The thing I hear most often from people when I tell them what I do is, “I could never do that. I’m not pretty/handsome/thin enough!” My usual reply is a strong yet kind, “Bull! Doing a boudoir session will change the way to see yourself. If you don’t believe me, believe my clients.” You can ask any of my clients, but in this post lets take a look at Cheryl.

Cheryl is a mother of a full grown, independent daughter. She has been through a couple of not so perfect marriages, and until very recently was living on her own in an apartment in Brooklyn NY. To be fully open and honest, I met Cheryl back in the ’90s but we lost touch over the years and our paths crossed again just a few years ago. I was actually shooting an musical event in NJ and when I was doing a portrait of one of the bands I asked this woman to hold and aim a light for me. I was busy but I noticed she looked familiar. After I got my shot I spoke to her for a moment and she said I looked familiar too. I told her to imagine me with hair and that is when we realized who each of us was!

Enough of that reminiscing stuff… Fast forward…

I put a note out on Facebook last spring that I was looking to shoot more boudoir and Cheryl said she was interested in doing a shoot, as did a good friend of hers,  and another acquaintance of mine from Philadelphia. After a bit of back and forth it was decided that we would do a marathon shoot at a local high end hotel. I set the date, booked the hotel and made sure one of my makeup artists would be there and we were all was set!

Cheryl mentioned to me at one point that she wasn’t sure about doing the shoot but because we were such old friends she trusted me and knew I wouldn’t let her look anything but good. Well, may I say, she looked great! We had a great day. The ladies had wine, they had their hair and makeup done, and we all just had a great time. At the end of the day I asked the women if they wouldn’t mind writing up a brief testimonial about the shoot. This is what Cheryl had to say.

“As a person that has never had the most positive body image, I was naturally skeptical that I would be able to take part in a photo shoot of this nature. However, as a lover of all things “pin-up”, I allowed my curiosity to outweigh my nervousness. The result? FAR AND AWAY THE BEST THING I COULD HAVE EVER DONE FOR MY SELF IMAGE!! The entire process of transformation, from hair and make-up to wardrobe to the photo shoot was amazing. Michael is a consummate professional who has the ability to relax and put his subjects at ease from the very beginning. It was so much fun to spend time in front of his lens. The final photographs are something I will treasure forever. It really changed the way I see myself.“ ~Cheryl

I was not only happy about how much Cheryl enjoyed herself and her images, I was proud to help her feel so good about herself. Take a look an let Cheryl and I know what you think.