“Boudoir is the closest I can imagine to being able to see through someone else’s eyes. It’s hard not to see an amalgamation of flaws when you look at yourself, especially the ones that only you see, the ones people look genuinely confused about.
Piggy nose, horsey face, fat where it shouldn’t be and none where it should. Every other aspect of photography seems to be an attempt to minimize those flaws, to try and force the camera into seeing you the way you see yourself in your best moments – from this angle you can’t see my weak chin, in this light the dark circles around my eyes aren’t as obvious. This selfie makes me look thin; this pinup shot makes me look hot.
Boudoir is special. Boudoir makes those parts you might be embarrassed of not even matter. They’re there, but they’re part of the allure. It’s not the clothes or lack thereof that makes boudoir sexy, it’s the abandonment of inhibitions.
I LIKE these circles, they’re sultry. I LIKE this curve, it’s alluring. I don’t care about this flaw, or that one, not caring is SEXY, even if it’s only not caring for an instant captured by the camera, and I go right back to running a hand over the belly I wish was smaller the second the shutter closes. For one frozen moment, I get to be the person I wish I could be all the time, not just satisfied with my body, but luxuriating in it, and it’s thanks to a photographer who couldn’t see anything but a body worth luxuriating in.”
