Today's Daly City boudoir photo shoot features Miss A, who did her session as a surprise for her boyfriend. Like most people I photograph, this photo shoot wasn't just a gift for him (although I'm not sure who was more excited about the photos); it was also a gift for herself, so she could change her mental perceptions of herself.

Miss A is my favorite kind of client to come see me. She had recently made a monumental life change in that she had lost 100 lbs before her photo shoot! I love it when women make profoundly positive lifestyle changes and use boudoir photo shoots as a celebration of their achieved goals!

Before & After

In my experience most of us don’t know what we actually look like because we typically only see ourselves naked in front of the bathroom mirror under shitty light and bad angles. This less than ideal image of ourselves is what we think of when referring to our residual self-image. In other words, we tend to have a poorer self image when we regularly see ourselves in less than ideal circumstances.

Getting to see yourself under great lighting and from good angles is a total game changer in how you perceive yourself. Even if you haven't made profound physical changes to your body like Miss A, just seeing yourself with good light and at good angles can dramatically change the way you see yourself. I can't even imagine how profound it must have been for her to see herself and have to recalibrate her brain for her new body!

Boudoir photos in her home | Daly City

We started her session in her home with plans to end the session at sunset on the beach near her house. While fancy locations are cool, I also very much love photographing women in their homes. Most like the familiarity of doing a session in their own space, especially if they're nervous about their session. I also really love the challenge of trying to create amazing photos in a space I've never seen before.

In the case of Miss A, she had fairly recently moved into her boyfriend's house, and he had a fantastic area in the dining room with a bank of windows and an amazing view of the ocean. As a bonus, the windows were also facing the sun, providing some fantastic strong light opportunities.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this space was the props he had lined up along the window. He is a firefighter and is also very into motorcycles. The windows were lined with motorcycle engines and firefighting paraphernalia. Ummm, yes please!

Beach Boudoir photos | Daly City

Once the sun started to get lower on the horizon, Miss A. and I went out to the beach near her home. Her boyfriend and son had told her about an epic cave in the area.

We never actually found the cave after walking about half a mile in the wrong direction. It didn't matter, though, because this beach was one of the best I've come across for a beach boudoir photo shoot!

The shore was crazy flat with fantastic views. It was also remarkably private, aside from some paragliders who were literally hovering above us at some points during the shoot. Other than that, we had a world-class beach all to ourselves!

Since I knew we'd be walking a distance, I decided to just bring my camera and one lens. With only my camera, I posed her into the sun as it set.

I had Miss A. bring a nightgown I saw in her lingerie collection. Although the nightgown was a piece she had bought back when she was at her old weight, I think we were able to get some gorgeous shots of her with the gown flowing in the wind. Despite it not fitting perfectly, I also really liked the symbolism of photographing her wearing it with her new body!

Miss A’s Boudoir Album

I hope you enjoyed this post featuring Miss A! Below, you can find her final album design that I created for her and her boyfriend. Be sure to like this post and leave a comment to let me know what you think of her set!

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