A few months ago we already talked about him here, in the Panateneas Blog. Xabi Vide is a Bilbao wedding photographer based in Cantabria and a specialist in the Boudoir genre. We were very impressed by the theme and how he told us that he introduced this genre together with his wedding photography, making these shootings almost part of the whole of it. So we asked him to tell us a little more about this genre that has become so fashionable. Xabi has made Boudoir reports for women, many of them brides, in Euskadi, Cantabria, Galicia, Madrid, Barcelona, etc. And also gives training courses on this genre for other photographers.
I will start this article explaining the basics: the word Boudoir comes from the French “dressing table” or “private room of a lady”. A room that was present in the houses of the bourgeoisie back in the eighteenth century in the France of romanticism and that was the stay where the woman was not subject to her husband, but had that “small space of total intimate release”.
Well, when that current mix of romanticism, femininity, freedom and privacy we move to photography today, we find as a result the photographic genre Boudoir (pronounced buddhuar) a genre where above sculptural bodies, complex poses and erotic pure, sensations prevail, femininity and a very sensual elegance.
This genre is booming in recent years among women, playing back and forth the thin line between a sensual and erotic photography, leaving aside the merely photographic terms and composing a story where any woman can feel extremely sexy and glamorous. Where your physique does not matter, but femininity, the essence of every woman.
What reasons lead a woman to want to make a report like this? Sincerely, many. But there is no such general reason as the one we bring here today and it is the sum of Boudoir photography to the whole of wedding photography.
Although these parts of the globe are a “more or less” new genre, even unknown, one of the main reasons for holding a Boudoir photo shoot is as a gift from the bride to the groom shortly before becoming a husband and wife . A gift of “bachelor party” so to speak in some way, delivered the night before the wedding for example, adding this way that extra of feeling and emotion. In countries such as France, the United Kingdom, the US or Canada, it is so widespread that there are even specialized studies and professionals who work exclusively on this genre.
I’m not going to cheat you, apart from a gift for him, each and every one of the women who have made a Boudoir session with me have done it for them too. As a remember of a special moment in your life, that moment in which you feel good about yourself, that moment in which you feel very feminine and very sexy without needing another apparent reason beyond some intimate and special memories. Although I have to admit that the theme of Wedding comes very often and many of my brides give their partners away with sessions of this type.
You do not have to recognize it because from my experience I will tell you that there are many who have done it, despite an initial embarrassment, the “cut” that gives posing in lingerie or half-naked in front of a stranger without knowing how to pose or what to do, almost all women have dreamed of some photographs that show their purest essence, their most feminine and sexy side, without being merely naked or erotic photographs. And when they see the results they say Wow… That’s me? Yes, it’s me!! Wow!
With Boudoir photography we tell a story. Each photo of the report may belong to a genre, provided that the line to follow give us Boudoir as results, we touch glamor, artistic, erotic photography, details, portrait photography… Doing much more than choosing some specific photos for the result, but developing a visual history that leads us to imagine, dream and feel playing with the combination of location, clothing, accessories and fitness. Better said, that I bring you to imagine, dream and feel, so that in addition to showing your bodies, what you see is your inner self.
A Boudoir session does not look for calendar postures, to show more than what is necessary or to make you be who you are not, to precisely find out who you are, and to show you in a sensual and natural way.
Depending on the studio or photographer you work with, you will have a way of dealing with this type of sessions, more elaborate, in studio, in a room, with lighting, without them, retouching, etc. However, all my reports to date are perform in a hotel room adapting to what we seek to get out of the session, using only natural light and no retouching, so that what you see in the photographs are 100% you at all times.
There is no age, there is no physical complexion, you do not have to be a model to keep memories like this and, in the process, make a different and very personal gift to your couples on the occasion of your wedding. So now that you know a little more about what it is Boudoir photography I encourage you to think about surprising your couples with such a special motive always having as my principles my motto for this genre: Natural, different, sexy, feminine… Do you dare?
