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Workshop Testimonial | February attendee: Joey Nicole

By Personal, WorkshopsOne Comment

One of the best parts about hosting boudoir workshops is not only meeting awesome photographers and making new friends, but is to see how excited and inspired these attendees become over a 3 day period. When we receive emails like the one below, it only affirms that we are doing the right thing by hosting these workshops and Bringing Boudoir Back and making it more popular than ever to cities around the world!

“Dear Kimberlee & Marissa,

I’ve been waiting to send you a proper thank you for the workshop I attended at your San Diego Studio this past February. I wanted to be able to share a success story with you, and let you know exactly how your workshop forever changed my future in photography.

I have wanted to get into Boudoir since the beginning of my photography career, but never quite knew how. Typically shooting weddings and portraits, I was used to “shooting on the go” and not doing so much posing. Before signing up for your workshop, I had done a few shoots at client’s homes and in hotels, but knew nothing of studios and studio lighting.

At your workshop, I was so nervous to shoot the models on our own… lighting seemed unfamiliar and posing was still so new, but really, it was one of the best parts of the workshop. It gave me the confidence that I would be able to figure this out, even when nervous, and accomplish great shots. Playing hands-on with the lighting was really great as well. How nice of you to let us all come in and get our inexperienced hands on your fancy equipment! 🙂

And while all the technical stuff was really great to learn, my favorite part of the workshop was the last little bit, during my private one-on-one with Marissa. I am in my 4th year of business, and I have never had anybody critique my work before. Completely self taught, I’ve always just gone with what I liked, but it was so nice to have somebody analyze my shots with me. The best part of that conversation was that Marissa forced me to think about my future business plan… what did I want my life to be like 5 years from now? What kind of shooting schedule would I want, etc.? Again, something I hadn’t pushed myself to think about.

After the workshop, I came home and talked with my husband about our future. I wrote a business plan to open up a boudoir studio, and with just having a website and my shots from your workshop, I was able to get 11 clients to sign up for a grand opening Boudoir special. I ordered a black set, a white set, a pink damask set from Drop It Modern, all the necessary lighting, a few pieces of antique furniture, and off I went! I anticipate I will have all my start up costs paid off after my 2nd month in business.

I just completed my first week in the Studio with 4 of my clients, and they all have loved their photos, signed model releases, and ordered books and prints. It’s off to a really great start, and I’m already loving how great it feels to make these women feel good about themselves.

I partnered up with a lingerie shop owner, who takes care of my clients so well, helping them find lingerie that flaunts (or hides!) particular assets. I also partnered with a fantastic make up artist who comes to my studio for our clients, and she is making them look and feel gorgeous. I feel that these two people are key in helping my clients feel good about themselves before I start shooting. It really is a team effort.

Our plan is to make Boudoir my full-time business, and still shoot occasional weddings as well. For the first time in my photography career, I actually feel like I have control of my business… that I can go out, market like crazy, and get clients in for Boudoir. With weddings, I always felt like I was sitting around, waiting for inquiries to come in from referrals and ads. I am so excited about our new studio and all of its potential, and all the gorgeous photos that will come out of it.

Anyhow, thank you again, none of this would have been possible without your help 🙂

Much love,

Joey Nicole
Joey Nicole Photography
http://www.joeynicole.com
http://www.joeynicoleboudoir.com“

A HUGE thank you to Joey, for taking the time to write such a kind and thoughtful email. We are so happy you joined us at our February workshop and wish you the best of luck with your beautiful new studio and business!

May 17, 2010
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Boudoir International Referral List!

By Boudoir InternationalNo Comments

The invites have finally been sent out. It has been a huge project and a long time coming and we are so excited to launch The Boudoir Divas International Referral List. Didn’t get an invite? Read below as to the two main reasons as to why we may not have invited your photography business. It was a hard decision process and we really wanted it to be the top quality boudoir photographers in the world! We would love for anyone to resubmit their portfolio in 2 months and we can re-evaluate as we will constantly be updating the international referral list site. We really hope you all understand and hope that it only motivates you to get out there and take your business to the next level!
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May 17, 2010
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ok, NOW the Referral List Invites have officially been sent!

By InspirationNo Comments

So I know we told you all that invites were going out yesterday, and sorry if we scared any of you waiting for an invite and you thought you didn’t receive one! BUT, they have finally been sent out! There were so many wonderful photographers it took us awhile to compile the list and we are so grateful for all your patience and support as we launch this new venture. 🙂 So check your inbox in the coming hours for your invitation. We are very excited about this International Boudoir Referral List and we hope you all are too!
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May 14, 2010
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Paris Workshop attendees

By WorkshopsOne Comment

I know we normally post this BEFORE our workshops start, but with the volcano and travel delays and everything else, I am a little behind. My apologies; but better late than never!  Here is some information on our awesome attendees from our Paris boudoir workshop, week 1. This isn’t everyone, but I wanted to post the attendees who I did have information on! If you are one of the Paris Workshop attendees, you can still send me your information and I will update this blog! Thanks again for all of those who attended!

FIRST WEEK WORKSHOP:
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Nikki McLeod
City you represent: Dalgety Bay, Fife, Scotland
Your website: www.nikkimcleodphotography.com
How long you have been shooting boudoir: 5 years
Why you got into shooting boudoir: I enjoyed seeing the Divas work on DWF, and loved what their approach could do to woman who were insecure with their bodies. I hadn’t really much interest in portraiture until I had seen the Divas work, but this changed my mind!
Your favorite part of The Boudoir Divas workshop: the posing first of all was the most useful for me; positioning the girls to get the best out of their bodies was a real lightbulb moment! I also enjoyed the marketing, being shown the different styles of lighting; actually everything was useful! I have 7 pages of a word document of notes to digest, and several hundred images to process!


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Annamarie Stepney
City you represent: Sussex
Your website: www.leboudoirrouge.co.uk Website coming soon!
How long you have been shooting boudoir: 1 year – just starting to do it more seriously and am creating my website as I type.
Why you got into shooting boudoir: To encourage women to celebrate their bodies and see how beautiful they really are.
Your favorite part of The Boudoir Divas workshop: The whole workshop was really excellent…if I HAD to pick my favourite bit it would have to be…the strawberries and nutella combo! – no seriously, although that was good, it would have to be hearing and watching the BD’s instructing the models to pose, and then after having an opportunity to practice them one-t-one with the models themselves.
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Lulu Ta
City you represent: Calgary
Your website: www.ltphotography.ca
How long you have been shooting boudoir: about 1 year
Why you got into shooting boudoir: i wanted to show woman that they can be comfortable in their own skin regardless of their shape, size and color. i wanted to revive that inner confidence that we all should have of ourselves.
Your favorite part of The Boudoir Divas workshop: was having such an intimate experience with the divas and the attendees – some great support and friendships were build there and i hope that it lasts a lifetime.

SECOND WEEK WORKSHOP:
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Laura Evans
City: i’m not sure, Ramstein Air Base i guess
Website: www.levansphotography.etsy.com
How long you have been shooting boudoir: since day one of the divas workshop
Why you got into shooting boudoir: thru seeing the work of the divas & wanting to try & learn from them
Your favorite part of The Boudoir Divas workshop: learning
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Laura Boyd
City you represent: NYC
Your website: www.ownyoursexy.com
How long have you been shooting boudoir: I just launched the boudoir side of my studio this year.
What got you into shooting boudoir: I started seeing boudoir popping up everywhere and just loved it and wanted to try it myself. It is my favorite thing to shoot! I love that is is fun and girlie and at the same time empowering.
Your favorite part of The Boudoir Divas workshop: My favorite part in terms of amount of fun was getting to shoot in Paris with those amazing models. But I was also blown away by how much valuable info Marissa and Kimberlee shared with us about the business side of boudoir. It was all-around an extremely worthwhile experience that I would definitely recommend to other photographers!
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Anne Buennig
City you represent: Duisburg/Germany
Website: http://anne-buennig.com (It’s a blog)
How long have you been shooting boudoir: Since 29th of April 2010, it was the first workshop day.
Why you got into shooting boudoir: I love boudoir photography because I love the idea of making women feel gorgeous and sexy beyong their imagination.
Your favorite part of the workshop: I loved the two shootings with all the posing tips from Kimberlee and Marissa, because I think this is a huge part. Very good was also the business part, because I am a complete newbie and it was awesome to get some help from these amazing business ladies. So, I guess, I just loved everything about the workshop.
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Dixie Pearson-Shute
Website: I’m working on it. Should be up soon!
How long shooting Boudoir: Just started and loving it!
My favorite part of the Boudoir Divas workshop: Shooting on the streets of my favorite city in the world~Paris! What a great experience!!

Anita Larsen
City you represent: Copenhagen Denmark
Your website: http://ByAnitaLarsen.com
How long you have been shooting boudoir: 2.5 years
Why you got into shooting boudoir: A close friend asked if I was interested in doing a boudoir session for her and I instantly fell in love with the style.
Your favorite part of The Boudoir Divas workshop: Everything! Especially learning the DIVA style, and Marissa and Kimberlee sharing their experiences.

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May 14, 2010
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Referral Site… Invitations!!!

By Personal4 Comments

5.14.10: UPDATE!*** INVITES HAVE NOT BEEN SENT OUT SO DON’T PANIC IF YOU HAVEN’T RECEIVED YOURS! WE ARE TRYING HARD TO GET THEM OUT BY THE END OF TODAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE 🙂
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OHMYGOSH, you guys!!!! We are SUPER-excited to announce that we’re finally sending out the official invitations for our BOUDOIR PHOTOGRAPHY REFERRAL WEBSITE! We’ve been working hard to sort through all of the submissions, and we have finally narrowed down the choices to our top 220 photographers that we’ll be inviting to join our referral list! I know we’ve talked about this before, but in case you’re wondering why we started this referral list, here’s the deal: At our studio in San Diego, we receive over 12 new inquiries per day from potential clients looking to come in for a boudoir shoot. Out of those inquiries… we ALSO receive a lot of questions for women who live across the US or in other countries, who are looking for a boudoir photographer nearby them in their own city. In the past, we haven’t been able to refer any photographers to these women, but that got us thinking about finding a solution for the problem. And so, we decided to create a Boudoir Divas referral list – an exclusive list that is only open to those photographers who we have approved and invited to join. We can’t wait to get this site up and running, and all we need now are you fabulous photographers to join in the excitement!

Check out BoudoirInternational.com to see the ‘basic’ version of the website (it’s still under construction, and we’ll be working on it a TON over the next few weeks before it’s launched)… but just to get an idea for what it’s going to look like, go check it out! And if you haven’t yet submitted your online portfolio for us to review, you can submit to be a part of our referral list here! If you DID submit your info already, check your inbox later today to see if you’ve received an invite!!!! Woo-hoo! Let’s get this thing rocking! xoxo, Team Diva

May 13, 2010
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Paris workshop | Blog review

By Inspiration, Personal, Workshops2 Comments

Images by Laura Evans Photography

Ashley here 🙂 Kimee and I are just starting to get back to a regular routine at our San Diego Studio after being in Paris for two workshops and dealing with all the chaos the volcano in Iceland caused: disrupting travel plans, delaying flights, canceling our models and many attendees trips, and over all making it much more stressful than it needed to be! Marissa and her hubby, Weston, are still doing a little traveling on their own and we can’t wait for them to get back! But even with all the craziness, it was still a successful couple of weeks and we enjoyed meeting all of our amazing attendees! One of our attendees, Laura from Laura Evans Photography, joined us at our second workshop, just posted a blog about her experience at our workshop. If you have been considering a workshop, and maybe wanted a little insight from someone who has been to one already, check this out. Thanks so much for sharing Laura and we are so happy you joined us and enjoyed your time at our Paris workshop!

May 8, 2010
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Spring Cleaning time | Boudoir Shop Specials!

By PersonalNo Comments

****5.11.10 UPDATE!**** Due to the popularity of our Workshop in a Book (and the fact that our Diva Vault needs a little more time to be cleaned 🙂 we are extending the Spring Cleaning Special through the rest of this week!

Normally, when you hear Spring Cleaning time, people grunt, roll their eyes, or try to run away and avoid it all costs. But this is one spring cleaning you won’t want to miss out on! We have received plenty of requests to bring our Workshop Book back and have heard you loud and clear. So for ONE day ONLY, May 10th, we will be opening to Diva Vault and dusting off the Workshop in a Book at a special price. We will also have our Posebook available at a DISCOUNTED rate!

If you have been even thinking about the Posebook, or waiting for the Workshop in a Book to become available, do not wait! This Spring Cleaning special will only be available on Monday, May 10th for 24 hours! Go to our Boudoir Shop to take advantage of the special.
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Also, check out all of our other bad-ass resources for photographers while at the Shop. We still have a couple spots left for our June workshop!

May 7, 2010
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Paris Workshop Teaser…

By WorkshopsOne Comment

COMING SOON: Lots and lots and LOTS of video footage from our TWO boudoir workshops in Paris, France! The Boudoir Divas’ Paris workshop is THE world-famous workshop for photographers who want to step up their game and learn about boudoir photography, lighting, posing, post-processing, marketing, pricing, and MORE! This was our 2nd annual workshop in Paris, and our 3rd annual workshop will be held there again next year! Believe it or not, we ALREADY have quite a few people on the waiting list saying they’d like to join us in Paris in 2011… so we’re hoping to announce our 2011 dates soon! In the meantime, here’s a quick preview of what’s to come (a short little glimpse of our fab models)

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May 6, 2010
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Paris Boudoir Workshop #1

By Personal, WorkshopsNo Comments

Here they are! Photos from the second annual Paris boudoir workshop (yes we are just uploading pics from the first workshop even though we just finished week two workshop this morning). Paris has made us tres lazy. Shooting in the streets is always my absolute fave part of the entire workshop. And the dress we made worked out great, just don’t look at it too close please. Our models Lo-Arna and Rachelle really photographed well and since Lo-Arna is a ballerina, she had some pretty graceful poses to rock. She posed from her fingers to her toes. I am sure we will post more when we return to good ol’ SD.  Oh and the color may be off, no color calibrated monitor here, had to leave that at home so I am sure I will be adjusting these bad boys on that screen later. boudoir_divas_paris img_7871-2 boudoir-workshop-paris
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Our wonderful first weel attendees! To the 9 that are missing, we are so sorry you couldn’t make it but look forward to seeing you in San Diego hopefully.  (Left to right, Nikki, some pretty & tall girl, ME, Lucie, Anna, Corneli and Vivian)

May 1, 2010
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