And I was so thrilled to be able to work with her! They are an amazing human that I’ve known for years, and I credit them with connecting me with Our Lives magazine, who I’ve now been shooting images for for quite a number of years. I love Emily’s look, and am in love with the photos we were able to capture!
—Sam
We played around with her amazing “black widow” style robe and movement and florals and I loved every minute of it! Enjoy these photos!
—Sam
Their style, flare, and absolutely brilliant smile are all unparalleled. They were such a gem about rescheduling following a surprise gallbladder removal surgery, but the wait was worth it! I’m so glad I got to photograph them finally! Enjoy these fun photos from their session. Whryne’s outfits are a great example of things you can wear to a boudoir + empowerment session that aren’t lingerie or that don’t involve being nude, if that’s not your thing!
—Sam
And both were so fun and amazing! I absolutely love how our neon shower setup turned out! Enjoy these fun photos and consider booking your own neon session!
—Sam
Sara really wanted to do an outdoor shoot, and I was thrilled when we decided on Governor’s Island on Madison’s Northeast side! Governor’s Island is freaking beautiful (all year round, but in the fall particularly) and we had a blast walking around getting photos and laughing out butts off. It was chilly, but worth it!
—Sam
She wanted a mix of flirty and romantic, so we played around and had fun in the studio for the occasion! I love how these turned out, and am so glad we got to do a belated birthday session for her!
—Sam
When Sebastian and I talked about what a gender affirming session would look like for him as a trans man, he said that one of the things that helps him feel most centered in his gender is leather, and puppy play. I had heard of puppy play, but didn’t know much about it, so Sebastian was kind enough to explain it to me, and even gave me a little crash course on the overlap between the leather community and pup community. He also wanted to work some fun top energy into his session, which we absolutely did!
Sebastian’s session was a blast and I am so honored to have been able to photograph him!
—Sam
Marie (@the_spiritual_candy on instagram) arrived for her session with $100 worth of candy in a large tote bin, and a clear vision for how she wanted her session to go. I normally have a bit of a moody vibe to a lot of my portraits (my inner goth kid coming out to play), but when Marie told me that her vision for her session was bright, colorful, and filled with whimsical candy and yoga-based play, I knew I finally had a use for that bright yellow backdrop at the studio! Marie did her yoga flow in a sea of candy, and we got photos of it, and they were awesome! We also did a little floral-based stuff at the very end, before all the candy cleanup commenced. I love these photos and I hope you all do too!
—Sam
I love the different styles and presentations, and Wendi’s take on what femme + masculine look like on her was stunning!
—Sam
But when they saw some neon-themed images on my instagram page, they were smitten, and we decided to go the route of a faux shower neon light setup (what, you don’t have neon lights in your shower at home?) and it was awesome! I’m so excited Red was up for playing around with neon, getting sprayed down with a water bottle, and being a vulnerable and all around amazing human for our session! Enjoy these fun photos!
—Sam
On average, boudoir clients can expect to spend somewhere between $3000 - $7000, depending heavily on the experience of the photographer, the area of the country where the photographer is based, and the packages each photographer offers.
Why so expensive? It’s a very reasonable question, and I’d like to help break it down for you.
First, and most importantly, I’d like to say that only you can decide if boudoir photos are worth the cost for you specifically. No one can make that determination for you. But you deserve to invest in yourself and your body image journey. And you deserve to work with a professional who makes you feel comfortable and seen, produces work that showcases your glorious, badass self, and who knows what they’re doing.
Many folks wonder why boudoir photography is so much more expensive than a regular portrait session, but boudoir + empowerment photos aren’t like a traditional portrait session, and they are considerably more time intensive for the photographer than say a family portrait session. I’ll show the difference below:
What goes into a boudoir session:
Pre-session phone consultation (30 min)
Emails/messaging back & forth prior to session (3-5 hours)
Shoot setup and prep time (1 hour)
Shoot tear down and clean up time (1 hour)
Shooting the session itself (1-2 hours)
Post-processing/editing and retouching (10-15 hours)
Album and prints - design, ordering, quality control, etc. (3-7 hours)
Client education, prep guide, etc. (30 minutes to 1 hour)
Image reveal session (1 hour)
Business management including social media, blog, contracting, etc., per session (1-2 hours)
That’s 22 to 35 hours per session!
What goes into a family portrait session:
Emails/messaging back & forth prior to session (1-2 hours)
Shooting the session itself (1-2 hours)
Post-processing/editing and retouching (3-6 hours)
Business management including social media, blog, contracting, etc., per session (1 hour)
That’s 6-11 hours per session. See the difference?
Now let’s look the hard costs associated with boudoir sessions that aren’t applicable for family sessions:
Studio rental ($100 per session)
Props ($100 per session)
What the numbers above don’t include are the hundreds of hours (and thousands of dollars) spent on boudoir-specific education and formal training, the thousands spent per year on software, websites, business licensing and insurance, the hard costs on ordering albums and prints, the expensive equipment, the credit card processing fees, and then the big kicker; the 30-35% taken off the top in taxes.
Because of the time-intensive nature of boudoir photography, I also can’t take on as many clients as I could if I were only doing family portraits, so there is a pretty hard limit to the number of sessions I can do in a week, month, or year.
Absolutely. You can always find boudoir photographers who charge less, but it is often because they are either much newer, without the experience and education to provide excellent service and an amazing end result, or because they’re offering a very stripped down (no pun intended) version of the service where not as much time is spent on education, prep, body image, etc. While the phrase “You get what you pay for” is not always true, it is often true when it comes to photography in any genre. As a wise person once said, if you want fast food prices, you’re going to get fast food quality.
Maybe after reading this, you have a better understanding of why boudoir photography is more expensive than other kinds of portraiture. And maybe you feel like “Yes this is great, and I want to try it, but this is still out of my budget!” and that is totally reasonable. I’m a big believer in the importance of sticking to a budget! Most boudoir photographers (myself included!) offer flexible payment plans for up to a year prior to your session. If this is an experience you think would be helpful for you (and it’s definitely one you deserve to have), consider saving up for the session you want with the photographer you want, and if that’s me (yay!), just know that I offer super flexible pre-payment plans to help you plan for the session you want to have! Hit me up with any questions, or visit my FAQ page here for more info!
—Sam
She absolutely rocked it, and was happy to play around with flowers, crowns, and that badass sparkle robe! Thank you, Miss H, for your wonderful spirit and for posing for these lovely photos!
—Sam
