20 years younger than me! While I was getting my hair and makeup done, I was thinking of excuses I could make to escape the photo shoot! It ended up being tons of fun, but I continually felt like the odd one out (nothing to do with Teri at all – definitely all in my head!).
So here comes the third shoot. This was spurred on by Teri's Leap Day special – completely a spur of the moment decision on my part. I told my husband what I was going to do and it was really special to have the two of us involved in the prep – what type of pictures, outfits, etc. I was really excited to move forward with this shoot and ended up having an awesome day in the studio. I felt comfortable and confident that day, mostly thanks to Teri. When I received the link to my gallery, I was nervous. I didn’t know if I wanted to see the pictures, let alone have my husband look at them. It took a couple of days for me to get up the nerve to tell him that I had them and asked him if he wanted to see them. We sat down together and opened the link. The first few shots I felt myself being critical – noticing the rolls here and the wrinkles there. I felt embarrassed to have my husband seeing this and questioned myself on why I did it. But as the slideshow continued, my mindset started to change and I began remembering the actual photo shoot day. I found myself telling bits and pieces of our shoot, little things I remembered or things that we said. As the conversation continued and the slideshow kept going, I felt myself overcome by the feelings that I had on the shoot day. Fun, laughter, confidence, self esteem…………it was almost a surreal moment, as I felt that I was reliving that day. As we continued through the pictures, I started picking out positive things on the pictures and feeling proud and confident that THAT WAS ME! After the first look through, I had to leave the room to take a moment, as I was feeling quite overwhelmed. My husband went through the pictures again and flagged his favourites. When I came back and looked through again, my favourites were almost identical to his. He suggested that we should frame some and put them up in our bedroom. Amazingly I agreed………my first album is hidden in a drawer in our room so this is a HUGE step for me.
So again, Ms. Teri – you have brought me to another level in my journey to self-esteem and confidence………and you have given me the journey in photos…………where I can look back when I am not in a good place and remember how you helped me to feel on that day………..and where I can look back when I am in a good place and be proud of the woman that I am!
I believe that the women I meet are never by accident and there is a reason they come into my life or I, into theirs. Miss T is no exception and now that we have been through so much soul searching together (and even joined her and her family for dinner!), I feel as though we are more than just client-photographer. Miss T, Jill and I are working on something super exciting for the Boudy Babes in 2017 so stay tuned for that! And remember, your first boudoir session is really just the beginning to peeling away those layers.