Hey, Babes! Guest writer Kasey Stuart-Schroer here to tell you about my experience as
a Model-For-a-Day in a boudoir shoot. It was an empowering journey, and I can’t say enough about it. Here’s what it was like!
Prepping for the Shoot My first shoot with Virginia at Bare Elegance Boudoir was around Christmastime last year. I’d decided to do something a little sexy for my husband as a gift, and figured this was a great way to snag a unique gift for him while doing a little something for myself along the way. Look babes, I’m not exactly a size two, and I’ve struggled with self image for as long as I can remember, so this was a big thing, and I was terrified. What if I didn’t like the pictures? What if I saw them and realized that I’m actually NOT sexy?! But look, I’m nothing if not determined, so I reached out to Virginia about things like outfits and how to prepare. She was AMAZING. She walked me through everything, and as I went shopping for some slinky lingerie, I felt at ease.
The Day Of So I get up that day, tell my husband to leave me alone for a few hours so I can get his Christmas gifts, and head to the studio. Then I get dressed. Privately. Which was suspicious because my honey and I usually dress in the bedroom at the same time in the morning, but that would have given the game away immediately, because I was slapping on lingerie like a mad person and trying to find sweaters that would cover all of the bells and whistles. I was so nervous that I barely hugged him goodbye for fear that he would notice something...different.
Of course it never crossed my mind that I could JUST CHANGE WHEN I GOT TO THE STUDIO, so keep that in mind, babes, and save yourself some grief. In any case, I got to the studio and was greeted by Virginia with a welcome hug and, glory be, a glass of champagne! I’m not even ashamed to say I downed it like a man lost in the desert for a week, and Virginia talked me through how things would go. I slipped out of my outer layer, realizing as I did so that this woman is officially the ONLY PERSON OTHER THAN MY HUSBAND who has seen me this close to naked since my mom still had to change my clothes for me.
The Shoot Virginia is a class act, and talked me through some of the poses and the sort of thing I’d be asked to do. I’m not going to lie, she and I hit it off right away, and I knew I was in good hands. We were already laughing and talking about how “wedgies can be super sexy”, and the tension just melted away. The champagne probably didn’t hurt, either. The picture-taking-process lasted about an hour, and the first thing I learned is that modeling is HARD. Like, I knew it wasn’t easy or everyone would do it, but babes, holding a pose with your back arched, head tilted back, knees bent at JUST the right angle starts to smart after a few minutes. Virginia made it easy. And the whole time, she was showering me with praise. I felt as though she was honored to take my picture, like I was a muse for an artist who was just eating me up. Who DOESN’T want to feel like a goddess for an hour?
Alas, it ended too soon, sore muscles and all, and when we wrapped, I was already looking to see when I could do it again.
The Aftermath Within a day, I had the proofs of the photos to choose from. When I saw them, I started to tear up. I had been so afraid, so terrified in my bones that I’d get the photos only to prove my own worst fears were true. They were not. When I looked through those pictures, I felt like a dark vixen. The black lingerie made my pale skin glow, and the lighting made me look like a work of art. The rolls and bulges I was so afraid would ruin the experience looked like ART. I was beautiful, and looking at those pictures, for the first time in a long time, I really believed that. I bought a set for my husband (who cried when he got them for Christmas, because he knows my struggles with self-image, and knew what it meant for me to do this), but in the end, it turned out that they were really for me.
To this day, when I’m feeling somehow “less”, I go look at those pictures. They remind me that I am not “less” and that I am not “too much” of anything. Now, when I go to lingerie stores, instead of feeling miserable that they may not have my size, or that I’m going to look bad in something meant to look sexy, I get excited because I know - I have PROOF in my POCKET - that I look like a goddess in these clothes. And I have that, forever, to remind myself to hold my head high. And that, dearest babes, is the most precious gift I have ever received. And I gave it to myself. You should, too.
Note from the photographer: Ms. Kasey's first shoot with me was back in 2018. The photos in this article are from her THIRD photoshoot with me (much more recent)! Enjoy!
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