“I met Stormy over five years ago, and she was the first camera I was in front of for any sort of ‘modelling’ session. Since then we’ve worked together at least 10 times. She has always been exceptional at her craft, but this was a whole new experience. Having been involved with Stormy since the start of her career I can tell you that she is meant to be doing this.
Over the last year I have gone through a pretty significant transformation, most noticeable is my 70 lb. weight loss. It’s been an adjustment to feel confident in my body, and as a Health Coach I am often overly critical of my figure. Stormy has a way of making you feel free and beautiful just with her presence. She makes it easy to be comfortable with her clear, articulate directions and has an impeccable ability to see all the tiny details like stray hairs or a piece of grass in the way to ensure the shot is flawless.
Looking at the photos from my session was a liberating experience. Yes, Stormy is an unbelievably talented photographer and she knows how to take a beautifully executed shot but that’s isn’t what separates her from others. It’s her ability to capture a women being authentically her. Being around Stormy is a trusting and loving experience where you are free to be as you are and she instinctively knows the exact moment to press the shutter to capture the real you.
Thank you Stormy for helping me to see myself and my body for what it really is. It has helped me on my journey in accepting and learning to love myself more than I can put into words. I have appreciated every opportunity in the past to work together but this time was life changing. You have reached a point in your talent that it almost scares me to know you are going to continue to get better.
If you have even a hint of intrigue to shoot with Stormy, listen to that voice. She doesn’t make you look beautiful, she captures your authentic beauty. You deserve to see yourself as the rest of the world does, beautifully YOU.”
“In my adult life, being in front of the camera has always been uncomfortable for me. As a makeup artist and stylist, I prepare clients to be photographed, not the other way around. Stormy and I have worked together in the past and I knew her talent. Her images are fantastic and the women she has photographed are absolutely beautiful! What I didn’t know was how beautiful I would feel being photographed, and how it would carry over in my daily life.
As I stared at my wardrobe, before the shoot, I felt sweaty and anxious. I was nervous as hell to pose in my UNDERWEAR and had no idea how to position my body in a flattering way. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, clothes, face…ahhhh! Stormy helped with my wardrobe making sure aesthetically, everything was in harmony and we began! I took my first pose and she has this way of authenticating your pose; waiting for you to settle into yourself a little. She makes very direct and clear adjustments- chin down, drop your leg, relax your hand, etc… I never felt awkward or uncomfortable!
I left the set feeling incredible, beautiful and confident and she hadn’t even shown me a photo yet. I trusted by the experience that she had made me look incredible and real. That’s all I needed…or so I thought. When she sent the email invite to the gallery for the shoot, the cover photo was stunning. At first glance, I didn’t know it was me. Viewing the gallery confirmed that I had never felt or looked more beautiful than I did that day. I am sure I stand a little taller and shine a little brighter these days. Having an incredible photo of yourself and seeing you as someone else sees you is an experience of a lifetime.
Thank you so much Stormy, your talent and empowerment is so inspiring. I cherish our experiences together and I hope there are many more in the future!!”
She’s a yoga-doing, vegan-eating, entrepreneur-minded stunner. Also, a salon owner and dreadlock extraordinaire at The Eclectic Chair in Idaho Falls, ID where she does great work. She cut and coloured by hair while I was in America and I’m so happy with it, which is really saying something.
And now…I’ve captured her soul in my camera:)
We created this outdoor set for Shante’s boudoir photography session, but when Tia said she was up for a shoot as well I couldn’t resist adding her to the mix. I mean – look at her real life hippie hair!
I’m still so amazed by this light:)
This lacy shawl is ideal for a bohemian theme. It’s also a really forgiving cut, so if you’ve overdone it on the cake lately something like this would be a great wardrobe option.
Dreamy. Those earrings are perfect.
Tia never smiles on camera, but I tricked her into it.
See? I’m funny.
And if you don’t think I’m funny, I’ll just fall off something or do a chicken dance. Whatever it takes. You can only be so serious when your job is basically playing dress up and taking pictures of people in their underwear.
Look two with big hair and really dramatic, dark lips. This is probably a stronger look than would suit most people, but it certainly makes a statement.
Love love this image.
These look so different in black and white, don’t you think? I prefer the colour versions for most of this shoot, but I liked the soft light spill at the top on this one.
The golden hour is so bewitching.
Tia, it was such a pleasure working with you! Already looking forward to next time:)
Are you in need of some inspiration for your next London boudoir photo shoot?
Some of my best ideas have been sparked by the major fashion houses, in particular their fragrance commercials. They are often glamorous, beautiful, and a little mysterious, which is the perfect mix for a boudoir session.
There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from the brands who have the resources to do things exactly how they ought to be done. Y’know, how you’d do it if the sky was the limit and Chanel wrote you a blank check. Here are a few of my favourites, enjoy!
Let’s have a moment of silence to commemorate the death of this hideous little space.
Before and After. What an amazing transformation right?!
All credit goes to the boys on this one; they did such a great job. My father in law, brother in law, and husband managed to turn this gross little cavern of 70’s orange and green into a sleek, modern room anyone would be happy to cook in.
I looove it.
Dinner at mine!
We’re making good progress on the rest of the space, more coming soon:)
Whatever you want to call it, we had a lot of jewellery, tassels, and sun flare going on for this shoot.
Putting a bed outside is an idea I’ve been blabbering on about for so long that I’m even sick of hearing myself talk about it. I’m so pleased we finally made it happen though. Isn’t this light incredible?
Like lots of things this past trip to America, our shoot location had to be changed at the very last minute. Luckily, we were able to make this little group of trees in the back yard of Miss S’s childhood home work. When in doubt, light over location.
Coco Chanel said, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” Great advice, but the trick to pulling off this sort of look is to do the opposite. Just keep piling it on. When you think you have enough, add some more. Then look in the mirror, and add one more thing. For more irreverent styling advice, visit Shante’s fashion blog, The Confashional.
Isn’t this floral shawl great? Miss S found it at TJ Maxx (TK Maxx for those of us in the UK).
We pulled this entire set together in about an hour – everything was scrounged together from stuff we found in the garage and around the house. A big thank you to Tia at The Eclectic Chair for her fantastic work on Shante’s makeup and ridiculously good hair extensions.
Happy happy. Love those feather earrings.
Hazy hot summer sun.
A slightly more moody feel to these.
Oh, did I mention we found some more animals to annoy? Neighbourhood horses came to play!
Once again, I was reminded how challenging it is working with animals. Horses are by far worse than snakes, but we still got a few fun shots out of it. Miss S is working it like a pro here.
A quick makeup and wardrobe change for our second look. Deep dark lips are one of Miss S’s signature looks, so it only seemed right that we add it in to the mix.
Check out those custom boots!
And to finish this post, a few frames shot in the dying light of day. Shante, I’m so glad we did this. You absolutely killed it;)
My favourite luxury lingerie boutique is closing:(
The upside of this sad news is mega sales. If you’re shopping for an upcoming boudoir photography session or a special event, it’s worth checking out the remaining stock at Faire Frou Frou. Everything is an extra 60% off with the promo code CLEARANCE.
I’m four days back in London, and I’ve got some great stuff cooking from the trip. In the meantime, here’s some behind the scenes sneaks and some general randomness from the trip.
Our Idaho boudoir set. I’m so happy we’ve finally made this idea come to life. I honestly forgot how incredible the late afternoon sun can be when it isn’t hidden by miserable clouds. It made for easy easy easy shooting.
Things are not always as they seem. After some last minute schedule changes, we ended up shooting in my client’s backyard and her neighbour’s pasture. That’s me perched atop a fence. Idaho style.
I hired my little sister as my assistant since I was so close to home. She schlepped all my bags, and then I gave her my camera set to auto and gave her about thirty seconds of guidance. She still managed to get some really great stuff! Love this shot she got of me photographing Miss. S and black beauty.
My sister Autumn. You can call her “Horse Whisperer” for short.
RZRs, our transportation to shoot location number two in Swan Valley. I really dislike these things (imagine a 4 wheeler on steroids and you’re on the right track), but there’s no other way to the top of the mountain.
A few behind the scenes prep shots with makeup artist and hairstylist Tia (who is amazing) and Miss S.
Tia and Thena at the crack of dawn, on top of the world, freezing. Neither of them were in the mood to be photographed.
Bwah…look at my sister’s face! She soooo loving her new job right now.
I was lucky to spend a few days with my family before heading home. We made a day trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. If you’re not familiar with it, this is the place you go to get your cowboy on. Or, to buy a giant bronze otter. Or, the tackiest, most blingtastic belt you’ve ever seen.
Or, maybe you just need a very large bear chair in your life?
Also, food is different in this part of America. For one, the fish counter workers are more creative (props to you, lemon crab/octopus maker), and people apparently eat a lot more corn dogs than I ever realised, since they now get their own section in WinCo. Did you know you can actually buy a corn dog that is made of a sausage wrapped in a pancake with maple syrup already applied? I mean…I don’t even know what to say about that except the obvious, “MURICA!”
And, I ate some really dirty gas station food. It was terrible. I remember it being waaaay better.
Then there were the flights. The very long, no good, why is there only ONE customer service centre in the entire airport open, most-of-the-way-around-the-world-flights. I would like to thank everyone in middle America who looked at me like I was an alien for doing a teensy bit of yoga on the airport floor. I would also like to commend United for failing to get me to anywhere on time, “upgrading me” to a middle seat on my redeye home to London, and making me wait in the longest customer service line known to man. Honestly – just as I got to the front of this 55 minute line, United was kind enough to send me a text to say that my delayed flight had just been delayed a further three hours because of “no aircraft.”
I thought maybe I was on that “Boiling Point” show and that I was going to win a car or something if I didn’t lose my sh*% at the customer service lady, or maybe I’d stumbled into a non-celebrity version of “Punked.” Buuuut no. No car, no Ashton Kutcher popping up from behind the counter. Just a seat far worse than the one I booked originally.
As many of you know, I’m working in America until the first part of October. It’s been really nice to be back, and to see some familiar and friendly faces. Yesterday, I bought a Little Debbie lemon pie and a giant pop from the gas station on my way home. I put the window down, the country music (which I don’t even like) up, and sped down the dirt roads to my parent’s house dodging potato trucks and farmers. I felt 17 all over again:)
I wanted to share a few images with you straight away. One of my clients has an incredible cabin in Swan Valley, Idaho, which just might be the prettiest place on earth. We spent the night under the stars, took a stomach turning ride to the top of the mountain before daybreak, and photographed her on the edge of the world at sunrise.
It took our breath away.
I’ve photographed her at least ten times over the years, and I’ve never seen her looking more beautiful than she did in this place. I can’t wait to share the final images with you. Until then, enjoy the scenery:)
I’ve honestly delayed writing this testimonial a bit because I couldn’t think of a way to best convey how amazing an experience it’s been working with Stormy. From my very first email to her, through to the build up of the shoot, the shoot itself and even on through to post-shoot picture selecting, she has been SUCH a pleasure!! She is the consummate professional while at the same time, completely accessible, friendly and simply great at easing any and all concerns. I did my shoot strictly for myself, mostly as an exercise in self-appreciation and self esteem boosting. I was super nervous, had never done anything like it before and could not have found a better person to work with. She even managed to pick THE perfect boutique hotel for me. Honestly, it was almost spooky how perfectly matched I felt to the room. Stormy provides a 5 out of 5 stars service!
If you haven’t already done so, you need to look at ALL of her pictures. One of the things that attracted me to Stormy was seeing how she made a woman in body shaping undergarments and rollers (typically not considered sexy attire) look AMAZING!! That’s not to say the woman herself isn’t beautiful. Clearly, she is. But I suppose that’s the point. All of us carry our own sort of beauty and Stormy is simply brilliant at helping to bring out our most beautiful selves and captures it on film.
Now several of my friends and family members are hoping to do their own shoots and I’m just trying to figure out an excuse to work with Stormy again myself…
