Celebrate Yourself With our 'Come As You Are' Sessions!!!

Pre-bridal Boudoir Photoshoots have been popular for a long time. They surely make a great gift for your fiancé but it is just about that? I feel there is so much more to these photographs. They are a celebration of YOU. They are about embracing your form and figure and feeling confident in your own skin. They are about loving yourself and being simply you, being the way you are.

The Idea Behind “Come as you are” Sessions

When I began shooting weddings, naturally I began getting inquiries from my brides about boudoir sessions. I figured I could do it and said yes. Back then, I offered something that resembled a much more traditional approach. Something about the whole experience of the woman showing up at a hotel room with a bunch of lingerie, all nervous, drinking champagne, and doing these pics "for" their fiancé didn't sit right with me.

So I set out to change the script. I made it much more about form and figure and less about looking sexy for someone else. The sessions became a celebration of the person in front of me, exactly as they were, not trying to look like Victoria’s Secret model. Hence the name— “Come as you are” emerged in my mind for these sessions.

Eventually, I started hopping in front of the camera and posing myself to make my brides comfortable. I really learned to shed the awkwardness that we've been programmed to feel when it comes to nudity. I think my being comfortable in that way really helped my clients feel at ease when they got in front of the camera.

Reasons to Book “Come as You are” Sessions With Apollo Fields

I will give you five reasons here why you should consider a pre-wedding ‘Come as You Are’ session with us.

1. Empowerment

It might be a vulnerable thing to do but it’s empowering! Booking a session that is all about you is a really special gift for yourself that you’ll love decades later.

2. Confidence

This can be your way of building the confidence that you’ve been wanting to. This can be your opportunity to get bold. It can be a liberating experience for you that you might cherish forever.

P.S. I love watching people go from feeling timid in the beginning to being completely at home in their bodies.

3. Celebration of ‘YOU’

We all have insecurities. Those dissatisfactions can get the better of us when we start to obsess over them. Our ‘Come as You Are’ session can be just the thing to remind you that you are beautiful just as you are.

Above all, it can be a great way to celebrate yourself. To embrace your inner and outer beauty.

4. Amazing Solo Portraits

We all deserve to have individual portraits and not just stuff with significant others and family. By saying this, I don’t mean that you shouldn’t celebrate with family or it’s bad to be photographed with them but then you can have at least ONE solo session. You will love this, we promise!

5. ‘Me’ Time

You might have been planning your wedding tirelessly and need some time to yourself. So you can book this session and relax. Put on some make-up or flaunt a no make-up look. Feel comfortable in your own skin and take time to absorb all your emotions. We will capture the beauty that you are and you’ll get stunning photos of yourself soon thereafter.

You can take a look at our work on Instagram and our Facebook page. If you have any questions, contact me on 201.669.0149 or drop an email at heather@apollofields.com or Book us straightaway. 

Boudoir Photography vs. Come As You Are Sessions

Come As You Are Sessions | Redefining Traditional “Boudoir” Sessions Into An Empowering Experience | Apollo Fields

“Come As You Are” vs. “Boudoir Sessions”

I’ve never felt right about calling my work “boudoir” but I have found myself using that term in the past because it is more relatable to people.  So I dug deep to find out not only what “boudoir” is being defined as, but then redefining what it is that I actually offer. 

A quick google search informed me that a boudoir session is “a photography session where you wear sexy outfits, lingerie, dresses, or even go scantily clad and get your photographs taken” (weddinglovely.com).  

Nope, nope, just no.  That is simply not what I do or what I offer.  

Everything I was reading online encouraged clients to do boudoir sessions because they are “a great gift for your fiance” or because they are “the perfect excuse to go shopping for lingerie” or because “you can get your hair and makeup done”.  

Again, that’s a big no for me.  

I believe that these sessions should be for you, as a way to honor your whole being exactly as you are in that moment.  No apologies, no excuses, no “I need to wait a few months to get in shape / lose the weight / get a summer tan / buy new clothes / whatever it is that is holding you back”. 

These sessions are about figure and form. 

They are about holding space for yourself. 

They are a journey.  They are powerful. They have the ability to be transformative and introspective and wild and expressive and beautiful and uncomfortable and awakening.  

They are about you coming exactly as you are.  

What is my role? 

My role is to support you in that experience and capture your entire being in photographs.  We’re going to heighten your awareness together, and then we are going to turn that into beautiful, epic, storytelling artwork.  

You will learn something about yourself in both the session as well as the images.  

For me personally, I am most inspired by individuals who come to me with an open mind and an open heart, who might be nervous for the session but instead of dulling those feelings with champagne and self deprecating jokes, are able to voice their emotions and begin the journey of trust in making these images all about you in the present moment.  

I will ask you to set your intentions and do some breath work.  We’re going to flow through your energy instead of freezing into awkward poses.  It is here where the nerves begin to lift, and this is the experience you will remember when you revisit these images over the years. 

If I’ve done my job correctly, these photographs will bring you back to the sensations you were feeling at that time in your life.  Maybe you were feeling excited about your upcoming wedding-- I want you to really feel it.  Maybe you were about to turn 40 and wanted to honor your body during that milestone.  Maybe you had just given birth and you were finding your way home again in your body.  Really feel it.  

Just got a new tattoo?  Recovering from surgery?  Ran your first marathon? Lost a family member?  Lost your job? Landed your dream job? Going through a divorce?  Celebrating your marriage? Celebrating one year sober? Coming out as gay?  Got your yoga teacher certification?  

Whatever it is, it is reason enough for one of these sessions.  In fact, just being alive right now is reason enough. There is some passion or struggle or fire or light in you that will make beautiful photos.  We’ll find it together-- just come as you are.  

XO,
Heather

“Do it! I did it as a gift for my husband, but what I got out of it was the best gift I could have given myself. Let yourself laugh at yourself when you remember how nervous you were, but then how great you felt after! Trust yourself, trust your body, trust Heather.”

— Erren

FAQs:

What Should I Wear?

Whatever empowers you. Whatever makes you feel the most you.  As much or as little as you want. Want to wear lingerie? Do it because you feel beautiful in it, not because society has told you that this makes you sexy.  If you feel the most sexy in your power suit with your hair slicked back, do it. Wear a fucking snow suit for all I care, just do it with intention. 

I spent years drawing, painting, and photographing nude models for fine art classes and this is one of the most comfortable places for me to work as an artist.  I love nudity, but you don’t have to. For me, a naked body is sacred and beautiful, not inherently sexual. Whatever shape, size, color, wrinkle, stretch mark, hair, or feature you have, I’ve pretty much seen it all, and feel very at-ease around nakedness.  Again, it’s all up to you.  

What if these photos are a gift for my partner?

Great!  I say heck yes to this, but they should be a gift for you first.  I believe that your body belongs only to you, and whom you choose to share it with is sacred.  These sessions are no different. 

Do I need to get my hair and makeup done?

This is a very personal decision and I support both options.  Some people feel very empowered by getting their hair and makeup done for photos.  From a totally biased standpoint, I personally love when skin is done by a professional because they know how to really nail it for pictures, which makes a big difference even if you want a natural look.  These sessions don’t automatically imply that you have to have big curls, fake lashes, and red lipstick. We’re going to leave society’s definition of attractive at the door because ain’t nobody got time for that.  If you feel weird with your makeup done, then come barefaced. It’s ALL good.  

How much retouching is done?

Good light goes A LONG way and trust me, I love the good light.  This will do the majority of the heavy lifting in conjunction with the magic that I’m doing in the camera.  My post-production work consists of fine tuning your images-- straightening, adjusting, color correcting, etc…  I’m not a plastic surgeon though, and don’t ask me to “make you skinnier” in the pics. It ain’t happenin’, sister.  This goes against all of the empowerment work we’re doing together in the session, and I also believe that it does a huge disservice to society to nip-and-tuck photos.  And if nobody has told you this lately: YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. You are. No bullshit.  

What about privacy of images?

You control it all.  Want them all private?  Cool, no problems. Love your pictures and want to share them with others?  Great. Want to choose the specific images that you’re comfortable sharing? Also great.  Changed your mind before / during / after the session? All good in the hood.  

How do the photographs make you feel when you look at them now?

“They bring me back to that day!

I am able to breathe in the summer air, feel the wind blow my hair, hear Heather’s camera click but not hear it at all.

I feel proud of myself”.

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Come As You Are Questionnaire: