Boudoir boom: Women call intimate photography empowering

ASHEVILLE – Two years ago, Ashleigh Millett felt like the word "beautiful" belonged to other women and never to her.

Standing at 5 feet 9 inches, her size had fluctuated between a size 12 and a size 22. The last time she had worn a bathing suit in public was when she was 11 years old.

Tight dresses, she thought, did not belong in her wardrobe. She reached instead for baggy shirts and pants.

But there she was: A redhead in a red corset wearing thigh-highs and a black garter belt posing for a photographer.

"My thighs and I have an agreement: We don't go out in public together," she told photographer Rodney Smith before the photo shoot.

"You're beautiful," he told her. She thought he was lying.

Suddenly, he turned the camera around and showed her the photo he had just taken of her. For the first time in her life, she actually believed it.

Mirroring a national trend, more women in the Asheville area are seeking out the experience known as boudoir photography, according to area photographers who specialize in the genre.

What once were monthly inquiries, have turned into four or so appointments a week.

Part of the trend is due to its increased popularity as a gift for wives to give to their husbands on their wedding day.

However, by and large, local photographers said they are getting more booking requests for these sexy photo sessions because women — like Millett — tell them they want to do something to make themselves feel gorgeous in their own skin.

"When he showed me the picture of myself, I wanted to burst into tears. The girl in the picture was pretty, confident and knew what she was doing," she said. "I was feeling sexy, feeling pretty, feeling powerful and all of these things that you don't necessarily expect to feel from people taking pictures of yourself in your underwear."

The word "boudoir" literally means bedroom, and local boudoir photographers said demand for these intimate photo sessions continues to climb.

"That's what I want for every woman that I shoot in boudoir. I want them to walk away with that experience. I hope they walk away with wonderful pictures, too, but it's really about that experience of empowerment," said Smith, whose photography business is called Tempus Fugit Designs.

Good business

The experience, though, does not come cheap. The cost of a boudoir shoot and the accompanying photos, books or prints can range from $200 to more than $1,500 depending on what a client wants.

Jesseca Bellemare, who was able to move her business into a bigger studio in October, said the high-end price tag makes sense because it is meant to be a glamorous, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Located inside a yellow South Asheville house, Bellemare's studio features a lounge area, an intimate natural light studio space, a makeup room, a dressing room and a kitchen.

When a client arrives for their session at Jesseca Bellemare Photography, the cost includes an hourlong hair and makeup session by Meghan Pulliam, a professional hair and makeup artist.

"When they arrive for the day of their shoot, they feel somewhat prepared, but a little nervous and excited," Bellemare said. "We just hand them a glass of champagne, Meg takes over and they get an hour in the makeup chair to just sit and talk."

That time to connect with the client is crucial, the duo said.

If there is no trust, a client won't be comfortable. If a client feels uncomfortable, they won't feel beautiful.

"We really like to take that time to get to know them, and connect with them and find out what they are looking for," Pulliam said, noting that no two women or their photo shoots are the same.

Bellemare said she has photographed women of all shapes and sizes wearing an equally vast range of outfits. Some women prefer to wear lacy outfits for their photo shoot while others felt sexiest wearing their husband's shirt with cute underwear, she said.

Bellemare, whose boudoir sales have tripled since last year, said that the age of her clients range from mid- to late-20s all the way up to late 50s. She said 98 percent of her clients are moms who are wanting to remind themselves that "they've still got it."

"Everybody struggles with some kind of insecurity of some sort," Bellemare said. "We're so bombarded with Victoria's Secret ads or what society thinks is sexy, but that's so false. I love curves and curvy women. They are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous."

As a curvy woman herself, Millett said it can be difficult to recognize that beauty, in part because the media often perpetuates the idea that there are only a few body types that are considered socially acceptable.

Smith, a happily married man who has a 15-year-old daughter, said he hopes his boudoir photography will show all women that they are beautiful regardless of their jeans size or what society says they need to be.

"You need to see someone like you," he said. "When you can see a photo of a woman who isn't a Cosmo cover girl and still realize she looks amazing and gorgeous, that's powerful."

17 shoots a month

With a studio in downtown Hendersonville, Ashley Gillett said the art of making a woman feel beautiful is how she describes the work she does on a regular basis, even though many people think that means taking photos of naked women.

That idea, she said, is simply untrue.

"It's all about whatever their comfort level is," she said. "Some people want to be a little more risque, others want it to be more sensual or glamorous."

With boudoir clients from Asheville, Upstate South Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, Gillett said some of the photo shoots can be unexpectedly powerful.

"One of my clients had a boudoir shoot done several years back while she was struggling with an eating disorder. She only kept one shot where you could see the bones in back," Gillett said. "She's gained weight since then and has been with her husband for quite some time now, and she wanted to celebrate her current body. She's about 45 and she just wanted to be able to have a reminder that this is how she should look and how far she has come."

For Heather Hambor, the boudoir business has been so good to her that she has been booking between two and 17 boudoir shoots every month. Though her services also include weddings and portraits, the 27-year-old said she would like to shift her focus to working primarily in boudoir.

"Obviously boudoir means bedroom, but to me it means so many things," she said. "It's about celebrating you as a woman and bringing out your inner goddess. It doesn't have to be in a bedroom — it can be wherever you want it to be. It's more about you than the lingerie."

Hambor, who has been doing boudoir photography for the past five years, said Asheville is the only city she has lived in where she has felt comfortable doing boudoir photography and where clients really want to do it.

"It is such a private thing, but I think now, in today's age, people are becoming more comfortable with the idea and being more open-minded about it as a way for people to express themselves," Hambor said.

After 15 years as a database administrator, Smith quit his day job to pursue his passion for photography. Though he said most of his money comes from headshots, photographing live theater and not from boudoir bookings, he said he won't stop providing the service.

When asked why, he said it is because of women like Ashleigh Millett.

"Women are beautiful and they don't hear that enough," he said. "If my photography can help them see themselves as they really are, as beautiful as they are, then I've done my job."

Last year, Millett bought her first bathing suit and wore it out in public on more than one occasion.

"Over the past year and a half, I have completely changed who I am both as a person internally and how I present myself externally, and it all started with that boudoir photograph," she said. "It truly is life-changing."