Uncovering boudoir with Jess Hunt of Jessica Hunt Photography
There's nothing like capturing confidence in action, and that's exactly what Jess Hunt of Jessica Hunt Photography does. Specializing in general and bridal boudoir, Jess serves an extensive range of clients across cultural backgrounds, faith traditions, disabilities, body types, skin tones, genders, and LGBTQ+ orientations. She is fiercely proud to welcome ALL expressions of humanity in front of her camera.
Influenced by her empathy and care for her clients' stories and legacy, she is passionate about creating images that allow people to connect on a deeper level.
Below, Jess gives us the details on boudoir photography, what to expect when you book a session, and advice for overcoming fear and channeling your confidence for a fierce shoot.
Q. How would you explain boudoir?
A. Boudoir is a style of photography dating back to the 1840s that features intimate and sensual photos of the subject. Unlike glamour and nude photography, boudoir has been exclusively focused on sensuality, empowerment, and a hint of sexuality, more than other photography mediums.
More recently, the term has come to almost exclusively apply to people seeking out intimate photos for themselves (or to share with a partner) in a private studio setting.
Clients can expect to have full control over where their images are or are not shared, the experience as a whole, and how much or little they wear for these modern-day boudoir photos.
Many people can immediately assume that boudoir photography is inherently sexual, yet it’s actually quite the opposite as it has historically, and continues to be, a medium of art to express sensuality, empowerment, and beauty.
In a culture where each and every person suffers from outside pressures about how they look and how their body naturally exists, boudoir is a medium that encourages people to reject the beauty standards of their current culture and embrace their body as it exists right now.
Q. What is a typical boudoir shoot with Jessica Hunt Photography like?
A. The experience we offer is all-inclusive and is designed to walk the most confident or even the most nervous client through this experience with ease and to lead them into a deeper connection with themselves and their body.
Clients can expect to have me, with 10 years of experience in the field, walking them through this entire experience from top to bottom. We help clients select their outfits for their photos and provide a size-inclusive lingerie closet of 300+ pieces from 5XL to XS for their use.
Each client receives professional beauty services with pros who are comfortable working with their natural hair texture and skin tone and are walked through posing during their session.
If you booked a boudoir session with us, you could expect to come into the studio on your session day, get into a comfy robe, and be handed a glass of chilled Prosecco. Then, our expert beauty vendors will begin your services in an adjoining room in our studio.
I’ll be there during those beauty services so we can get comfortable with each other before you hop into your lingerie, and then we’ll spend about 1 to 1 1/2 hours photographing you in our private studio. Clients are encouraged to bring their favorite intimate outfits, and we usually allow each client to slip into three separate pieces during their session.
During this experience, we will have music of your choice playing, so you get to jam to your favorite vibes and can expect a full 90 minutes of constant praise, compliments, and hype energy from me as your photographer. You’ll leave feeling like you’re on cloud 9 and carry that new energy with you everywhere you go.
Q. How do you ensure clients feel comfortable?
A. There are many ways to do this, but for me, my biggest focus is always on safety and consent within the boudoir space. Boudoir can be an incredibly vulnerable and emotional experience, and I make sure clients know that they have full control of their experience from the moment we begin their first consultation.
We allow our clients to select the type of model release that resonates most with them, ask any questions that could feel high pressure in person, like if clients would like to take photos with a white sheet and imply nudity or even completely nude photos, via questionnaires, so clients can answer those more intimate questions on their own, and we never question those answers once they are provided.
In the studio, we have created an atmosphere that feels homey and safe. While I work with clients, I make sure that they know that everything we do together in the studio is about them and their experience; that no posing or photo suggestion ever has to be done if they do not resonate with it or want to do what I might have in mind.
Clients are also never physically touched by myself while being photographed without verbal acknowledgment of that contact, and we cover making sure the client consents to that boundary before starting our sessions. I also check in with clients before starting their photos to make sure that the language that I used to hype up clients and compliment them feels affirming and is something they’re comfortable with.
Basically, we have shaped absolutely everything about this experience to make sure that we are anticipating the needs of our clients and giving them the power to control their experience in every way possible to make them comfortable and ensure them that they are in a safe space where vulnerability, confidence, and any emotion they might experience are welcome and celebrated.
Q. Who is boudoir for?
A. I would say boudoir is for any person looking for an experience to spark their confidence, feel more at home in the vessel that they’ve been given on this earth, or want to have a healthier sense of self-perception. There are no restrictions on who this experience is for.
Still, I think the clients who come to our studio looking to spark their confidence or move into a more healthy space of body acceptance and/or healing are the best fits for the experience we provide in our studio. It’s more about where someone is in their journey with their mind and their heart than it is about where they are in their journey with their body.
Q. How do clients usually feel after the shoot is over?
A. One of my very favorite things about being a boudoir photographer is watching my clients come alive in the studio as we work together. It’s such a joy to watch nerves and inhibitions fall away within the first 10 to 15 minutes of our session and see people truly feel good about themselves, their bodies, and how they present to the world.
The energy that this experience provides for our clients is palpable, and I can visibly see it on their faces as they walk out of the studio after we wrap up photos. And most of my clients tell me that they feel more confident, more comfortable, and more at home in their bodies after their session experience.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of letting go of your self-consciousness and inhibitions about how you present in this world and allowing yourself to feel good, confident, sexy, and beautiful. It’s a very special experience, and it’s such a joy to hear from my clients after their session that they are able to continue to bring that same energy with them everywhere they go after our time together.
Q. What advice do you have for those who would love to do a boudoir shoot, but feel shy or uncomfortable?
A. My advice would be if you’re interested in this experience because you want to feel the emotions I’ve talked about today to take the first step and reach out to your boudoir photographer of choice. Hopefully, that is me and my team, but if it’s not, that’s okay, too, dear reader. Take the first step, get on a call or have a consultation with your selected photographer and let them lead you through the experience.
Everyone feels a little shy and uncomfortable about experiences that require us to come out of our comfort zone and show strangers vulnerability, but the people who overcome those self-imposed barriers are the ones who take the first step by giving themselves permission to deserve an experience like this, to enjoy it, and to feel damn good about how they look in their photographs.
There’s so much in our culture through media and systems of power that convince people that because of how they look or present to the world that they might not deserve to look, feel, or have experiences like being all done up in lingerie and professional hair and makeup in a boudoir studio, but that could not be farther from the truth. If you want this experience, it’s waiting for you when you’re ready. Just take the first step to reach out to a trusted professional, and let them lead you through what I know, it will be an incredibly impactful journey for you.
You got this. We’re here when you’re ready.
To keep up with Jess and Jessica Hunt Photography, follow her at @jhuntbodies. To book a shoot, head to her website for general or bridal booking — and mention All is Well for $100 off your boudoir experience.