This one of for the ladies! When was the last time you had professional pictures taken of yourself? When was the last time you pampered yourself? Our guess is it’s been quite a while, if ever. Why not? Well, there are probably a lot of reasons… I’m looking too old, I’ll do it when I lose 10 pounds, I don’t feel pretty enough… There are all kinds of reasons NOT to do it. Most of them are based on fear. That’s right, the fear of not being pretty enough, fit enough, not knowing how to pose, the fear of looking awkward, the list goes on forever! We’re going to share some real stories and responses we’ve gotten from people who have experienced a portrait couture session with us.
Look Great, Feel Great
Last fall we had a young lady contact us about doing a portrait of her and her brother to use as a Christmas gift for their Mother. It was a typical session… we took pictures of them together and separately in different poses and locations. Months later we reached out to her about the idea of doing a “glamour” or what we call a “portrait couture” photo session. She had never done anything like this before but it turned out she was interested and we scheduled a 2 hour session. A few days after her session we posted the edited pictures in an online gallery for her to view. She wrote to me to tell me she “loved them“, that she was “very excited” and that “it was a real confidence booster“.
The real touching part for us was when we received a message from her Mother; “…the pictures that I have seen of Karlee are absolutely stunning! You have helped rebuild some of her confidence which has been taken from her, and it’s wonderful to see her smile and feel good about herself again!! Thank you for being so kind, your wife as well, and for showing us all Karlee’s beauty!!”
Karlee has since told us she wants to do another session.
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Self-Perception, It’s Not Always Good
We decided to have a little fun (yeah, we like to have fun) and ran a contest on Facebook and randomly chose a winner for a Free Glamour/Portrait Couture photo session. Well, we cheated. We actually gave away 3 sessions! One of our choices was Amy who wrote “I’ve never had any kind of professional photos taken and being 36 would love to capture my youth before it’s too late.” Why did we choose her? Well, we wanted everyday people… people that had never been guided through an experience like this.. Someone we could (hopefully) WOW!
Arrangements were made for hair & makeup and Amy showed up with a small wardrobe to choose from. We spent 2 hours photographing her and having fun. We posted a few sneak peeks on Facebook and Amy’s comments were; “I don’t even know where to begin to thank you” and “I’m still in shock at what you did” and went on to say “I never thought of myself as beautiful until I saw these!”
We asked Amy if she would write a little note about her experience. Here it is in it’s entirety.
Fear of the unknown. I believe the older you get, the more uncomfortable you feel in certain situations. We get so caught up in our everyday routine that we forget to try new things, and to step outside of our comfort zone becomes harder for us. We forget how to live, to play and have fun, to love ourselves.
I entered a contest on a whim. It’s not your everyday run of the mill kind of contest, the prize was much bigger than any gift basket you purchase tickets for. This contest required you to step in front of a camera and show your beauty. Wow. I’ve never in my life had professional photos taken, what do I do? What do I wear? How do I pose? I don’t consider myself beautiful in any way so how am I supposed to show it in front of the camera? What was I thinking? But I agreed to do this, and being a woman of my word, met with Rick and Deb Bouthiette for a photo shoot that would ultimately alter the way I perceive myself.
I am comfortable around people and have to say that after speaking to Rick and Deb, it seems like I have known them for years. They care about and love what they do and it definitely shows in their work. I was obviously nervous, but was reassured with positive comments and feedback. I felt somewhat like a doll, being shown how to pose, having my hair played with. Things I am not used to, and then I was shown the pictures.
At first I didn’t know who or what I was looking at. Was that me? Is this what I really look like? Did they show me someone else who looks similar? Then it hits me…….that is me. Like I said, I don’t consider myself beautiful, but in these photos I was! I always found it funny when a beautiful woman would be given a compliment and they wouldn’t believe it and here I was, able to share my pictures with my friends and family and have the compliments pour in and at first not believe them. I was not expecting to get all this positive feedback and attention from everyone. The comment that showed up more than once was that this is how everyone sees me, how they’ve always seen me. But why have I not seen this, ever, until now? It just needed to be captured and shown to me.
I believe it now. I believe that we all have this beauty but we need to step outside our comfort zone every once in a while and show it. Take chances, have fun, never be afraid of the unknown, you’ll be amazed at what you will find!
So celebrate your beauty. Pick up the phone. Book a session with a professional photographer. Be nervous. Splurge a little. Pamper yourself. We are all beautiful inside and out in our own special way.
Photography: Rick Bouthiette Photography
Hair + Makeup: Karlee Guzowski