A Beginner’s Guide to Boudoir Photography with David Byrd
I began my photography journey long ago, with weddings, high-school seniors and high-volume dance/sports as our main genres. Along with my wife, we navigated the turbulent waters of learning pretty much everything you need to create a successful business, on the job. The bills piled up and the funds continued to recede faster than they were replenished.
The wise concept of “you don’t know what you don’t know” sadly became an overused phrase to boost our spirits as we tried, failed, tried again, learned, grew and achieved as many of the original goals that we could. That journey ended in 2017 as this other brand called Reality Reimagined made far more sense and had nothing to do with the portrait world that I cut my teeth on long ago.
Now in 2022 I am returning to the portrait sales world and I’ve chosen boudoir photography as the one and only genre that I’m going to explore. Let’s talk about why I’m doing this, how I’m going into this better prepared than I was at the start, and how you can use this as a beginner’s guide to starting your own journey—regardless of the genre.
What makes me unique in the world of boudoir photography? What’s my value?
Storytelling has been a guiding force to my work as a photographer for ages. When I first started I was honestly crippled by posing, lighting patterns, what to do with their hands, etc. I learned the rules of composition. I had a flip book of poses. I had all the anxiety of not knowing what to do (while the paying client stared at me waiting for me to produce magical images worthy of the dollars of my top package offering).
The day that I learned to TRUST my instincts and asked myself, “What makes me unique? What’s my value?” was the day that I actually broke free from the label of “I don’t know what I’m doing” and started earning those top package dollars.
