As an Ottawa Boudoir Photographer, I meet many different women from all ages and at different stages in their lives. Meet Miss R! Having experienced ongoing health conditions for many years, Miss R felt “broken”. Because of her health, it was hard for her to feel sensuous or beautiful. She came to Je m’adore fine art studio to feel something different than how she felt physically and see herself in a new light — the way her husband sees her. Here’s her story:
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Q: What’s going on in your life right now that motivated you to do a session?
Miss R: I’ve had a hyper reactive immune system since childhood. It did go in remission during adolescence but since the birth of my daughter in 2011, my immune system is now in full revolt mode. Since 2015 I’ve been diagnosed with multiple auto-immune conditions and I’m currently losing sensory abilities like vision and hearing at just 42. I’m feeling kinda broken to say the least.
Q: Besides beautiful photographs, what else did you hope to get out of the experience?
Miss R: I initially wanted a really good mug shot of myself to remember my youthful self and for a moment forget about my ongoing health issues — in a physical way, capture on camera what i can’t see when i look at myself in the mirror.
Q: How long had you been considering doing a shoot before you booked yours? What was the final push? What did it feel like to finally book your session?
Miss R: I’ve always been adventurous, so when my husband dared me…I couldn’t resist the challenge! I thought about it for 2 weeks before signing up with Suzanne.
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Q: Before your session, how would you describe your relationship with your body, your beauty and your sensuality?
Miss R: I always considered myself pretty and average but I often wondered what it is about me exactly that my husband finds so attractive. Having a bunch of degenerative health conditions does nothing to help one’s self esteem in the areas of beauty or sensuality. Honestly I never even considered myself to be a sensual person.
Q: How did doing a session affect how you feel about your body, your beauty and your sensuality?
Miss R: It was so FUN!!! For a few hours, I got to be a new ME and be like regular women — wear the makeup, do the hair, wear cute vixen outfits and play with various fabrics and colors. I even got to wear stilettos for the first time. Interestingly I was calm as a cucumber during the whole session, which surprised me. Either Suzanne has that natural effect on people, the delicious mimosa did the trick or maybe it was both.
Q: What were you worried about before your session? What helped to overcome that?
Miss R: That I wouldn’t pull off the sexy look too well. I mean I got one eye going bad and it doesn’t quite align anymore so doing a good selfie is hard to do nowadays and generally makeup usually gets my skin allergies raging so when they placed the huge lashes on me… yeah I was nervous. I did various shots though, with and without glasses and with closed eyes so my hope and expectation was to have just one really fantastic shot.
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Q: Tell me about your session day: How did you feel on your way over? What were your favorite parts? How did you feel on the way home?
Miss R: I had met Suzanne prior to the actual session day for a consultation so I felt pretty calm and secure about it. I debated a while whether or not to do the whole spa thing and get my hair colored and my nails done or just do natural and have my little grays show through. I opted for natural. I had also taken time to purchase a few outfits and matched it with some of my favorite jewellery. I also looked at Suzanne’s gallery prior to the session so we both had a good idea of the poses and the looks I wanted to try. Suzanne’s feedback during the session hinted that there was several good shots so I was pretty content at the end of the day with my session.
Q: What were you feeling when you saw your photos at the viewing?
Miss R: Just WOW, so glamorous! The lighting, the colors, the fabrics and all with little touch up i’m told. 😉 There were 105 proofs and I had to narrow it down to 20-30 for the package I chose to go with so it was tough!! There is a few that I know the husband will love for sure.
Q: Why did you decide to hire me as your photographer?
Miss R: I followed her Facebook group for a while and read her website blogs. It was pretty much a done deal once I met Suzanne in person and visited the studio and saw the high quality products offered in person.
Q: If your friend were considering doing a shoot, what would you say to encourage her?
Miss R: Save your money for this and do the boudoir session for YOURSELF! It is such a good self esteem project/activity. The camera will capture what YOU don’t see!
AGE: 40’s
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