Bare — Evansville Indiana Boudoir Photographer

I ran a poll on Instagram back in 2019 to see how people felt about the idea of doing a boudoir session all natural — no hairstyling, no makeup — and to my surprise, almost everyone voted yes! I was surprised because I used to struggle to show up in front of the camera without being done up in some way, so the idea of being photographed naturally kinda scared me. I was hesitant to document myself in my natural form with dark circles, acne, or natural hair. That’s a level of vulnerability of its own! I was so used to being hyper aware of how I presented myself and was caught up in desperately trying to uphold arbitrary requirements to look a certain way, which led to me feeling like the way I naturally was wasn’t good enough for the world.

Through it all, I learned the importance of showing up as I am, even just for myself, to see that I’m just as valuable without all the extras as I am with them.

Our outward beauty isn’t our currency for existing in the world.

For me to show up without the extras is saying to my inner teenager that — yes, you can show up in the world exactly as you are and it will be okay. You don’t need to put on a full face of makeup to leave the house if you don’t way to. You are still just as valuable without meeting ridiculous beauty standards and expectations for how women should look and act.

From a young age, girls are taught that their outward beauty is the price they pay to exist in the world. That if you don’t show up pretty, there’s no reason for you to be there. I found a quote in college that I lived by, and if you knew me then, you probably heard me say it more than once — better to arrive late than to arrive ugly. Reading that quote now makes me cringeee. I feel like that’s no way to live. And what does it even mean to arrive ‘ugly’ anyway?? Who decides that?? Ugh — so much to unpack there. There’s no shame in looking good for yourself, but I hope you don’t feel like you can’t exist in the world without first paying the ‘beauty fee’.

I want to make sure you know that in my studio, there is no beauty fee.

You can show up in full glam done all the way up or with all natural hair and minimal makeup and you will be equally celebrated, supported, and loved. We believe in embracing who we are exactly as we are. We believe that all bodies are good bodies. And we believe that we are in control of how we show up in the world.

Kate did the first bare boudoir session while we were in Madrid in 2019. Although we knew we wanted to take some boudoir photos on a balcony while we were in the city, we didn’t necessarily plan for them to be all natural. It reached 106 degrees the first few days we were in the city, so we couldn’t keep makeup on our faces even if we wanted to, lol. The sweltering heat led to these bare boudoir sessions, and I’m so stoked in the how the photos turned out. Here’s what Kate had to say about it:

I’ve never felt so in tune with my body and totally in love with myself until after I saw how these came out. The “Wait, that’s ME??” is one of my favorite moments.

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I would love to have you in the studio so you can have an experience like this for yourself! Whether you’re all in and ready to go, need some more info before we get started, or are on the fence and want to talk things through before you commit – I’m here for ya! Click the button below to get in touch!