Hello! My name is Re Bastien, and i am a portrait photographer.
My specialty and passion is creating portraits for women. I love to photograph boudoir. Through boudoir photography, I create flattering portraits that portray women as beautiful and sexy and make them feel good about themselves.
To really explain why I do boudoir photography, and why I love photographing women, I have to start by telling you what I have noticed about MEN.
Men are proud of themselves. There is evidence of it everywhere — lockers, bulletin boards, wallets, garage walls and desks, all filled with pictures of THEM. These photos are full of self-confidence, showing THEM with the big fish they caught, THEM with the truck they drive, the mountain they biked, the race they ran. Bragging Trophy Pictures that scream, I did that, I’m awesome. They are NOT ashamed of it. Men are happy to point out to anyone: “Hell yeah, I did that! I am great, look at me!”
But for most women, the OPPOSITE is true. We do NOT have bragging photos of ourselves.
We have them of our partners and families, but rarely of us. In fact, we often do not have ANY photos of us. In an age where we take more pictures than ever, how come we don’t have ANY photos of us?
Let’s start with this:
- Have you ever had a photo that made you feel bad about yourself?
- Do you think that you do NOT photograph well?
- Do you hate having your picture taken?
Look how common it is to hate how we look in photographs.
We think we are great people on the inside. But we think we are unphotographable. We judge ourselves by these bad pictures.
We are not being fair to ourselves.
The camera is just a tool, and anyone can pick up one and hurt your feelings with it. Women need realize that a bad photo is NOT who you are, its a millisecond of bad lighting, bad posing, and complete lack of flattery.
There is a difference with professional photography. It uses a lot of glamour tricks to make you look good – but that is half the point, the other is to be a better representation of who you are than a bad snapshot.
Yet we are raised to not accept compliments, to complain about our bodies, to not feel good enough or pretty enough. We judge how we look in photos based on what we see in magazines and compare those to the bad snapshots.
Eight years ago, I met a woman who had had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. She thought a boudoir photoshoot would help her see herself as sexy again and she was my first boudoir client.
She told me the photos opened her eyes, and allowed her to see herself in a new way, but in a way that was still HER. She walked out of my studio feeling something she hadn’t felt in a long time – beautiful.
I found that I wasn’t just proud of myself for making great pictures of her. I was proud for how those portraits made her feel.
A simple thing like a good picture showed her what her husband saw, but she couldn’t see for herself. A good photo can open our eyes about how everyone else sees us.
As women, our self awareness is pretty screwed up. We are disbelieving of compliments, and we think we must meet impossible standards. Sometimes good photography of ourselves can make a difference on our self perception.
I have clients that show albums themselves in their underwear to all of their friends, because they are so happy about how they look. You may think that’s bizarre, but it shouldn’t be. There is nothing wrong with anyone feeling beautiful and proud. I believe Every woman deserves to feel good about herself.
Most of my clients DO arrive nervous, but they leave feeling uplifted and empowered. Because they do not look like they thought they did. because they actually had fun. Quite often my clients are shocked because it’s either the first time in a long time – or first time ever – that they have seen themselves as beautiful.
Women may book me to give a present for a wedding, anniversary, birthday, or holiday. But in the end, my clients will tell you, that the real reason to get photo session done, is simply for YOU. You will give yourself the greatest gift, a chance to see yourself differently. To remember those bad snapshots are not you.
You might be hearing all of this and thinking, yeah, but not me. Let me tell you this: I don’t photograph ‘models’ or what we envision as the ‘model’ type. I photograph real everyday women from, mostly from their 30s to their 70s. Short, tall, with every body shape, and every body size. What they have in common is that they’re tired of being so down on themselves. They’re doing something for them – a chance to make themselves feel good.
In life we cant always avoid pictures. But realize a bad snapshot photo of you is not what you look like. That bad snapshot of you with your girlfriends laughing? That unflattering milisecond in time. You don’t walk around like that all day – slumped over, mouth gaping, all teeth showing, with three chins pulled up to your ears about to fall off a chair. Empower yourself and make the choice to feel beautiful despite the bad photos that exist. Realize they are just BAD photos. Consider getting a photo of yourself that YOU choose, that makes you feel good about how you look.
Most importantly – please remember also that you all are role models to the women and girls around you. Stop putting yourself down. Your own self-hatred teaches self-hate. Everyone IS different and has their own unique beauty. Take them time to see and appreciate your own.
~ Re