Meet Liza – Owner and Photographer

If you’re new here – Hi! I’m Liza – owner and photographer here at Bay Area Boudoir – your #1 San Jose Boudoir photographer :). I’ve been a professional photographer for almost 15 years and I live in San Jose – just half a mile from my studio – with my husband, two kids and dog. If you want to know a bit more about me before diving in, here’s my about page and my first blog about my story.

I’m a member of a large, country-wide boudoir photographer community. Recently, someone shared a 52-week selfie challenge (free for the borrowing) and encouraged the rest of us to try it. So…here goes. This is all extremely outside my comfort zone, but we all know that’s where the growth is! So, I am trying to practice what I preach. I’ll be shooting/adding these in clumps as the year progresses, so check back if you want to see more!

1) Introduction – A classic full-body shot with natural light. Start by sharing your “why.”

I have two “whys” which dovetail perfectly together. First – I come from a fine art background. I love creating beautiful imagery, and the human form is pretty high up there on the scale of natural beauty. I get to be more creative and control the imagery more so than in my other work. Second – and possibly more important – as a San Jose Boudoir Photographer, I want to empower women to take ownership of their beauty. I know this sounds pretty cliché while not necessarily explaining a lot, so read on if you want to know what I mean.

Explanation

From the time we’re born, people tell us as women all sorts of things about our bodies. When we’re little, they call us pretty, chubby, skinny, tall, or cute. And there’s often a subtext – whether this quality is good or not. As we get older, the commentary centers more around how likely we are to attract a mate with our looks. Whether it be from those attracted to us or not, from well-intentioned parents and other grown-ups, or from peers and media we consume. We are inundated with messaging that our value in the world and the thing we’re able to contribute and which will determine our happiness and thriving all depend not only on our physical appearance but on what others think about said appearance.

Finally – and this is the most important piece – we are often stripped of control over our bodies and our sexuality. SO many women come into my studio with stories of when others took ownership of their bodies from them. Many of these stories are violent, but also many are more subtle: partners who put them down regularly over years, making them feel unlovable because they were not attractive enough (for that person’s preference). Many have had their ideas ignored because their bodies were the priority. Several were constantly told what to change to be “beautiful enough” – which is synonymous with being good enough, lovable, worthy. I, too, have such stories.

Every day that I show up in my studio for my clients, I am also showing up for myself. When I tell them that they get to decide to feel beautiful regardless of anyone else’s opinion, that they can reveal or hide whatever they see fit, that their bodies carry their souls and desires and that they are worthy regardless of the approval of an external person – I am saying it to myself also. We heal together.

2) Mood Lighting – Experiment with soft, moody shadows and low-light vibes.

This one is pretty self- explanatory. “Moody” has all sorts of different connotations and everyone interprets it differently. In my studio, I love to play with light and shadow to outline the shapes of a woman’s body. An important part of Boudoir photography is the mystique of what is revealed vs. what is hinted at. This is an artistic element I utilize a lot in my work!

3) Favorite Feature – Highlight the body part you love most about yourself.

I’ve always been somewhere on the spectrum of curvy-hourglass-pear in my body shape. Over the years I’ve learned to embrace it and now my bum is one of my favorite features. If I’m being honest, probably I’d prefer my face, but I didn’t have the set up for optimal face shots this time so I’ll save that for later :P.