If you would like more information on a boudoir session, please use the contact form or call 336.309.3506 today. Let's plan your dream shoot together.
♥xoxo♥
Kay
Statesville, NC's Premier Boudoir Studio |
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Ms. S is a fellow photographer. She trusted me to do her boudoir photos for her and I am so honored! It is not easy being on the "other side" of the camera. We photographers like being behind the camera, we like being in charge and we like giving the directions. Take all of that away and we tend to be just like everyone else; imagine that! We freeze, we get nervous, and we focus on all the things we don't like about our body. But just like the majority of the women who book a session with me, it didn't take long for Ms. S to relax, allow me to pose her and really enjoy her session. I am so glad she came in and I am so happy she gave me a full model release to share her images! I love my job! I love it when a woman trusts me with these moments of vulnerability. I love it when her experience is above and beyond her expectations. I love it when she realizes her true beauty.
If you would like more information on a boudoir session, please use the contact form or call 336.309.3506 today. Let's plan your dream shoot together. ♥xoxo♥ Kay
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First, I need to thank all of the women who have trusted me to photograph them. Not only those who dare to bare a great deal but those who dare to bare their soul. Every woman that stands in front of my camera is vulnerable. The camera captures so much more than we can imagine. It's no secret I love to shoot a few close ups at every session and those close up images reveal so much because they are always focused on the eyes. The eyes tell our story. They can tell me what you are thinking and feeling and my camera captures that for you to see. It can be very difficult for some of us to see those stories reflected back at us. Boudoir is more than just posing in your underwear. It is more than just making a beautiful gift for your significant other. Boudoir is about letting yourself be free for a moment, letting go of your insecurities and vulnerabilities and feeling alive and carefree. Let me backtrack for a moment. The definition of the word Boudoir (boo-dwar) is a woman's dressing room, private sitting room or bedroom. This is where she would get dressed and undressed, put on and take off her makeup, and perhaps put on and take off her shroud of modesty. This is where she would be her most free self. She wouldn't feel insecure here because it would just be her. So to be in her "boudoir" would mean that she was able to be her true self, lounging in her under clothes, without a care in the world about what she looked like. When a woman comes into my studio, I want her to feel comfortable, relaxed and able to reveal her true self. Whether she has come in to pose in a gorgeous ball gown for glamour or the most revealing lingerie, I want her to let herself go and feel free, and alive, and beautiful. My studio is small and bright and warm and I want it to feel more like a safe place to relax and and let yourself go, rather than a place where you feel uncomfortable and nervous and vulnerable. If you haven't visited my site here before, you might want to take a quick look at the video on the home page to see for yourself how my studio is set up. The shooting area is actually set up like a boudoir, complete with a changing area, makeup vanity, bed, and sitting area. Do you know what I love best about my studio? The light. The natural light in my studio is flattering for every woman, no matter her age or shape or size. I know the thought of doing a boudoir session can be very intimidating to some (most) women but it shouldn't be. My stylist and I are both women and we both love to laugh. We keep everything light and fun, from the moment you walk in right through to the very end. If you wanted to do your whole session fully clothed, that is fine. I can capture your beauty and story no matter what you are wearing because it is not about the clothes at all. It is about you. It is about telling your story, through your body language, your facial expressions, your eyes. Let me photograph your eyes and I will show you a beautiful woman with a story to tell. Boudoir doesn't have to be all sultry and sexy. Boudoir can be light and romantic. Boudoir can be fun and flirty. Boudoir can be glamour and glitz. Create a theme for your session and bring in clothes that represent that. Start with a ballgown and end up in a nightgown. Start with jeans and end up in a tank top. Start with a sweater and end up in a sheet. Or come in for a complete glamour session and tell your story in frilly frocks. Boudoir is less about what you are wearing and more about what you are feeling and expressing.
Don't let the thought of a boudoir session intimidate you. I am here to answer any questions you have regarding a session and my goal with every client is to help you feel as comfortable and relaxed as possible. Don't worry about posing, that is my job. Don't worry about your "problem" areas, that is my job too. Don't worry about your age or shape or size, my studio has the most flattering light for every woman. Don't feel like you can't do a session because you don't feel comfortable in lingerie. It's really not about the lingerie. It's about being you, when you are in your "boudoir", when you are free of your cares and worries and stresses. It's about the story you have to tell to the one who loves you no matter what you have on. Boudoir makes a great gift but more importantly, boudoir is for you. It's really not what you think; it's really all about how it makes you feel. Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a business woman, boudoir is for every woman. Do something fun for yourself today! ♥xoxo♥ Kay I know, I know...It's not even Christmas yet BUT when it comes to Holiday specials I have to advertise months in advance. I use a professional lab for all of my printing so I have to add in lab time and shipping to make sure you get your gifts in plenty of time to hand them to the one you love on that special day. I want you to have time to book & prepare for your session so you have that amazing album on February 14th! Not to mention, Valentine's Day is one of the biggest holidays for boudoir photographers so our calendars fill up fast!
Imagine his face when he opens that album and sees his love smiling up at him. That is a gift he will cherish forever. This year, I have decided to give you all inclusive album packages if you book in January. What does that mean? That means you can pick any of the six albums I currently offer plus the session fee at a discounted rate and you get the album of your choice, professional styling, 2-hour studio session, plus same day viewing and ordering all for one incredible price. As an added bonus, if you order any Luxury album you will also get 2 wallet accordion albums. You do not have to choose your album until you view your images. All you need to book your session is $100, which will guarantee your date and this will be deducted from your package price at the time of your order. So what are you waiting for? Click here to fill out the contact info and let's book your January session today! To see the full list of album packages click here or go to the home page when you are ready. ♥xoxo♥ Kay Black Friday is behind us, Small Business Saturday is almost gone, the only thing left is Cyber Monday. I will not be posting a special BUT I have decided that I am going to let you decide what my service and products are worth to you. Contact me on MONDAY via PM on Facebook or Email and tell me what type of session you are interested in, what products you want as a result of the session and how much you think that is worth.
There is no guarantee you will get the type of session or product for the price you give me but the worst that can happen is I counter your offer and give you an explanation as to why I can't do it for your price. It may be a matter of just removing hair and makeup from your request or reducing the amount of time we spend together. I will honestly try to accommodate your requests so we can have the opportunity to work together! When you send me your info please keep in mind what I offer and how much I normally charge. Please consider that this is how I pay my bills; it is not my hobby. North Carolina sales tax will be added to your final quote price. If your price is accepted, you will be required to make a non-refundable retainer of at least $50.00 to hold your session date, which must take place within 6 months of booking. I am looking forward to hearing from you and I look forward to photographing you soon!! Take advantage and book your Valentine's session, senior portrait session or spring celebration on Monday!! ♥xoxo♥ Kay Hello Beautiful! It's that time of year again :) Time to shop for the best specials of the year at your favorite local shops! I know that is typically reserved for small business Saturday but this year I am not waiting until Saturday to give you the best deal I can. I want you to have it Friday. And because I want you to be able to get it Friday I am giving you a little sneak of what it will be...TODAY!
First of all, you will be able to book a session with me for just $99! That is $151.00 off my regular session! For $99 you get a full session with me, either in studio or on location, depending on the type of session you want as well as same day viewing and ordering. If you choose an on location session, we may need to delay the viewing until we can reach a computer. This does not include hair and makeup, however, that can be added when we actually book your session. But that is not all! I will have 1 $99 special that includes 50% off your product total at the time of ordering. That means the first person to get online and access my square store Friday morning will have the opportunity to get 50% off any product I offer....YES, you read that right....50% off! Do you really think that is the only great offer I will have? Nah! How about 2 35% off specials? Yes! If you don't manage to snag the 1 50% off code, you could snag one of the two 35% off codes. But you need to be really fast to be one of the first 3 on the site, so I am also adding 3 25% off codes! So that is 6 total super specials for Black Friday. Still want a great deal even if you don't manage to be one of the first 6 on Friday? Well, how about 10% off your product total? There will be unlimited $99 + 10% off codes so you can be sure you will get a great deal even if you don't manage to get one of the big discount codes. Want to book a boudoir session and an engagement session? You can! Just add 2 codes to your cart and voila! you can get a discount on two separate sessions. These codes are good for any type of session I offer except weddings. Friday morning I will post the link to my square shop on both Facebook pages (boudoir), Twitter, Google + and Instagram. Make sure you are following on at least one of these accounts so you don't miss out on this once a year super deal! I can't wait to work with you :) ♥xoxo♥ Kay It's amazing how 20 pounds less, a nice outfit and some makeup can make you feel. So far in my weight loss journey I am down 22 pounds. I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be but I am feeling great and I am encouraged every day to keep going. Yesterday I had a session in the studio and while I was dressed up and had makeup on I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous afternoon light. I grabbed my cell phone, turned on the fan, set up a chair and some reflectors near the window and proceeded to snap away. Let me just say that even when I was at my smallest, I always hated to have my picture taken. We all have at least one feature we would change if we could. I can honestly say that I have only one feature I would keep; my eyes. I love my eyes but not so much my nose, chin, cheeks, forehead, lips...you get the picture. The key is knowing how to light and pose to accentuate the features you love. Yesterday I had my most challenging client ever...myself! I can tell you that I probably took over 200 snaps of myself. Yes, you read that right, 200! I just kept snapping away, changing angles, lighting, poses, facial expressions. Now here is the thing, I actually liked a lot of the photos I got. I am so happy with the positive changes that I have made in my life and it totally showed in the pictures I took yesterday. When you love yourself, it shows. When you make positive changes, you can get amazing results. When your photographer knows lighting and posing you will get beautiful photos.
When I am closer to my goal, I will be making an appointment with my favorite photographer to have a full session done. Since that involves traveling outside the U.S., saving up to make sure I can get all of the photos I already know I will love, plus a little retail therapy to make sure I have some killer outfits, it will be a once in a lifetime treat for myself. When you are choosing the photographer for you, make sure they know how to pose your body type, listen to you so they know what features you love and the ones you would like to keep hidden, they should know how to read the light and use it to their advantage and their work should be in the style that you like. Yesterday was the first step in my hard work paying off. I saw beauty in the things I don't really like about myself. I now have some of the best photos I have ever had of myself. I feel beautiful every time I look at those photos. I have a renewed sense of purpose with my photography as well as with my health journey. I can't wait to see the photos after my next 20 pounds are gone! I hope this has inspired you to do something for yourself. Take a moment to find something positive you can do for yourself. Love yourself! ♥xoxo♥ Kay It's been so long since I have posted anything here. I wish I could say that I have been crazy busy with sessions in the studio but really I have just been crazy busy with life. If you are a faithful follower then you remember my last post about completing the 101 class at Iron Tribe in Huntersville. The day after I completed that I went on vacation to visit my family in Maine for a few weeks. I am very proud to say that I stuck to my Paleo eating the whole time and I am still continuing to eat that way now. As soon as I got back I headed straight to ITF and got to work. I have been going 3 times a week since. I also added PiYo to my workout routine, which is a program that I thoroughly enjoy and compliments my ITF workouts too. I have lost 22 pounds so far and I feel amazing.
On another personal note, we are also preparing for a trip to Texas right after Christmas so that my daughter can have surgery done on her shoulder. When she was born she sustained an injury that has prevented her from having 100% normal function in her arm. She has had physical therapy for most of her 5 years and this past spring we met with a surgeon to see what could be done for her. Unfortunately, this surgeon does not actually perform the surgery in NC so there is a lot of planning involved to make sure everyone is on the same page. As of last week we finally have a date and all travel arrangements have been made. This also happens to coincide with my busiest season, since Christmas and Valentine's are huge for boudoir gifts. So on top of having to meet cutoff dates before each holiday to be sure gifts are in hands on time, I also have to limit dates due to us being away and me needing to take care of my daughter post-op. With all that being said, I still have a few dates available before each holiday, so if you are considering one call soon or you may not get a date. I also want to thank all of you for being so patient while I have been "away" from my site for so long. I love being a photographer, I love giving women beautiful photos, and I love my clients but sometimes life gets in the way and I have to be a mom first. If you would like one of those limited dates for either Christmas or Valentine's gifts, please email or call today: 336.309.3506 ♥xoxo♥ Kay What a week! I made it! I graduated from my 101 classes! 4 Weeks down already. I can't believe how fast the time went by. I am also amazed at how far I have come in 4 short weeks. I am excited to see what the future holds and I am looking forward to starting my regular classes when I get back in September.
Monday was class #10 and it was actually pretty easy. We did 1 exercise with progressive weight. Back squats; basically the bar is held across your shoulders while you do squats. Sounds easy, the move was easy, the weight however, was intense. We did 5 sets of 3 reps, each set we increased the weight by 10 except for the last set, which increased by 20. My final weight was 85 lbs and I am sure I could have done more had I started out with a higher weight. I am pretty sure that my legs are a lot stronger than my upper body because of riding. I use my legs and seat to direct my horse so anything that only involves legs, like squats, are a bit easier for me. Wednesday was a killer class. Class #11 looked like this: 3 rounds, first round 21 each, 2nd round 15 each, 3rd round 9 each. There was a 15 minute cap, so if you don't finish your final time is 15 minutes. Three exercises to get through. Hand stand push ups, power snatch and thrusters. We did not do full on hand stand push ups. We had to kneel on a 20" box with our hands on the floor in front of it and do push ups. A push up was not considered completed unless the crown of our head touched the floor. I hate push ups...period. This almost killed me. Power snatch is basically a lift from floor to overhead in proper position. Thrusters are bar in front rack position, squat and then lift overhead. My first round I managed to do the modified push-ups and 35 lbs for snatch and thrusters. The second round I had to modify the push ups even more by just doing a straight overhead lift with 15#. I also used 15# for the snatch and thrusters the next round. I only got through the "push up" portion of round 3 before I got a pain in my back and stopped, therefore my finishing time was 15 minutes. I did not want to chance a serious injury and my coaches agreed. I spent the rest of the day and the next day resting up for the big finale! Friday! Workout #12! I knew what my workout would be going in but I was super nervous. I wasn't sure if I would see much improvement and I was a little worried that I would find myself on day 1 all over again. We had a little quiz after a nice warm up. Basically we went over all of the lifts and squats and the differences in them all. We were allowed to answer as a group and as a group we had to do burpees if we were wrong or couldn't answer. I am pretty sure my brain was refusing to work since it was focused on my final workout. We ended up getting 4 answers wrong in all. Once we were done testing we went over our final workout. As a reminder, the workout would look like this. Run 200 meters. Three rounds of air squats, kettle bell swings, and sit-ups. Round 1, 15 reps each; round 2, 12 reps each; round 3, 9 reps each. Finally, 200 meter run. On day 1 I struggled. I finished with a time of 14:35. I was last. I wanted to give up so bad and go home and not look back. Boy, am I glad I didn't do that. My final workout was a testament to what 4 weeks of hard work can do. I finished my workout in 7:09! I was the first one done! I smashed my day 1 time by more than half. On the first day I cried. I cried because I was so upset with how far I had let myself go. I cried because I didn't want to feel the way I did. I cried because I was ashamed. Friday, I cried again as I crossed the line and heard my final time. This time, they were tears of happiness as I realized I am much stronger than I gave myself credit for. I let those tears come just for a moment as I let it sink in how far I had come in these 4 short weeks. If I can do this in 4 weeks, how far will I be in 12 months? I am excited to see where the next year will take me. I had a meeting Thursday with another fitness instructor/local business owner and we talked about my goals, how she helps her clients and what I am doing and committing to. I am going to be sticking to my Iron Tribe workouts 3 days a week and adding PiYo 3 days a week. I love Pilates and I am looking forward to adding it back into my workout routine. I think this will be a nice complement to the lifting. I am sticking with my Paleo eating, and I am excited about my journey. I also realized that being healthy and talking about my journey is another passion that I forgot about. Excuses are easy to make, commitment is not. If you are not 100% committed to a lifestyle change for the better you will have a difficult time losing no matter how much you want to. I am going to continue to post about this journey that I am on. Maybe not every week, then again, maybe it is another way I will keep myself accountable for this commitment that I have made. I hope you continue to follow along and I hope I have inspired at least one person to go outside their comfort zone, make a commitment to a lifestyle change and start their own fitness journey. Until next time! ♥xoxo♥ Kay I'm a slacker. I forgot to post my week 3 post last weekend and I am almost done week 4 already! If you follow my regular posts you may have noticed I skipped my Topless Tuesday post this week as well. Since I am traveling most of August, I decided to take a little break. I need some downtime to mentally prepare for the upcoming holiday rush. Keep watching though because I will be resuming in September!
So, week 3. A lot happened last week. I signed up for a 12 month commitment to this workout as of Friday. One year to reach my goal. One year of lifting and losing. Even though the workouts keep getting more intense, I am loving how I feel after. I want to see the day that I can do the moves and not need to modify them. I will get there. So let's go back to Monday and workout #7. We had to do as many rounds as we could in 10 minutes. Each round consisted of pull-ups, push-ups and overhead squats. I don't know about you but pull-ups are the one thing I could never master. I dreaded pull-ups in gym class. I was lucky if I could do 1, even the girl way. So when I saw pull-ups I was ready to leave. Turns out, there is a way to modify them and it makes it a little easier. We use these colored bands to help us. Basically they are attached to the bar and you put 1 foot inside the band and it helps you to get your chin above the bar. We had to do 5 pull-ups. Next up push-ups, same as we did before, 10 of these. Lastly, overhead squats. Basically you hold the bar overhead while you do squats. We were lucky that we only had to use the PVC pipes but we had to do 15 of these. That is a LOT of arm work in a 10 minute period. I managed to get through 4 complete rounds, plus 5 pull-ups and 9 push-ups in that 10 minute period. Workout #8 was frustrating for me. We had a new move that I just couldn't quite get the grasp of. We had to complete 3 rounds for time. A round consisted of 15 push jerks, 9 box jumps and 6 muscle ups. The push jerk had me stumped. I just wasn't understanding it and my head was stuck there. Basically it is just an overhead lift but there is a dip in the beginning and the end. The end dip wasn't happening for me and no amount of practice or explanation was working. The box jump was more a nuisance than anything. It gets in your head. You start thinking, "what if I miss it? What if I fall? Can I really jump that high?" Once I did one, I was fine, and luckily we only had to use a 12" box. A true muscle up takes a lot of arm strength. We got to modify ours. It utilizes the rings and has 3 steps. It's not easy to explain but it's kind of like a push up on the rings starting from a lying down position. Yes, not easy to explain at all! I made it through all 3 rounds with just a slight shin pain. I attributed the pain to the box jump since I tend to land flat-footed. The pain went away by the next day. Workout #9, the end of week 3, the final class before the final week. What a doozy! 3 rounds, each round is max reps in 1 min followed by a 1 minute rest. Each round consisted of power cleans, double unders and wall ball. Power cleans start out like a dead lift and end up in the front rack position. Double unders are just the jump rope and since we haven't really mastered double unders we got to do singles. Wall ball utilizes the medicine ball. Hold it in front of you while standing just shy of arm's length from the wall. Squat down, throw the ball up to a predetermined target on the wall, catch it and go back to a squat. I ended up having some serious pain in my shins from the jump rope. This hurt my overall numbers because I just could not get good reps on the jump rope. I was very happy that I had 2 days off to rest my legs before the final week. Even after 3 weeks, I can already feel a difference. Muscles that I haven't used in forever are reawakening. My energy level is higher. My clothes are fitting looser. I am excited about the next week and beyond that. I hope someone is reading this and it motivates you. Whether that is to get up and take a walk or find your nearest Iron Tribe or even just to change what you are eating. It is a choice. You can choose to make a commitment to better your health or you can choose to do what you have been doing. Either way, the decision is yours and nobody can make it for you. If you choose healthy, great! If I have motivated you to choose healthy, even better! Let me know what journey you have chosen to take. I would love to hear from you :) Until next week! ♥xoxo♥ Kay I recently went to a women's event and had the pleasure of meeting some amazing business women in my area. I had a table with my work and business cards displayed and as you can imagine, it was quite the conversation starter. During a few of these conversations, I actually had to check my emotions. I am very passionate about my work, about what I do and why, and about the responses I get from clients. I could talk for hours about my work. If you haven't read my Mission Statement and Why I Do What I Do section, I highly recommend it to get a sense of my passion for photographing women and giving them this whole experience. I want every woman I meet to spend a few hours in front of my camera, not just because I love what I do but because I love giving them something they don't get enough of. Time for themselves. A day to feel pampered. A day to forget about the outside world and focus on themselves. A few short hours to find that beautiful woman that lives inside her. The one who gives so much she rarely has anything left to give to herself. The one who takes on the weight of the world so her family doesn't have to. The one who sacrifices what she wants to do so her children can do more of what they want to do. We all do it and there is nothing wrong with that but we need a mental health day sometimes to just do something for ourselves. I said this multiple times that night and it is so true, "She comes in thinking she is getting a gift for her man but she leaves with a gift to herself". I would say 95% of the women who book a session come in thinking they are going to give their sweetie a great gift for their birthday, anniversary or Valentine's but when it is all said and done they realize it was them who got the gift. A few hours of pampering. A few hours of dressing up in something silky and sexy. A few hours out of the house. An afternoon of seeing their true beauty reflected back to them in images that don't lie. A boost in their self-esteem and confidence. That right there is why I love my job so much! That is why I get so emotional when I talk about it. Her reaction to her beauty that shines out, her realization that she is still that beautiful woman she thought she lost when she became a business woman or mother or wife, her confidence in who she is now. She is me, she is you, she is every woman I meet on a daily basis. We all have something that we carry around with us that has made us forget that we are still important and beautiful and deserving. So tell yourself that you are doing this as a gift for him but leave knowing it was all for you. Don't forget, you only have to take a day away from the job or the kids. Your viewing/ordering session happens just 60 minutes after we finish with your session. You are in at 9 and done by 3. You can go home, check on the kids, wait for hubby to come home and head out for an evening of dinner and romance since you will be all dolled up already. Or extend that girl's day and have hubby take care of the kids while you stay out, call up your girlfriends and have a fun evening of drinks and laughter. I would be willing to bet you turn more than a few heads, which is just another awesome side effect of giving yourself this gift that brings out your inner beauty and boosts your confidence.
I hope you decide to do something special for yourself. Even if you decide a photo shoot isn't it, I hope you take a day to do something special for you. The bonus of doing a photo shoot; you now have a gift for that special someone too! Another bonus? Crossing a boudoir session off your bucket list ;) Shoot me an email via the contact page or give me a ring (336.309.3506) and I would be more than happy to talk about a session or even more about what I do and why. ♥xoxo♥ Kay |
Hi! It's me, Kay!Well, hello Beautiful! Thanks for checking out my latest blog post. If you are interested in reading a little more about me check out the "Why I do what I do" blurb on the home page! I hope you enjoy the site and I can't wait to hear from you. ♥xoxo♥ Kay Archives
November 2015
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