Session for Newborn Mom Diagnosed With Breast Cancer
Today’s boudoir session features Mrs. T, the mom of a 3 week old newborn baby. She was also recently diagnosed with breast cancer and started chemotherapy days after we captured this photo shoot.
When Mrs. T contacted me and told me her story, I knew I really wanted to do this session for her. She told me she had wanted to do a boudoir session for quite a while, but had never gotten around to actually doing it.
She asked me if it was possible to have her session photographed before her first chemo appointment roughly a week and a half away.
Under normal circumstances I typically prefer to not to book any photo shoots less than 2 weeks out because of all the planning and logistical stuff involved, but in this particular case few of the normal rules seemed to apply.
It was important to Theresa that we got some beautiful portraits of her for her family before she started chemo therapy. She was also really hoping I could document her body before she started her treatment.
Theresa told me she expected to “loose her body” as result of her aggressive recovery plan. Her hair would fall out from the chemo and she’d have a double mastectomy to remove the cancer from her breasts.
A Studio in Her Garage
So we made everything happen on a condensed timeline and ended up doing her photo shoot at her house. She pretty much left everything up to me and what I thought would be best for what she wanted.
The first thing I decided to do while she was getting her hair and makeup done was to MacGyver up a studio in her garage. Since I intended these images to be her legacy portraits. Nailing the light on these pictures would be crucial.
The “studio” I set up consisted of 4 studio strobes and a muslin backdrop. Mrs. T had quite dark eyes and hair, so I chose to light her hair in all of the shots to separate her from the background rather than have her fall to black. I did this with a 1’x3’ gridded strip box that I placed above the background and aimed it at the top of her head from behind. From there I used the other three strobes I had to get a few different looks for her.
Studio style portrait of Theresa using 3 strip boxes as a ring light.
The first portrait I captured for her was an openly lit head shot. For this portrait I lit her hair with the afore mentioned 1’x3’ gridded strip box and then lit her face with the remaining three strobes using the same gridded strip boxes as modifiers. I set her key lights up as a giant ring light and balanced them similar to a clam shell light pattern. I’m not sure why I did this as I’ve never seen anyone do something like this before, but it felt right and I just went with it.
For her next look I decided to light her very traditionally using a cinematic pattern. The hair light was the same as the first set up, but this time I key lit her with a 48” gridded octobox.
I put a fill light on the shadow side of her face with one of the 1’x3’ gridded strip boxes to keep the light off the background and lift the shadows off the bottom. Then I used my last light to illuminate the muslin background and pull the scene together. The background light was tricky to get the vignette I wanted in camera. I contained the light settling on barn doors and then further finessing the spill with a grid.
For her final studio look I killed the background light and kept the 48” octobox as a key light. I placed the strobe on the ground to up light her for just a touch of fill.
I did my best on all of these portraits to really dial in my lights as precisely as I could to try and future proof these photos. The lighting here isn’t anything flashy but it’s very clean and well balanced. Time will tell how well I did, but I believe these portraits will still look great decades from now.
Her Boudoir Photos
After Mrs. T and I finished with her portraits I could see she was still pretty nervous about her more revealing photos we were about to capture. She was starting to get the hang of my direction style though, so I knew she was ready to dive in despite her nerves.
I overheard Mrs. T talking with Ducky (my makeup artist) during her makeover about how she definitely wasn’t feeling sexy having just given birth to her son. I completely understood where she was coming from.
Women’s bodies go though an amazing process when they have children and here Mrs. T was about to have boudoir photos captured just weeks later. I can only imagine how vulnerable she must have felt and how much courage it must have taken to even consider doing her session.
Looking back over everything, I think Mrs. T and I were able to get some really beautiful portraits from her session. I believe her studio portraits will hold up well over time and I think we got some very stunning shots that showcase her body (especially her chest) in both a sexy and tasteful way. I hope future me approves of the job I did. I know her husband definitely does!
Despite the profound life changes that have happened to Mrs. T over the last year:
Getting married, getting pregnant, getting diagnosed with breast cancer, having her son, and starting her cancer treatment (all of which happened in the theater of the COVID California wildfires blackout train wreck).
Mrs. T is one of the most positive genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know. I think her mindset and attitude are inspiring. I’m very much looking forward to seeing her kick cancers ass!
In my time behind the camera I’ve shot quite a few boudoir sessions that are quite rewarding in their own way. As corny as it sounds though, It’s sessions like Mrs. T that make me feel like I was put on earth to do this for people.
In Her Words
At 38 weeks pregnant I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My little guy was induced right away so I could start treatment asap. With a newborn at home and constant doctor appointments I had very little time to get anything done. I have always wanted to do a boudoir shoot and really wanted to document my body before I got cut into and lost all my hair.
I found Jason’s website on a random search and was immediately impressed by his work. Most of the boudoir photos I came across in my online search came off really corny to me, but as soon as I saw Jason’s work I knew this was what I wanted. I was particularly impressed by his before and after shots. They were beautiful and not the least bit corny.
Jason spoke with me over facetime and listened to what I was looking for and went out of his way to make this happen for me before treatment started. I was extremely nervous, here I am 2 weeks postpartum, no experience taking pictures, and no wardrobe (I’ve been in nothing but maternity panties for months). Jason shows up and immediately puts my husband and I at ease. He is extremely personable, professional, and talented.
The stylist Ducky was delightful and talented. She made me feel beautiful and my hair was perfect. Jason and Ducky helped me look through my closet and made it fun. They made me feel so comfortable. I was not expecting this level of photography.
Jason is an artist and you can tell he is passionate and enjoys his work. He does not settle for anything less than exactly what you want. I can’t say doing this shoot was easy but I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone other than Jason. He made me feel strong even in an environment where you would think I would feel vulnerable.
When Jason showed me the final photos I had a really hard time finding words. I’m not very emotional but was very overwhelmed with the beauty he was able to capture. My body isn’t perfect but it is mine and it is beautiful. He was able to capture ME. I will be forever grateful for him and doing this for me.
I recommend to anyone looking into doing boudoir photos DO IT and do it NOW. Don’t wait for the perfect time because there isn’t one and you will never get to have this special gift. I also recommend having Jason capture your beauty. His talent is only shadowed by his wonderful personality. You will not regret it.
Like this post? Here’s some other boudoir photo shoots you might like to check out!
