Client Spotlight: Confidence Isn't One and Done

 People often think a boudoir session is something you do once.

You check it off your bucket list, hang your favorite photo on the wall, tuck your album away, and that's that.

But sometimes confidence isn't something you find once. Sometimes it's something you come back for when life tries to convince you that you've lost it.

I first photographed this incredible woman in 2023. She came to me after spending years being torn down, hoping to find a little piece of herself again.

Like so many women, she walked into the studio nervous. Not because she didn't trust me, but because she didn't trust the way she saw herself.

Then came the moment I love most during every session.

I turned the back of the camera around and asked, "Do you want to see?"

She said yes.

That single image changed everything.

She couldn't believe the woman looking back at her was actually her. It wasn't edited. It wasn't filtered. It was simply her.

That moment became a promise.

She decided she was going to come back every year >>> not because she needed permission to feel beautiful, but because she wanted to document the woman she was becoming.

She returned in 2024 and fell in love with those images too.

Then life happened.

Someone else came along and slowly chipped away at the confidence she had worked so hard to rebuild. Before long, those old doubts started creeping back in.

The beautiful thing about confidence, though, is that it isn't gone forever.

Sometimes it just needs a reminder.

As soon as that chapter of her life came to an end, she reached out to me.

"I want another session."

No hesitation.

No waiting.

She knew exactly where she wanted to be.

One of my favorite parts of her story actually started before she ever stepped foot in the studio. She heard about me through her hairstylist, filled out the questionnaire, and we scheduled our phone consultation.

Instead of feeling like a business call, we laughed.

A lot.

She told me afterward that was the moment she knew I was going to be her photographer. She said women don't need a robot behind the camera during such a vulnerable experience. They need someone who can make them laugh, help them relax, and bring them out of their shell.

I don't think she realized that's exactly what she was looking for all along.

Even after three sessions, she still gets nervous every single time she walks through my studio doors.

Not because she's afraid of me.

Because she's still human.

But she also knows something now that she didn't know in 2023.

By the end of every session, those nerves disappear.

They always do.

She told me one of her favorite things I do is showing clients the back of the camera.

Her advice?

Always say yes.

Because the woman staring back at you might surprise you.

You won't see the flaws you've spent years focusing on.

You'll see someone who is strong.

Someone who is confident.

Someone who is, in her words, a complete badass.

That's why narrowing down her images is never easy. Every session leaves her wondering how she's ever supposed to choose favorites because each gallery reminds her of something she's so quick to forget between sessions.

She is beautiful exactly as she is.

When I asked what she would say to another woman waiting until she loses weight or changes something about herself before booking, her answer honestly made me smile.

"There is nothing wrong with you."

She reminded women of something I say all the time.

"You could wear a full set of long sleeve pajamas and we could make it sexy."

Sexy isn't about a number on the scale.

It's not about wearing tiny lingerie.

It's not about looking like someone else.

It's about the way you carry yourself when you finally believe you're enough.

She ended with something every woman needs to hear.

"You are perfect the way you are made. You don't need to lose weight. You don't need to alter yourself to please anyone. If somebody doesn't like who you are, they aren't worth knowing. Book the session and let Kadee show you how badass and sexy you really are."

Three sessions later, she's still proving something.

Not that she's changed.

But that every time life tries to make her forget who she is...

She's willing to remind herself.

If you want to learn more about how I do boudoir sessions please visit my website www.boudoirbykadee.com and fill out the client questionnaire I love talking about what I do.