Seattle, WA—It was great to get to see Xiola for our session last weekend! She brought chocolate-covered salted caramels from Fran’s (my favorite!) for us to enjoy during the session. I realized while photographing her that both she and Hazel Lee are Leos. Now, I’m the first to admit that I have a total love/hate relationship with Leos. I’m always drawn to them, and (much like with a cat), if I’m not careful, I may walk away with deep claw marks! That aside, they sure are great to photograph! Being the subject of the camera lens strokes the Leonine ego in very photogenic ways. Even if you Leos are sometimes a challenge for me personally, I sure do love to have you in my studio!
Xiola’s session is a great example of how different someone can look just based on a little outfit change. We had some other outfits, but these two stood out when I was editing. I love the can-can girl feel of the black and red images, but I also love how the blue, vintage gown brought out a completely different side of Xi. This is why I ask clients to bring a selection of outfits to your session; we can work with costuming to figure out what will evoke the mood we’re after. 
I told Xiola partway through the session that I can always tell which outfit I liked the most while I’m editing the session, because it’s what I end up picking for the majority of images to edit. In her case, it was the awesome pinstriped garter and striped bra set. Holy gods, I think every woman needs one of those garters! I’ve also found that garters are the must-have accessory for boudoir sessions. I’m seriously considering just having a stash of them myself for clients to paw through during their sessions. Any suggestions on where I should be looking online for sexy garters? Lane Bryant has some pretty standard ones on occasion, but I’d love to get more variety. Anything with a vintage, pin-uppy feel, or something kind of offbeat, would be ideal.
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