It’s not every day you get to be the sexy, sultry star of the show. So when I got a call to say I’d won a burlesque boudoir photo shoot with Andrew Wood Photography I was thrilled and excited at the opportunity ahead.
Thursday dawned and I got myself ready. I picked out 3 outfits (thanks hubby, it was a hard job but someone had to help me out ;) ) and chose a collection of props and accessories to take with me. I’d picked the 50 shades of Grey experience just out of sheer curiosity but wanted to make sure there were a few real BDSM bits and pieces in my photographs…I had a feeling the items at the studio might be at the fluffier end of the scale.
I am not the most confident person in the world. Yes, I often get bits of my body out on the internet and I am often found flouncing around my local dungeon in my scanties but these places are comfortable for me. On the net I control what is seen and at fetish events it’s normal for folk to be in nothing but their undies. I was more than a little apprehensive on my tram journey to the other side of Manchester at the idea of turning up at a photo studio, showing off my complete lack of make up knowledge first and then showing off my wobbly bits to a photographer.
From the moment I walked in the door I was made to feel welcome. I was greeted on reception and the smiley Fern took me through to the opulent, material draped, bright lights and mirrors changing room and wasted no time in helping me chose what look I wanted. It was easy as pie to point out a style I liked from the book and Fern put it into practice. All the time we chatted with ease and she told me at every step what she was doing and checked regularly that I was okay and liking what I saw. I always was. I got false lashes applied (now that feels weird) and Fern used a combination of 2 of my own lipsticks to create the bright, vivid lips we were looking for. My lipsticks were used as I’m a coeliac and have to be careful, gluten is hidden in surprising places. We used Jefree Star’s I’m Shook as a base and used a darker red lippie (discontinued) over the top to make the look more shiny.
The make up looked amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it but I’ll never ever be able to reproduce it myself, Fern is a very clever professional! However, my hair looked amazing when she curled and volumised it and I think that is something I could do for myself at home. I’m adding hair curlers to my Christmas list! The final product was very glam indeed! So of course, I took a selfie or six ;)
Whit woo, huh? I know. It felt a little weird looking at myself, considering I never use make up, but I couldn’t stop looking at myself! I can see why people do use make up, it’s like a little shield, it’s you but not, there’s a facade to hide behind and the opportunity to become a persona of yourself. Interesting psychology indeed. I didn’t get long to ponder before Laura came to get me for my photos.
Wow, that woman is a bouncing ball of energy. I was completely swept away in her excited energies and eagerly emptied my bag to show off what I’d brought a long. She had lots of great ideas and we planned out the order of outfits to wear before she left me to get changed. Not once did I feel weird in just my scanties. I thought I might but I was so taken by Laura’s enthusiasm I didn’t even think about it once.
Now, I’ve been on photo shoots before but all as an observer who was pressed into action to take a few photos. I was always a bit shit at posing. I had no idea what to do. I was very relieved when Laura started out by showing me what she wanted my poses to look like and as we continued I started to recognise what her instructions meant. Legs back, shoulder down, twist forward…I got them all in the end. Laura was very patient, repeating instructions if I looked baffled. She’d straighten out my straps, shift my hair out of my face (It’s fab to have it down, looks great but it doesn’t half get in the blasted way though) and give me a hand when I stumbled in the huge high heels. Yep, I was in high heels. I could lie in them and stand in the not so high ones but I had to take them off to walk. I am not a heels girl at all.
We had a laugh. Bounced ideas of each other, I told her about my life and writing and ended up biting a lot of rope…and wearing cuffs a lot, so we definitely fulfilled the 50 shades brief! Everything was natural and easy. Okay, I twisted into some particularly challenging poses, but Laura would always be quick taking her shots and gave me chance to stretch if needed!
I did snap a cheeky selfie as I was in my last outfit in the lovely boudoir set, using the impressive mirror there. I love it, though it’s not the best photo in the world, because it will always remind me of the day I was the sexy star of the show!
It was an amazing experience. After I got dressed into my everyday gear and packed up all my kit I went downstairs to book in for my photo viewing, was given a list of prices and asked to fill in a feedback form. I love how it asked how much touching up you wanted. I picked the lowest level because I want this to be an exercise in body positivity and I was pretty sure it wasn’t an erotic invitation ;) There was a drink for me on arrival (you can have prosecco if you want, but I had soft drinks) and as I filled in my feedback and I was pampered and looked after at all times.
If you’ve ever thought about having sexy photos taken or even if you haven’t, I would thoroughly recommend Andrew Wood Photography on my experience so far, I’ll be back again after my photo viewing to give the second part of my review.
