She’s British Ghanaian woman, a fantastic plus size model, an advocate for health equality, and has impeccable style. It was such a treat to photograph her in the Big Apple.
An odd thing struck me as I was working on these images though. I grew up in a small, rural American town. It’s a place where the benchmark of feminine beauty is very narrowly defined as a thin, blonde cheerleader type who shops at The Buckle and Abercrombie. Tans and fake nails are key, tattoos and piercings are scorned, and a nice car or truck means you’re making good money. It’s also a very homogenous place – in my entire community, there was not a single African American person, and 90% of the people belong to the same church. It’s a place with plenty of positive attributes, but tolerance isn’t one of them.
Although Philomena is undeniably and obviously beautiful, I feel confident that my high school would have tried to tell her that she wasn’t. In a million little ways she would have been too much for them – too black, too curvy, too bald, too different. Too threatening to their small town ways.
I was struck by what a SHAME that is.
I don’t think Miss P would have listened anyway, but still… I hope that if you’re a woman reading this and you are struggling, that these images will inspire you to take heart. The opinions and criticisms of those around you are not necessarily correct or important, and there are many different ways to be beautiful (and only some of those have anything to do with physical attributes).
If you feel less than, perhaps the people trying to bring you down are just threatened by your potential. Maybe, you’re surrounded by idiots who don’t get you. Even more likely, is it possible you’re letting the little self-hate voice inside your head speak too loudly and too often?
Here’s the truth; you are beautiful as soon as you decide you are.
Anyhow, let’s start things off with a sultry black and white of Miss P. Three separate magazines wanted to publish this shoot, but unfortunately we weren’t able to give any of them permission due to some contractual issues, so you’ll just have to revel in Philomena’s beauty here:)
A simple white cotton lingerie set reads relaxed and casual. How cute is her cheeky grin here?
Effortless expressions and bare feet – a lovely combo.
I love this deep blue on Miss P. A strong colour like this is a great way to add a visual pop to a boudoir album, and I thought it contrasted really nicely with this vintage velvet chair.
I stuffed all this netting into my suitcase and dragged it across the ocean just for these shots. Totally worth it if you ask me, P looks positively dreamy.
For you photography people, I used only window light and a reflector for these images.
A last few of my favourites from this blue lingerie look.
Simple. Beautiful. I hope CoverGirl calls Miss P. soon, she’d be amazing for that.
For the next look we added in a black sheer wrap. This is a great piece for boudoir shoots since it gives us lots of fun posing options, and can also work well to help downplay any body areas you’re not so keen on.
Miss P and I used it to try to take flight.
Moody and seductive is always so much better than trashy and obvious. Le sigh.
I wanted to make sure we got a few silhouette type shots for Miss P to show off her curves. These always seem to look better in black and white than in colour.
Oh, you know…just hanging out in a NYC loft looking fabulous:) Love a good bodysuit. If you don’t want to show your stomach, this is a great wardrobe option.
Sometimes you just have to stare straight down the camera like you own the place. Miss P can teach you how.
We finished up our shoot with a few simple, clean images to show off Miss P’s shape and natural beauty. She’s doing a lot of commercial work at the moment, so images like these are quite important.
Miss P, it was lovely to work with you. Wishing you all the best and loads of success!
This is the lovely Miss M, who is a past client and friend. The original plan was for us to squeeze in a proper boudoir shoot while in New York, but we got so busy catching up and making plans that it slipped our minds until midnight.
No problem – I had a rooftop and an amazing view, and our roommate Christie (also a photographer) had this crazy lighting tool, an Ice Light, with her. As a side note, the Ice Light looks exactly like a light saber, and would be exceedingly popular with young boys and nerds alike.
We climbed to the roof, pushed open the door, and…it was raining cats and dogs. Serious rain. It was also very cold, and everyone was tired and jet lagged.
At this point, both girls were ready to throw in the towel. I just knew if we didn’t do the shoot that night it wasn’t going to happen, so I put on my most charming smile and begged. Luckily, they agreed to humour me for 2 minutes. If you make friends with a photographer, this sort of thing is bound to happen sooner or later. You’ve been warned.
Can you see the rain?! These girls are troopers.
With no time and minimal equipment, the only way I was going to be able to get the image I had in my head was to combine several frames in post production. This gets technical so I won’t bore you with details, but due to the circumstances I wasn’t able to get Miss M and the background both in focus in the same image. Instead, I used the image above as my cityscape background, and a separate image for the best pose and expression from Miss M. Later on, I combined the two images in Photoshop.
It’s not the ideal way to work, but when you have literally two minutes and are also worried about giving your client hypothermia and flooding your very expensive camera, sometimes you just have to cut a few corners;)
Our final image:
Big thanks to Miss M and Christie – you girls are amazing! Christie, I’ll happily hold light for you in the rain if there’s ever a chance for me to return the favour:)
Vegan. Yogi. Your wellness guide at Electric Breath. She also has an AP addiction, and is a former plus model at Wilhelmina. We got together during my recent trip to New York.
She is positively luminous and such an interesting person. In fact, we found so much to talk about that I had to force myself to shut up to get any shooting done.
Oh yeah, AND she’s unbelievable gorgeous. Many thanks to Gemma and Katherine for a beautiful job on makeup and hair.
This is my absolute favourite way to do red and black together. A burgundy or red wine colour is miles better than a bright cherry red, unless you’re aiming for a pin up or vintage feel.
Love this pose on the right. It’s not half as comfortable as Persi makes it look, but I love the lines it creates.
Something about this loft just calls for grainy, moody black and whites.
A little shoot through glass fun.
Love this feel – like a rainy Sunday morning.
All you need is a good cup of coffee and nowhere to be. Maybe a cat.
Persi showed me this jacket and I about died. It’s vintage Agent Provocateur (can you call a brand as new as AP vintage? Probably not – it’s not for sale anymore so just don’t get your hopes up).
Apparently is was a fortune, but it’s perfection. Absolute perfection.
If you’d like to do something similar for your own shoot, there are quite a few fitted tuxedo jackets for women out there. Polyvore has a good selection, or you can always pick up a non-label and have it tailored for the perfect fit.
Pair with black heels, plain bottoms, and understated jewellery for a classic, sophisticated look.
Little details make a piece like this sing, so look for satin lining, unique buttons, or a fun colour.
Gaaaahhhh. That face!!
Okay, I know. Enough with the jacket already.
An easy men’s white shirt, and then our final set – a cute checkered number from Agent P.
I think the key to this sort of image is a great back arch and beautiful light. Sandwiching yourself into a tiny space on the floor between a table and a sofa, while balancing a large reflector and simultaneously directing and shooting is optional.
LUMINOUS. Persi actually glows.
It must be all the vegetables. Or the yoga. Or all the do good karmic energy.
Note to self: Copy Persi’s lifestyle immediately.
And finally, I saved the best for last. My favourite image of our shoot. For now anyway, I’ll probably have a different favourite next week:)
Persi, I had such a great time talking to you and working with you. I’m eager to try out some of your delicious recipes. We MUST get together again next time I’m in NYC, I won’t let you say no;)
Lauren got in touch shortly after I announced my NYC trip. She’s back and forth between America and the UK these days, so it just made sense for us to plan her shoot in the Big Apple. After a few Skype calls and some mood boarding, we came up with a styling direction: retro/vintage with a little NYC edge. I had a feeling it was going to suit her, but she took to it like a fish to water. The hair, the makeup, everything just worked.
Lovely Lauren is dream to work with too. She’s kind and elegant, but also brave and was up for anything in the name of an incredible image, including climbing to the roof in lingerie.
This chair reminded me of “That 70’s Show,” and worked perfectly for a retro vibe.
Lauren is wearing a vintage French blouse which has been passed down from the women in her family for generations (what a way to commemorate them). Also, how divine in her hair in this image on the left? Katherine, our hairstylist, did an amazing job.
A ruby red lingerie set always adds a pop of colour. Here we’ve paired it with a simple black cardigan, which is a great way to make things feel more casual. If you’re not so keen on your midsection, this is also a great way to strategically hide bits without being obvious about it.
Legs for days + great ink = winner.
There’s a soft spot in my heart for fiery redheads and for women who own their curves.
A perfect vintage cat eye, courtesy of the ever talented Gemma. No surprise the Lauren is frequently compared to Kate Winslet with this gorgeous face.
I remember exactly when I clicked the shutter for this image, because about two seconds later I told Lauren I though she ought to be painted on the side of a plane.
Lauren, Rita Hayworth called. She says you’d better back off her look.
It’s lonely at the top, but not for L.
In fact, it’s so glamorous that it calls for some fake smoking and an over the shoulder glance that makes her too cool for absolutely everyone.
I haven’t photographed anyone in front of graffiti for years, but when in Rome…
A few moody black and whites to finish.
Lauren, you did SO GOOD. It was so exciting to photograph you, and I’m already looking forward to whatever we come up with next time. Thank you thank you thank you.
I’m appalled that I’ve waited so long to share these images, but if you like theatrical outfits, the circus, and/or things that sparkle, I have something very special for you…
Say hello to Katrina (again): acrobat, snake charmer, lingerie creator, Aussie beauty, and an incredibly lovely person to work with. There’s nothing about this woman that I don’t like, and it’s a happy day when we get to shoot.
The learning curve certainly starts to level off after your first few years of photography. It’s at once a blessing and a curse. In a way, it’s encouraging that massive improvements are no longer an easy feat. It means you’ve mastered the basics, honed your style, developed your eye, etc. On the other hand, it’s frustrating doing shoot after shoot after shoot, knowing that none of them are going to elevate your portfolio to the next level. Make no mistake, I’m still learning from every single shoot, but improvements for me now are small, probably imperceptible to the average person. My big steps forward are happening on the running-a-business end of things rather than in pursuit of those elusive “next level” images.
That said, I feel like each time I’ve photographed Katrina I’ve created my best work yet. Maybe it’s because we’re on the same wavelength, or maybe it’s just that it’s practically impossible to take a bad photograph of her, but either way I’ll take it. The creative in me drinks deep working with her.
I’m so pleased to share this set of images with you. I hope you love them as much as we do. I owe a huge thank you to Gemma for her fantastic makeup artistry, and the rest of the girls that day for creating a fun, easygoing atmosphere and being so willing to lend a hand. It’s always a team effort, and I seem to get really lucky in that department lately.
I’d just add that if you’re here by chance and are offended by sequinned nipple tassels, I’d navigate away now;)
Katrina is going to take you to church. And when I say church, I mean a sexy, mysterious, back alley circus where the beautiful people play.
If you’re already hopelessly in love, you can purchase some of Katrina’s hand made pieces for yourself. She has an incredible collection of nipple tassels, bedazzled lingerie, and a few beautiful flowing skirts. To see it all, visit her Etsy shop or follow her on Instagram at @strippedbeautiful.
You cannot stop us. We’ll shoot whatever manner of lingerie ridiculousness we want. There are no rules here.
How do you know when there is too much gold? Trick question: there is never too much gold. Also, I’ll tell other photographers out there that you CAN put someone in front of a small softbox, shoot directly into an unbalanced modelling light, and still get great results. Shock-horror, I know. The photography community told us all we’d have to surrender our first born children if we did that, but it turns out it’s totally fine.
A simple set up – one light, one ladder, one wall, one model.
A second wardrobe look – this one is all pom poms and roses. If you’re feeling intimidated by Katrina’s muscles, you’re not alone. She’s in the midst of intense training and is incredibly fit, very bendy, and very strong right now. It’s totally fine if you do not look like this:)
After dark at the warehouse. I love how blue the night sky goes.
So! I’m back from NYC. It was a manic, exciting, fantastic four days.
It was surreal being back in America again, but I met so many wonderfully creative people this trip. There’s an energy in NYC that is like nothing else – it’s aggressive and defensive, but also exciting and welcoming in it’s own won’t-say-I-love-you-out-loud sort of way. You get the sense that everyone is an outsider, but that very fact is what makes people belong. That feeling, combined with the fact that basically everyone I met is trying to make something happen, build something, create something, or make an impact, is addictive.
I’m currently incommunicado while I get caught up on this mountain of culling, editing, and retouching work I’ve created for myself, but I wanted to share a few behind the scenes images with you this week. There were mostly shot with my iPhone so please don’t judge:)
I flew Kuwait Airways. That’s like a trip in and of itself. Everything was late, everyone got frisked, no one spoke English, and they play an Islamic prayer set to music and meditative images as the lights go off in preparation for takeoff. I’m sure this prayer is meant to be comforting, but as a non-Islamic white girl, I suddenly felt like…uh…do I NEED to by praying right now? Should I be worried this plane needs Divine Intervention to get off the ground?! This, as I notice half the plane is empty and the tray tables are falling apart. Eeesh. On the upside, we didn’t die, I had no one sitting next to me either flight, and the food and service was good.
They also give you printed menus. On the right, NYC greeted me with the most beautiful sunset at touchdown.
I managed to get to Brooklyn by myself, via the subway, with a huge suitcase. I’m not going to lie – NYC public transport is cheap, but it isn’t pretty. By the end of the journey, which featured an assortment of people who looked tired, angry, and/or were singing loudly to no one, I understood why people just take a cab everywhere. Anyway, I made it in the end, and was welcomed by this stunning view.
Our “home” for the trip. This space was a dream, full of eclectic details and gorgeous light.
As luck would have it, my homegirl Jada happened to be in the city at the same time. We got together for a shoot and a catch up, and it was so nice to see a friendly face and talk shop. Here’s Jada’s best Kim Kardashian impression.
One more cityscape.
A sneaky sneak of what Jada and I got up to on the roof;)
Introducing my UK dream team – Katherine on hair and Gemma on makeup. It was such a pleasure having these girls along. Here’s a few outtakes from our shoot with Lauren, who was an absolute bombshell.
Gemma was looking ever so chic…
….and Katherine wasn’t having it.
It was my pleasure to work with a gorgeous woman called Philomena too. A back of the camera preview of her on the left, and a random street shot on the right.
I have decided I would like to switch my gym membership so I can become a “Chinatown Dragon Fighter” club member.
Me, Michael (previous client & friend), and Christie (fellow photographer) in the Stanton Social for dinner. Obligatory selfies ensued, I don’t know why I’m making crazy eyes. Kate (fellow photographer) joined us later, but somehow managed to escape having it photographed.
Michael and I planned a day of sightseeing before I left. This photograph commemorates the time the cab driver dropped us off about a mile from where we asked him too. We had suitcases with us, it wasn’t fun.
I mean, when in Rome…you eat the pizza.
Lady Liberty:) I feel like a proper American now.
The boat tour is definitely the way to go if you want to see the sights in a relatively short amount of time. Michael and I were both fighting exhaustion by the final morning of the trip and we almost didn’t bother, but we were both really glad we did it in the end.
We even walked to Times Square (with bags). I think if you’ve ever been to Vegas, it’s a little underwhelming. I’d like to thank this random guy on the right for photobombing us though. Well played sir, well played.
And finally, me in a cab on the way to the airport, and then on the way home.
I just want to make sure I say a massive thank you to everyone I met in New York. Each one of you were dynamic and interesting and gracious, and it’s an absolute pleasure to be in the company of such good people. It was an honour to work with you and photograph you. I also owe a big thank you to my tireless team, who flew across the ocean and battled a strange city, exhaustion, and sickness to work their magic far from home.
That said, I have SO MANY IMAGES to show you from shoots I did while I was away. I’ve got Jada, a curvy blonde bombshell; Perci, a beautiful vegan brunette in a $1200 AP jacket; Lauren, a redhead covered in tattoos; and Philomena, the most beautifully dark skinned woman with a shaved head and dangerous curves. Plus, several amazing and unique clients who might just let us have a peek at their images too:)
Just you wait and see!
xx
Stormy
P.S. I’m going back. If you missed this trip but want in on the next one, drop me a line!
More media love for plus size / curvy Rebel & Romance bombshells today:)
Jolie, a German based website, contacted me a few weeks ago to ask if they could use a few images in a lingerie article they were working on. I of course said yes, and I’m pleased to see they’ve selected a few of Lorraine and Jada’s images to illustrate the feature.
I did attempt to use Google translate on the little text blurb beside each photograph, but what came out left something to be desired. It all seemed positive though, just a bit mangled – like the instructions that come with electronics assembled in China.
Screen shots below, or feel free to check out the original feature using these links:
Lorraine is wearing a great bra and brief set here, with matching lace panels. The panels act to distract the flow of your eye (similar to the colour blocking trend), so they can be very flattering on curvy bodies.
Look, I know it goes against everything you know about lingerie, but shapewear really can be sexy when it’s worn for a boudoir photo shoot. Jada is rocking a nude bodysuit here – it’s one of those sucky-in ones designed to hold everything in place. I asked her to bring it for her shoot, and I know that she thought I’d lost my mind, but I just kept saying, “Trust me, trust me!” And see? It looks really glam, but is also understated and shows off her body rather than what she’s wearing. Something like this is also a great option for women who would struggle to find a lacy, lingerie style bodysuit in an appropriate size, because these come in quite a lot of larger cup sizes.
Overall, two great wardrobe ideas, especially if you’ve got a curvy body type.
Check out these beautiful, curvy women going absolutely VIRAL on Buzzfeed!
Big ups to Buzzfeed staffer Peggy Wang, who obviously had the average woman in mind when she selected her favourite images for this article, “33 Impossibly Sexy Boudoir Photo Poses.” I’m always honoured to photograph regular, everyday women, and it’s great to see a more realistic body shape getting some much deserved media love.
1.7 million views and climbing says you’re into the media supporting plus size / curvy / fuller figured women too. Thank you for your continued support. I hope images like these inspire you to give your own boudoir photo shoot a try!
