My thoughts on the Plus Size Boudoir conversation // Gainesville Boudoir Photographer

My studio in Gainesville Florida is a safe place. I am not going to judge you. I am not going to be thinking about you in any other light other then the beautiful goddess that you are. You are unique. You come with a story. And I want to hear it.
I know how intimidating it can be though. It’s about accepting yourself and getting vulnerable which is not easy. Especially if you have confidence issues with your body.

So I want to talk about Size today. Curves. Plus. BBW.
Let me just disclose here quickly that I know that smaller women struggle so much with body image and confidence as well, they are by no means immune to the struggles and I see it every single day, but today I felt like I really needed to focus on the societal bias against larger women.

I can not tell you how often I get a message from someone saying “you don’t shoot anyone my size”. Or “finally she photographed a woman my size.”
And I want to address it. Because I do photograph people who are plus size. All the time.
But 1) Only some of my clients give me permission to share their photos. Boudoir is not like normal photography where every single one of my clients allows me to share my world publicly. Only 30%- 50% of my work is seen by the public at any given time depending on my clients preferences.
and 2) I am good at my job. Most people aren’t looking at these images and thinking about any woman’s size. They are looking at the images and seeing the beauty that I see. And that everyone sees. Even if the Siren herself can’t see it. The focus is not and never will be the size of the human being- it is the beautiful human being that is the focus. I am accentuating all the things that they love about themselves. All the beautiful things that they might not even notice about themselves. And viewers notice that and in return I get many who think I barely shoot curvier/ plus sized women. Because I am not photographing them in a way that plays into bias against boudoir for big people, or negative views on body size.

I am a plus size woman myself. I understand how much we need representation in the boudoir world. I am always striving for it. But I am never going to hold any person viewing my works’ hand and point out where the plus sized women are.
You are never going to see me labeling my clients to draw attention to their size when it’s irrelevant information. You’re never going to see caption that read “She was a size 20!” or “PLUS SIZED BOUDOIR” under a posted image— like how demeaning is that?
We are so much more than our pant size.
That being said, I will be putting up photos of a client so that when people search for Plus sized Boudoir this will come up in their search, they will then hopefully read this and it will provide some food for thought. This will be the only time you see it from me though.

Boudoir is for every body. If you have a body, boudoir is for you. And the facts are we need more women who are curvier to share their photos to normalize what we are up against here. I don’t care what your size is, you deserve GORGEOUS images of yourself that you can feel proud of.


Long story time about size and gender bias: I traded one of my images for an ad space in a local magazine. So basically instead of them paying me for usage, they gave me an ad space instead. Many of you probably saw the photo. It was my Male Dancer boudoir shoot with Marcos. Marcos is a beautiful human being. For that shoot he was in his underwear that was fitted to his body and the band of the underwear said “Head”. Sexual innuendo. My guess is this underwear company knew exactly what they were doing when they put Head on the underwear band. Just telling you this for the full picture here. Loved the look of that whole shoot and so did the magazine.
So when it came time for them to pick of photo of mine for women’s boudoir, that is where it got interesting. I had many photos, many of which the women were in two pieces and much more exposed. Those women were more petite. One in particular is the most petite person that I have ever photographed. She is stunning. No doubt about it. But so is the plus sized woman that was wearing a body suit and was more covered but had a fuller breast.
So they call me because of course they have a problem will ALL of my boudoir photos and tried to select one of my maternity bath photos where the clients head is turned away. They claimed that it was “to protect my client’s identity” (as if she needs to be hidden) which I explained to them that I never show images publicly unless I have a signed model release- these clients are all happy to represent boudoir, without covering their faces and hiding in an ad. Then the truth came out and they said that they found it “less provocative.” And I find it so interesting. Because her face was covered. Her breasts were the focus of the image. So at this point I realize it’s time to educate because this is sort of offensive to (many) women (at least offensive to me). It’s such a good reminder that what is tasteful to one person is NOT tasteful to someone else. Putting a paper bag over a half naked woman to me, is degrading, and I felt like that was what this was metaphorically and it made me feel uncomfortable. So I started question them and why they thought that image was more appropriate. Was it because she is pregnant and that is seemed as more wholesome? I pointed out how the focus is on her breasts. I expressed how all the other images had the focus is on the face. The face being the most normalized body part. But here was the problem that I know their bias couldn’t see. The tamest, most appropriate image that I sent was of a curvier women, in a body suit, focus was on the face, but she had larger breasts. And *gasp* large breasts are provocative. I knew from the moment that I questioned them on their choice of my photos that they were going to chose the smallest person. And they did.
I personally felt 100% that this magazine was bias against curvier women. And it was painful as an artist and as a plus size woman.
And get this. At one point in the conversation he said that they are a “Christian family” Magazine. (my mind flashed back to the “Head” underwear on the chiseled half naked man ). To which I reminded him that most of my clients are Christian, that doesn’t mean my clients don’t want proper representation as women. That stopped him in his tracks. But I want to remind you that the half naked male wearing “Head” underwear was featured in their magazine without pause, without critique. and I ended up sending them like 16 options for photos of women. And they chose the smallest woman they could.
These are the bodies, the vessels that carry us throughout this life. One body IS NOT MORE APPROPRIATE THEN THE NEXT. They are all appropriate. They all need to be celebrated and accepted.
I will always keep fighting back and pushing back. But I need everyone reading this to as well.