Why you should bring boudoir into your business
Lesson 3 from: Boudoir on the EdgeBrianna and Ewan Phelan
Why you should bring boudoir into your business
Lesson 3 from: Boudoir on the EdgeBrianna and Ewan Phelan
Lessons
Introduction to Boudoir on the Edge
22:04 2Breakdown of Ewan Phelan's Boudoir Shots
08:22 3Why you should bring boudoir into your business
09:39 4Figure out your why
13:54 5Building Supporters of Boudoir Photography
25:44 6Boudoir Posing with Lady Tatas
32:26 7Boudoir Posing with Opal Peachy
12:48 8Marketing Your Boudoir Business
21:44Lesson Info
Why you should bring boudoir into your business
So now it becomes why should you bring boudoir into your business? Some of you might already be shooting boudoir, but something you might not be yet and it might be a question of why you want to, um, it's always a challenge. Like I said before I shoot about one hundred a year, ninety percent of them are in studio, same spot I move the french around maybe twice a year to try and give some different lighting things like that, but it's always a challenge. Every client I can have a ninety pound client and I can have a three hundred fifty pound client I've had young twenty year old clients and I've had clients that I've weighed up to, probably in three hundred range, so it's, always a child, is always a challenge in terms of their meeting me for the first time when they walk in for the shoot s o I have to get somebody comfortable with me in a very short period of time to do a shoot. Yes, our clients know what they're getting into because of what our work is, but at the same time they're not...
ready, they're not they're just everybody comes in there come from a wide range doctors, lawyers, teachers, preacher's wives so they all come in it's not a typical type of person that comes in for a shoot um so you're always trying to you're dealing with their bodies and their personalities so it's never boring I've never been bored doing a shoot. So um another awesome part of why did shoot luz or no more weekends don't get us wrong we do still shoot a few elopement weddings, but boudoir is something that you can do on a much more family friendly schedule that we have prior to making a full move into boudoir we're killing ourselves our first season we booked fifty weddings our second story our first wedding with twenty five weddings the second season we booked fifty we brought an associate on we brought another associate on we had nine employees at one point we were working a hundred hours a week you and gained a lot of weight said with great love for him because he said it computer from seven in the morning until midnight and would drink y to get through the day so we were just we were miserable we had a huge blowout with each other and we weren't really screaming necessarily at each other just screaming in general we're fed up it had been way too long about it running ragged at both ends and I remember us sitting there at the end of a fight and looking at a looking at you and saying I hate the business right now and you and saying I hate the business right now too what are we going to do? And I don't remember how many years that was in, but it had been significant enough that we had a huge clientele, it wasn't something we could just walk away from, and we didn't want to nine to five job, but we absolutely hated what we were doing at the time being, so it was a moment for us where we had to decide what to do next, so we started asking ourselves, how did we produce the work that we want to produce? And how do we stay creative on love our job again? The business was killing us was killing us, killing our marriage for anyone in the crowd who works with your suppose you know how difficult that could be, and even if your photographer and you don't work with your supposed people are nodding out here. If you don't work with your stuff, it's even harder sometimes because you can't explain to them and say, well, I'm working late, I have to work until midnight, but I'm on facebook and your partner doesn't quite get it, but that doesn't mean you're playing around on farmville or whatever the games are on facebook it's that you're doing social media, you're connecting that were work is constant in this business, you have so many different hats to wear, and so for us we needed to sit back and look at how to change that for ourselves photographers ask a lot of their spouse is and working with your spouse it was even more difficult, you know, bringing and I have been together for thirteen years and have a little a pretty much twenty four seven together for thirteen years there's a pop until recently we've shared the same office and only recently we're just like you know what? It's time let's just open office let's have our own space that we can decorate ourselves and have our own time because we do it's it's a like brianna said, you're wearing hot different hats it goes from being husband wife into being business partners than to being parents when we go pick up the kids halfway through the day from school to going backto work than making dinner than putting the kids to bed then too probably going backto work on dh somewhere in there you gotta find time for each other and not let it affect it. And so when we were running ragged and doing the amount of weddings were doing and not enjoying it anymore, we just couldn't we didn't want it um so like human said we've been together for thirteen years we've been married for eleven and I can honestly say without exaggeration, I think we would both say this we're very open way wouldn't relive three of them three of those years were absolute hell loved each other to death but we wouldn't relive them if we could go back we come from dysfunctional families we come from marriage, divorce, marriage, divorce, marriage divorce all over again and so when we got married we said that wasn't an option for us but there were points in our marriage where we were on the brink where we sat in tears together and we didn't know where to go we didn't want to get divorced but we didn't know what to do next but what happened with this is we were able to strip away all the crap we were able to strip away what wasn't working all the garbage all the stuff that we hated all the stuff that we resented each other about or were upset about and we were able to re evaluate what was important and we were able to see that we couldn't possibly live without each other we loved our family loved our kids we loved our life together and we were in a shitty place but that didn't define us in the big picture of our marriage it was nothing that we could beat anything and something from human's values he said if you didn't exist I'd make you up and that's something that we have always fallen back on in our marriage and in our business is we're nothing without the other person and there are going to be really bad times, but you have to remove those distractions. Same thing when you get into a rat in your business, you have to remove those distractions and get rid of that we did. You know, we went through all those hard times, but we did come out of it. This actually picture taken by our friend aaron goss from last year, our ten year anniversary went to paris when we got married, we were twenty one and twenty two could not affording a wedding that we wanted. We always said we would do the way we wanted it, and so we did. We went to paris and we got the photos we wanted and they mean more to us than the photos on her actual wedding day. So we knew we had to bring that passion back into our marriage, and we knew we had to bring that same passion back to the businesses well, or we'd just be in the same place in a year down the road or even sooner for that matter, because when you're with somebody twenty four seven it's easy to start picking at little things. So we had to re evaluate what we were passionate about in the business you and still liked shooting weddings he still like shooting portrait, but not as much wasn't where his passion like where's passion was, so we made the move towards boudoir, specifically boudoir and more so that that was our that was our answer. We have a problem when you and talked about teams they had how to design the perfect chair, they had a problem, they come up with an answer, our answer was boudoir, and it not only gave us something to fight for, something that we're really passionate about, but in a lot of ways it's saved us, too, because it forced us to sit down, sit down and look the things we loved in each other and bring that passion back for each other as well. It did. It gave us our weekends back, it gave me not being you know, I do travel a lot to do shoots, but I'm definitely home more now than when I shot fifty weddings a year, and so it definitely allowed us to concentrate on what we loved and really saved us so blue, I was a huge thing for us and still is and it's also that weddings are great don't get me wrong. We've obviously that's where our beginning routes where but with boudoir, you're not dealing with three hundred people on a given day, you have one person you're connecting with that one person and helping give them an experience and change their lives one on one, um so no, but no matter if you are a wedding photographer, a family portrait photographer, whatever you are, you have the skill and the knowledge to tell a story with your imagery in your work, and you will have a story to tell boudoir is becoming more mainstream is picking up steam every year. We've been shooting boudoir for eleven years, and I would say only in the last few years have we seen it become really prominent in the industry and we encourage you to jump on board with that, you can either be the photographers who sit back and watch it happen and passed by while other people in your local industry take it and run with it. And then you're behind the eight ball a year from now, or you can jump in with two feet and say, I'm going to get on board with this, I'm going to join the movement. I am going to take the passion that I have learned from this here today, and I am going to share that with clients so you'll see the quote here is boudoir is not a trend it's a movement social media has done some great things in terms of advancing this for us you have beyonce, you have free the nipple, you have all sorts of things online. Where people are trying to express that sexuality is okay. And we're trying to say, here today, don't miss out on it. Don't play catch up, come and join the movement with us.
Ratings and Reviews
Hassan Hussein
This is an amazing class. The best I have seen so far on the art and business of boudoir photography. Brianna and Ewan covered very difficult subjects in this class in a very effective, professional, informative, and entertaining way. I loved how they addressed the human sexuality in the most beautiful way in relation to art of boudoir photography. It was fascinating to see how Ewan was able to get the models to pose into very sexy and beautiful poses by providing clear instructions in a very respectful manner. Brianna was very informative on how to run a successful boudoir business. I sincerely believe that both Ewan and Brianna shared many of the secrets of the trade that they learned over many years which made their boudoir business a success story.
Rick Steverson
This couple is awesome. I really enjoyed the intro into Ewan's posing techniques. To be honest I would have loved more. Please CL have them come back and continue this workshop. I appreciated the very clear directions to the models without being crass. I'm sure it comes with time, but his methodical tone and direction helped to (IMO) communicate his expertise and improves model/client confidence. Ewan and Brianna helped us to define not only our why, but the how. Very worthwhile to my wife and I for our boudoir photography. Much love Brianna and Ewan, and uh...sorry (lol).
a Creativelive Student
I bought this as an online course, and I was very pleased with it and felt like it was worth the investment. From reading other reviews, you can see that other students have their own opinions based upon their own expectations and interests, and my review is the same. I was more interested in the art of the photography and the posing of the models, and I was very pleased with that part and would have liked to have seen a little more of that and less of the business side. However, I thought the information on the business, marketing, contracts, legal etc. to be very informative and helpful if I wanted to do this commercially. I would recommend that they shorten the first lesson by editing some of their own personal journey and opinions, the latter appearing unnecessarily defensive. I thought one reviewer was unfairly critical of Ewan's "control". I appreciated his directness and instructions, and I think this reviewer may have reflected some of her own issues about either males or control issues. Overall, it was highly informative, and I highly recommend the course. Just go in knowing you're going to be exposed to the business side, as well as the creative side.
Student Work
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