Refreshing the Creative Spirit

Tamara Paskey-Alexander

of Paskey Boudoir in Dallas, Texas reminds us the importance of Refreshing The Creative Spirit!

Every now and then I like to give myself a refresher shoot. It’s so easy for boudoir photographers to get in a slump and get in the habit of shooting the same thing client after client because we know what works. I want the very best for my clients, and want to be able to give them a huge variety of poses and styling, though.

I very rarely shoot with models, but when I saw that Dane Halo would be in Dallas, I immediately messaged her to set up a shoot. I knew it would be a ton of fun, and a great way to get my creative juices flowing freely again. I’d be able to experiment a bit more with outfits and posing and get exactly what I wanted out of the shoot without having the pressure of producing a set of images for a client to purchase. There were no expectations of me so I just went nuts and tried all sorts of ideas.

We set up a normal boudoir shoot, with my main hair and makeup artist LaDonna at my studio in Dallas. I pulled out some of the things in my closet that I had been wanting to shoot for a while, but mostly just winged it from there! That’s always the most fun, isn’t it? We started in this black sequin bolero that I bought at Nasty Gal in New Orleans and paired it with some pasties, and a garter belt by Dita Von Teese. I’m a sucker for old school glam and love to add a little sparkle when I can. I rarely shoot at my makeup vanity, but I figured, we’re here, why not? So I closed the blinds and just used the available light from the bulbs.

As we moved on throughout the shoot we did some simple and natural photos in my green leafy set, then some fine art nudes with a fab pair of Louboutins on the green “smoking den” set, and a few other looks. About half way through I noticed Dane was eyeballing the pink Catherine D’Lish dressing gown hanging on the back of the dressing room door and I asked if she wanted to use it. She immediately responded “Umm, duhhh!!”, haha. So we got to it! I think everyone that wears it is just gorgeous and so classically beautiful. It’s definitely the most girly option in the closet.

Since Dane is an art nude model, and I don’t normally get to shoot on the balcony because of client privacy, I knew we had to shoot some simple photos out there to finish up an awesome day.

She did not disappoint one bit. It’s safe to say I was very refreshed after this shoot!

I ended up with 120 gorgeous photos and lots of new ideas and poses in my arsenal to use for my next clients.

View Larger

Tamara, thank you so much sharing this creative refresher!! It’s such a good reminder to never stop pushing ourselves to learn and become our highest selves!

Model: Dane Halo from Toronto,ON

Hair and makeup: LaDonna Stein

Want to see more posts from our awesome Boudoir International photographers? Check them out here!