This year's personal project surrounds a subject that I encounter in each and every boudoir session, no matter if I'm here in Atlanta or elsewhere in the world. 

Let's talk about Scars.

While my breasts (I feel like that's the term I should use here) started to come in when I was around 11 years old, outside of the stretch marks from a young body growing some mega-boobs, my physical body doesn't have a lot of scarring. Sure, I also have one or two chicken-pock scars but that's it for my epidermis. 

My mother gave birth to me when she was 32 and I was a lil bitch in the womb. So much that she needed to surgically remove me (what can I say, I was 1.5 weeks late and comfy AF). We call that a C-Section. I grew up constantly seeing my mom's scar, but she never mentioned it and to me it seemed just like another part of her beauty. In the 80s the scars were more aggressive... picture a vertical scar down the abdomen. Include the staple marks. Now add stretch marks. 

This is normal for me. 

Fast forward to the purple stretch marks I began to have as my boobs came in. We spent a lot of money on scar cream (Mederma anyone?), but time was really the healer. If I have to be honest, my scars didn't really bother me because I knew nothing different. I had no Instagram models to compare myself to, TEEN magazine was mainly documenting makeup trends, boy bands, and romance quizzes– not body types.

As I began my career as a photographer I was immediately drawn to people. People in their element, people not in their element, people in general. 

When I started boudoir photography I immediately fell in love with the stories of my clients.

Of course each story isn't written with one page. 

Our client's' stories are written page after page. They describe experiences. They describe joys. They describe very painful lows. They describe very painful highs. 

In our clients I began to see a pattern of scars. We have physical scars that we'd like to cover up, yet the reason behind wanting to cover them is most often because we feel like we have to. 

We have emotional scars that we would like forgotten. Those scars are harder to visually see, but they cut just as deep. 

The thing about scars is that nearly 100% of the time a client comes to me she will request for me to remove any trace of her scars. There are of course exceptions, however a common request is to rid the images of all stretch marks, C-section scars, childhood wounds, beauty marks, adult battle-wounds, etc. We want to be seen as perfect. 

Why do scars make us imperfect? 

These are the thoughts and experiences I've had over the last 10 years as a photographer. About a year and a half ago I had a wild thought in my brain to bring boudoir clients in and photograph them with their scars. This would mean that those very scars they decided to hide would be brought to the present. These scars would be visible for all to see, and for all to love. 

In January 2018 I introduced the 'SCARS' project. We'll bring you in for a personal photo session in order to beautifully document you and the scars that grace you. I have no idea how this project will evolve, but I knew that I needed to start somewhere. I knew that I needed our clients and all people everywhere (women and men) to see the power and beauty and personal strength that comes from scars. 

Are you interested in participating in the 'Scars' project? Get in touch: Sarah@Ownboudoir.com

(This is a followup from yesterday's post, check it out if you haven't already)

Knowing that the holiday season is basically here (in Atlanta we've had an influx of 30degree days), I wanted to go in-depth with explaining the different types of boudoir sessions that we offer. Outside of the holidays, though, this is just damn-good information to have! Read through it all and you'll have successfully made me feel better about having taken 45min to write all of this down.

For those clients that are interested in having a more involved boudoir experience (and having everything taken care of all at one time) we offer our Premium session. This session type is our most popular as it helps take care of nearly everything you could want in a boudoir session.

The Premium boudoir session includes all that the Base session offers with a mountain of added bonuses.

When you book a premium boudoir session with us you’ll have five outfit changes (perfect for all of those different looks that you want to try out), an additional $100 in credit from the base session (giving you $200 to use toward any add-ons and products!), full professional hair and makeup done in-studio, AND a personal wardrobe consultation (woo hoo!!!!). Currently our Premium boudoir session usually lasts around 3.5-4 hours and is $700 (with a $200 credit toward products). 

Let's talk more about that wardrobe consult. With the Premium session our wardrobe consultation starts immediately after we sign and seal your booking. Kelsey, our client manager extraordinaire, will set up a call (or your preferred method of communication, we are huge texters over here) with you to talk over your initial needs and wants. Don’t have any CLUE what you need or want? No prob, Bob. Her job is to figure that out with you! From then on Kelsey is available almost any time you need her. She’ll find certain styles for you, offer feedback when you’re out shopping, help you narrow down between which of your 15 black bras looks the best, etc. The wardrobe consultation is like having a personal stylist on retainer. 

Outside of the big “what do I even wear for this” question, the next biggest question we get is about hair and makeup. I believe our clients usually ask something along the lines of "can you do something with....this?" (cue a casual wave of the hand in front of the face).

With the premium session hair and makeup is included, though hair and makeup can also be booked separately for those clients interested in the Base session! Our hair and makeup artists are extremely talented and beyond meticulous...which is fantastic for when I'm zoomed in on those eyelashes and brows.

There are about 6 artists that we have in rotation for our boudoir clients, all of which have been working with me for quite some time. They know exactly how I photograph my clients and aren't too prideful that I'm not comfortable saying whether or not I like something. We work together to make sure that your face and hair are recognizable to you (unless you want to look unrecognizable) and that it'll photograph beautifully. The whole hair and makeup process usually takes around 1.5-2hrs and is insanely involved. These pictures will be saved forever… so we try to make sure everything is perfect. We aren’t afraid to wipe it all off and start over if you completely hate you look (although that has never happened before).

Before your session, during one of your many wardrobe conversations, you and Kelsey will have talked through the “look” that you’re going for. We send those pictures (along with a picture of your face) to our makeup artist so that she is fully prepared the day of your session, and so that she can let us know of any issues or red flags she sees for what you have chosen! 

And there ya have it, folks ;) That may have been WAYYYYYY too much information, but if you made it all of the way through you'll be more prepared and basically a professional at this whole 'boudoir ' thing. 

....stay tuned for the next part!