Saskatchewan Boudoir…
As this is the very first blog post on the site, I think I’ll just introduce myself and shed light on how I wound up in Saskatchewan photographing boudoir.
My name is James and I’m 30-something years old. I love the outdoors, anything with an engine, animals and cameras. I caught the camera bug 9 years ago, due to a random Youtube video I stumbled on. As with most passions, it spiraled out of control quite fast. Within a year I was charging for my first photo shoot and starting to book weddings. I spent the next few years photographing individuals, cars, weddings, products and full marketing campaigns for some huge Canadian companies.
A twist of fate in 2020 caused my professional photography career to stall(the same twist of fate that shut the world down). I kept busy by developing a television show with a well-known producer who I met on Instagram, thanks to my ability to tell a story through photography(a fun story, but too long for this post).
When the world decided to re-open, I decided I needed a change of scenery. I took a 32 hour drive from the ski-region of Quebec that I had spent the last 33 years, and arrived in the seemingly baron landscape of the Canadian Prairies, Saskatchewan. What was I doing? Was I going to be able to rebuild a photography business here?
I started by networking, meeting anyone and everyone that would have a conversation with me. I offered free photo shoots to locals in an effort to expand my reach and let people know who I was. I photographed racing, families, weddings, landscapes and tourism material, which all quickly allowed me to explore this new and vibrant province. Along with another camera nerd, from the other side of the country, I got to see all of the landmarks, attractions and hidden gems in Southern Saskatchewan. It was apparent that, if you knew where to look, there was much more here than endless fields.
One of the photo shoots I was asked to do in my effort to meet people was a boudoir photo shoot. I had never really photographed that style for a few reasons, but figured since I had this new explorative outlook on life in a new place, maybe I should expand my photography style as well. We agreed on a time and met up in my new town of Estevan. She introduced me to a hidden spot that we shot at for over an hour. I edited and delivered the pictures and the boudoir style was put to rest for an entire year. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, I loved it! I just couldn’t grasp how me, a man, could ever venture into it and actually book boudoir clients.
Fast forward a year and I found myself in a new relationship, still photographing the same old stuff. One weekend on a trip to do a tourism shoot for a nearby town, my girlfriend and I thought it would be fun to use our hotel room to do an impromptu boudoir photo shoot. It was so much fun. We played with poses and lighting and laughed all the way through it.
A few weeks later, I was editing and she came in to chat and see how it was going. To keep the story short, we both agreed that I should venture further into boudoir photography. Her support was important to me because many women wouldn’t be so supportive of their boyfriend photographing half-naked women. I can’t thank her enough as the boudoir style has been a blast, allowing me to work one-on-one with the clients, push creative boundaries and edit(editing has always been a relaxing time for me).
After much procrastination, I put a post online asking if any locals wanted to hop in front of my camera for free. I would get catalogue material and they could have all of the images. To my absolute shock, I received a bunch of responses and the boudoir photo shoots began to pile up! I was actually doing it.
Until the time of writing this, I’ve encountered almost none of the issues I originally feared. Had I let fear cripple me, I wouldn’t have been enjoying life as a boudoir photographer in Saskatchewan. Sometimes you just have to take a dive and figure it all out on the way down(or procrastinate for months until you feel like you have nothing to lose(but don’t do that)).