About a year ago I moved myself into my boudoir studio, and began the process of slowly growing from one room, to the entire top floor! It was finally time to re-do the main space, create a dressing room, and really make the studio feel like “home” if you will. I wanted to create a space that was inviting, and felt comfortable and luxurious.

Boudoir is a vulnerable thing. You are walking in to a new space, greeting a stranger, and then promptly taking off most of your clothes and posing in front of a camera. ALL of these things can be intimidating or feel foreign, so it’s MY job to make you feel right at home. Feel as though you are being empowered by an old friend, and embracing every bit of who you are. It was so important that my space reflected those things as well. I wanted to walk in and feel proud of what I had created.

My dear friend Kat is brilliant in all things design, and decided to help me tackle the project in under a week! We met, brainstormed, gathered supplies, and then got to work bright and early on a Tuesday morning. The thing is… things DID NOT GO AS PLANNED. We originally wanted to dye my pink velvet couch emerald green. ( I figured it was better to try dying the couch we had now before buying a whole new one! ) So after looking up the recipe on Rits website, buying about $20 in dye on amazon, and mixing up a 3 gallon bucket full… the couch turned grey.

So here’s the thing. Part of any creative process (photography included) is breathing through the times when everything isn’t going as planned. We could have spent an entire day trying to buy new dye, come up with new mixtures, testing a million different versions on the back of the couch, but instead we took pause. Was the grey really all that bad?

Turns out… it was BETTER. I wouldn’t have ever tried for that color on purpose but HOT DAMN if it wast just the prettiest most opalescent thing I’d ever seen. It just looked BEAUTIFUL. And once we decided to roll with it, everything just fell into place. Our new plan for wall color, accent colors, decor… it all just basically fell out of the sky and into the studio. Almost always, when we have a very specific vision, and try to wrestle that vision in submission, things don’t turn out as well as they could. You ignore the accidental magic while wrestling a light pink couch in the corner.

The same goes for photoshoots, events, life plans, house remodels… the list goes on and on. So often, if I am quick to let my “vision” become fluid, the end result is so much better than I could have ever imagined it. When brides trust me and my artistic abilities, the same rules apply. I had a bride once SO stuck on one specific location for portraits… but at the time of day we were shooting her wedding party, the light there was TERRIBLE. There was a magical little garden with BEAUTIFUL light nearby, and I assured her we could go back to her favorite location closer to sunset with her and her hubby. She hesitantly obliged, and her photos turned out absolutely incredibly. This isn’t to say that they would have been terrible her way, but on a scale from 1-10 she would have been running a solid 6. Rolling with what we had available to us at the times we were shooting, and being flexible resulted in straight 10/10 images. She trusted me. I TRUSTED ME…And the process.

 

There are so many lessons I learned in art school that had nothing to do with art. And this was one of them. When things get shitty. KEEP GOING. push past it. trust in the process; and if you do? You are already ahead of 75% of the population. Every. Single. Painting I did in college went through a terrible “maybe I should throw this out and start over” phase. But I always painted through it, and was always glad I did.

 

I have applied that mentality to all places in my life. When faced with “shitty” circumstances, or something that doesn’t fit your “vision” people often stop, or turn another direction. I challenge you to pause, breathe deep, and roll with it. Look for another way, a different way. Take your vision and look at is as the start, not the end. If where you end up doesn’t look at all like your very perfect pinterest board, its OK.

Magic is hiding behind the shitty. 

Don’t be afraid, get excited. Let that magic out.

 

Want to take a little peek inside our remodel process? Check out this video on Youtube, and be sure to subscribe and hit that thumbs up button if you want more where that came from! (Click the photo and enjoy!)