My Photography Journey

Hi there! For those of you who are new, my name is Sam, and I am a portrait and boudoir photographer based out of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Today, I thought it would be fun to give you guys a little background on how I got into photography, so keep reading if you’d like to hear my story!

My photography journey began my senior year of college, when I had already completed most of the courses required for my major, and I had the opportunity to take a class just for fun. I decided to sign up for Introduction to Digital Photography, and I enjoyed it way more than I ever expected to! I’ve always loved creating, but something about the challenge of turning a real life moment into a work of art especially intrigued me. I didn’t have a camera of my own, so I had to borrow my mom’s, and she never got it back! (Sorry, Mom!) It was a Sony Alpha a390, and it wasn’t the best camera ever, but I sure do owe that little camera a lot for helping me discover my passion.

I continued to take photos here and there after graduating, but I didn’t start taking it seriously until last year (2020). I began going on photo outings with friends who shared the same passion for photography as me, and I’m so happy I found that spark again that made me fall in love with photography in the first place. At this point, photography was still just something I did for fun, but like many others in the year 2020, I suddenly had a lot more time to dedicate to hobbies. I certainly started taking more pictures during this time--even though many of them featured myself, my boyfriend, or my incredibly uninterested cats.

I was working in the hospitality industry at the time, which was obviously very affected by the pandemic. Everything around me changed over the course of the year, and I decided it was time for me to make a change that I was actually in control of. 2020 was clearly not a perfect year to start a photography business, but I did it anyway. It gave me an outlet for my creative energy and motivated me to keep doing what I love to do—take pictures. After getting off work, I looked forward to coming home to work on my website and schedule photoshoots with friends to build up my portfolio. Despite having an understandably slow start, for the first time ever, I am truly excited about the future and the journey I am taking with my career. I have never felt that way about a job before, which is why I know in my heart that I made the right decision. 

And now that you have my photography story, I would like to share how I recently became so inspired by boudoir photography. While I love so many different genres of photography, boudoir has definitely captivated my interest lately. It is a very intimate style of photography, and I love all the emotions that come from it--from the vulnerability of the actual shoot to the confidence that builds after the photos are delivered! It’s all so wonderful to be a part of!

I actually never even thought about shooting boudoir until a friend who was interested in getting some boudoir photos of herself reached out and asked if I could do hers. I was definitely nervous at first because it was different than any other style of photography I had done before, but I was also eager to try something new, and I am so glad I did! The posing for this style of photography is so different and I loved how artistic the photos from this session turned out. I definitely felt creatively fulfilled after the session, but it was also incredibly rewarding to see my friend’s reaction to the photos. I loved that I was able to help her feel confident and beautiful, and I knew right away I wanted to do more sessions like this one. I loved it so much that it motivated me to book my own boudoir photoshoot with another photographer friend, which is something I never thought I would be confident enough to do! It was so empowering to celebrate myself and my body in that way, and I love helping other women feel that way as a photographer! 

I hope sharing my photography journey with you all helped you get to know me a little! And I hope hearing about my introduction to boudoir photography will inspire some of you to consider getting some boudoir photos for yourself. It’s important to celebrate yourself sometimes, and boudoir photos are such a wonderful way to remind yourself why you deserve to feel confident and sexy! 

Thank you all for reading! ❤️