My Personal Evolution | Israel Boudoir

Almost exactly a year after we did B’s first boudoir session, we found ourselves in my new photography studio, doing another one.

Boudoir experiences offer healing and empowerment, as well as a way to document new stages of our lives. While B’s last boudoir session was an anniversary gift for her husband at the time, this one was completely for her.

Its purpose was to help her recognize and celebrate the woman she’s become and walk into this new chapter feeling grounded within herself.

When she told me that a divorce was in her near future, we really focused on carving out a space where she truly felt herself. This session gave us the opportunity to flirt with different parts of her sexual expression.

While I am not able to share them all with you, here are some that we both loved…

In B’s words, “I decided to do a second boudoir session because it had been a period of intense change in the mental, spiritual, physical, and literal sense. Having a baby, losing my mind, experiencing crazy depression without knowing it, feeling more lonely than anyone should in a partnership, and coming out of all that.

I realized my path was not as I originally dreamed it to be, and there would be a divorce. I wanted to document myself and my change.”

“My boudoir experience is a constant reminder of my evolution in life, both physically and literally. Every woman should have this.”

Looking back on this session brings me so much happiness. B, thank you for trusting me, not only once, but twice! I look forward to our future sessions as your journey continues to evolve.

Kodak Film // Processed and Scanned by Panda Labs

Hair and Makeup by Beauty by Rhonda

10 Reasons Why It's Probably Not the Right Time To Do a Boudoir Session

1. You just started a new project, a new educational track, or perhaps, you got a new job. 

I feel ya. There are a lot of changes happening right now, and going outside of your comfort zone to do a boudoir session sounds scary AF. You might even feel like you don’t have the actual time to do this. Firstly, the journey you’re about to embark on through my boudoir experience can be integrated into your everyday life. The actual investment of time is relatively minimal. Plus, the fact that you don’t have much time for yourself right now is exactly why carving out time for yourself can elevate your quality of life and a deeper connection to your body. 

2. You are pregnant or just had a baby.

I’ve been through 3 seasons of this myself. One day you wake up and love your body and the miraculous things it has done, and another day you wake up and hardly recognize it. Or yourself. The beauty of the boudoir experience I offer is that it will help you re-establish that connection with yourself. Not in 1 or 3 or 5 years from now, but now. A meaningful relationship with your body is available to you at this very moment. How cool would it be to honor this chapter of your life as sacred and really f-ing beautiful? This time will pass much quicker than you think, and a documentation of pregnancy or postpartum stages will be something very special to look back on. 

3. You don’t feel good about your body right now, and you’re not really taking care of it.

I’ve been there, girl. What if you saw this boudoir experience as a tool to feel better in your body and inspiration to start to take care of yourself with love? Because that’s exactly what I help my clients do. Many of my clients tell me that as they prepare for their session, they already start to feel better about their bodies because they begin to tap into their innate worthiness and are being intentional about their self-care. The coaching call, which is included in every package, helps my clients gain clarity about where they currently are, and how they envision themselves as they cultivate more confidence and self-love. We then work together to create a practical plan on how to get where you want to be. 

4. You have fitness goals. 

Your body is worthy and beautiful right now. Just because you are working towards fitness goals, doesn’t mean that your body doesn’t deserve love in the process. Actually, studies have shown that self-love and compassion help you reach your goals. Shame is not an effective motivator. So let’s celebrate the journey. Because, truthfully, there is no final destination. 

5. You don’t really have a reason or a milestone to celebrate.

You do have a reason. You want to do this. It’s fun and luxurious. It’s meaningful and transformational. It can help you grow and connect with yourself on a deeper level. It will give you more confidence in your everyday life. What’s that I hear about needing to get married or have a baby before you do something for yourself? Sounds like societal BS to me. ;)  

6. You’re super focused on your career or growing your business.

One thing I’ve learned about building a successful business over the last 10 years is that there is nothing more important than truly taking care of yourself. Whether that means physically, emotionally, or spiritually. It could show up as making sure you’re getting enough sleep or drinking enough water daily. It could also show up as creating boundaries and protecting your energy. And many times it shows up as carving time out for yourself outside of work. So that you can show up fully at work and in every other area of your life. This boudoir experience allows you the opportunity to carve out that space and time, while working on yourself, for yourself and nobody else. Except, yeah, it does kind of help people around you when you are your best, authentic, and fulfilled self. 

7. You’re going through a hard time emotionally.

I’m always compassionate when I hear this, as everyone experiences that ebb and flow. And sometimes, there are circumstances that throw us totally for a loop. No matter what you are going through, you are worthy. You deserve to feel good in your body. Focusing on yourself, in this really special way, can help you connect with who you are and gain clarity about what you want to be doing next. The space I give women is a safe one where all feelings are welcome. 

8. You’re “too young” or “too old.”

No such thing. Next!

In all seriousness, I’ve photographed women in their early twenties to women in their 70’s. Sexuality and feeling good in our bodies is not something that should be reserved for a certain age group. Claim what you deserve, and don’t let societal messaging hold you back from connecting deeply with yourself. 

P.S. This is assuming you’re an actual adult. :) 

9. You have a lot of other things you want to invest in.

This one is up to you, babe. But if you’ve been thinking about this for months or years, and I know a lot of you have, it’s probably because it’s a little scary. And that’s ok, but just be aware it might be your brain playing tricks on you. You can always come up with a million things that are more “important” than boudoir, but do you really want to? It might just be time. 

 10. It’s just not in the budget right now. 

This is similar to #9. Boudoir is a luxury. A meaningful, deep, luxurious experience that I hope every single woman gets to experience one day. This is why I am super flexible and creative with payment plans. If this is something that you desire, we can make it happen for you.

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If you’ve been thinking about boudoir and telling yourself it’s not the right time, consider this your sign. Our minds can always find reasons why not, but that thinking just holds us back from our personal growth.

I offer free 30-minute discovery calls for women who are ready to explore the possibility of boudoir. I absolutely love connecting and helping my clients realize what they truly want out of this experience. Click here to book a discovery call.

Being in My Body | Disabled Dreamer : Sam

“I’m Sam, a non-binary disabled person. I wanted to do a boudoir session to heal and build a connection with my whole body. Between sexual trauma and growing up disabled where your body is constantly touched and moved by others, body autonomy was not learned and fostered growing up.

I had learned to dissociate and disconnect from my body, and I built a relationship with my body of feeling like it was my foe. Constantly fighting my body to do more and be less, and it wasn’t from a place of love.

Through this experience, I wanted to strengthen and really build a pathway of connection between my body and mind and between my body and sexuality and sensuality. I wanted to feel my body in a positive, loving, and powerful way. I wanted to see past the flaws I could see in the mirror and find myself. My true, powerful, beautiful self, and let that shine and send sparks through my body.

I wanted to play between the binary in a way that I felt connected to my true self, not what the world determined was where my place was…”

“Before my boudoir session with Rebecca, I felt very disconnected in my body. There was the upper half of my body and the lower half of my body, and it was disconnected at the hip or even the stomach. I have experienced different types of sexual trauma that left their mark, feeling shame and disconnect from my hips and vagina. It also left me with the feeling of not wanting to be connected to that, as if it showed weakness somehow.

As a non-binary person, I also felt like I needed to be very androgynous and always portray myself in that fashion to the world so they would recognize and accept my gender-non-conforming self. Also, as an overweight person who has dealt with an eating disorder and has been in toxic environments around body size, I definitely had the thought plenty of times that I should wait till I lose all the weight, and I am at my fittest to be photographed. I also struggle with scars and marks on my body from various things.

I felt like I needed to have smooth skin and “all the things” to be worthy of taking photos. If I was going to do a boudoir session, I felt like had to be the best version of myself.”

“Leading up to the session, I clicked with Rebecca right away. She met me where I was coming from, and validated my desires and what I wanted from the session. I could see that she knew I could get more and go further than what I was saying I wanted, but she gave me the space to figure that out through her journaling process.

Similarly, during the session, we started off in my comfort zone, mostly covered up. Rebecca created a safe and growing space. She pushed me to get to the places I wanted to go but didn't know I wanted to go there or how to get there. Hair and makeup with Rhonda was just a phenomenal experience. I came out of it wanting to do my hair and makeup more often. I wasn't pushed to be “feminine.” As someone who has struggled with the binaryness of gender and gender expression, the process of hair and makeup actually enhanced my feeling confident in my body and expressing my gender identity and just identity as a whole.

I leaned in and out of myself during the session, but Rebecca was really good at bringing me back to my body in a comfortable way. Honestly, it reminded me why I started taking selfies of myself and why photo documentation of yourself is so powerful, wherever you are. There is something about the connection between the camera and photographer that bring out an empowered side, especially when it is Rebecca on the other side of the camera. She also knew how to use the time and pose me. I enjoyed the experience without it going too long and my regular body pain and mental fatigue setting in. It was the perfect amount of time, and left me wanting to do it again.”

“I felt really good during the actual session. I loved my hair and makeup and just felt really connected to my whole body. Afterward, I met up with my mom for lunch, and I felt really powerful and happy in my body, and she noticed it.

There was an internal power and joy, and also an external one that I wanted to share with others. I felt aligned in my body, mind, and soul, and of course, there was an adrenaline high as well. I definitely did not want to remove my makeup or shower and mess up my hair. I wanted to see more of myself and felt good and centered in my body, more than I had in years.”

“I had complicated feelings when I saw the pictures for the first time.

Firstly, I pushed off opening the gallery forever. After really enjoying the actual photography session, I was really nervous about seeing my body. At that time, I felt uncomfortable in my body, and my mind had convinced me that somehow I was just super ugly, and there was no way I was going to look good in any of the shots, and why the hell did I think I could do this.

Once I could get out of my head enough, and Rebecca nudged me nicely a few times, I opened the shots and started looking through them.

I had mixed reactions. There were definitely shots where my first response was, “damn, I am so big, and those rolls are so unflattering.” But there were shots, especially profile and face shots where my first thought was “damn, that makes an epic headshot, and I could model if I wanted to.”

I think going through it for the first time, I definitely gravitated towards my face and profile shots, where my body was somewhat covered. But coming back later and picking pictures for my album, I found beauty and power in my body as is. What I also found through looking through the photographs is that I felt powerful in my body in shots. both where I gave a powerful stare to the camera, but also when I relaxed and leaned into being in my body and feminine energy. The soft power came across and empowered me to not always feel like I need to share this strong aura in order to be powerful.”

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“This boudoir experience definitely has had a long-lasting effect on me. I stop to look in the mirror more and try to find the energy I felt in profile shots in the camera. I feel more continuously connected in my body. I feel like a big part of feeling like I needed to lose weight in order to be and feel beautiful has changed. I still want to lose weight to feel my best, but my body, as is, with all its flaws and all it is now, is worthy and valuable and beautiful.

I would recommend this experience specifically to those who have gone through trauma around their body, at any age. Obviously, other therapy needs to be happening, but this is a different experience. It’s an opportunity to be in your own body, in a joyful and sexy way. You define sexy for yourself. You get to redefine connection and reconnect to your body, mind, and soul in a way that you don’t get just doing classic therapy.

I also would specifically recommend this experience to disabled folks and others who feel unworthy and unsexy, and ones who aren't “supposed” to feel good and powerful in their body, for whatever reason.”

Sam’s IG account: @disabledreamer

Hair and Makeup by Rhonda Lev

Celebrating ALL of Me | Israel Boudoir : Racheli

For many years before this boudoir session, Racheli has been on a journey of exploration and self-love.

During our initial call, she told me a little bit about her religious upbringing, and how it impacted the way she saw herself. Through her travels, both externally and internally, she came to a place of more acceptance and love for who she is, not who others expected her to be.

On the initial zoom call, I was immediately drawn to her vibrant energy. Her openness. Her gorgeous curls and freaking awesome piercings. I knew her session would be uniquely hers. While she was used to being sexy and out there and outwardly expressive, we both agreed that it would be cool to bring some of the softer, feminine energies in as well.

That’s the cool thing about human beings. We are not only one way. We don’t fit neatly into boxes, and when we try to, we push away important parts of ourselves that need to be seen and heard.

I truly had such an unbelievable time connecting with and photographing Racheli. From the very first call until the actual session, there was an undeniable sense of trust.

I’ll let Racheli’s words and these stunning photographs do the rest of the talking…

“I grew up in a very strict Yeshivish household in the US, and therefore, was very closed off to the rest of the world.

I was taught that my body and pretty much all of my existence as a woman is shameful.  This led to a lack of care for what I put into my body and how I took care of it. As a result, I gained a lot of weight and didn't like the way I looked or felt anymore.

After making Aliyah I joined the army and my life started to change.  I was introduced to girls of every background, ethnicity, and religious level just living their truest life. I was encouraged (forced) to work out to hit my physical goals in the army, and I started to see a change both mentally and physically. Over the last 10 years, I have explored every single type of fitness imaginable, even doing a sports degree at Wingate and becoming a certified fitness trainer and health coach. But the work didn’t end there. In the last year, I have made it a priority to work through limiting beliefs that I had, doing a lot of mental health healing, and really coming to a place of unconditional self-love. 

Through the course of my self-love journey, I had incredible opportunities to connect with my body through photoshoots while I traveled around the world. I took part in a few photoshoots that were supposed to be super empowering, but left me feeling exposed and uncomfortable by the male photographer.  I realized these interactions had triggered the ‘I’m not sexy/fit/hot/skinny enough’ voice in my head. This led to me canceling a once-in-a-lifetime shoot with an incredible photographer.

So, when I saw that Rebecca had a few open spots before the new year, I knew one of them would be mine.

A way to celebrate myself frozen in time as I cross into a new decade of age, and also as a healing experience.”

“Once I reached out to Rebecca, we had an introduction call where I put all my fears on the table and she was super responsive in answering all my questions and made sure to follow up.

Over the few months between our initial call and the session, Rebecca was always available on WhatsApp to answer additional questions and calm down any fears that came up along the way.  She either calmed the fear directly or shared a personal experience about how she conquered the issue herself, which made her way more relatable. 

The day of the session made my heart beat in numerous ways, both with excitement and nervousness. 

When I arrived in Efrat, both Rebecca and the makeup artist were already in the studio.  We pumped the music, started chatting, and began hair and makeup. It definitely helped ease me into the session.  The session itself flew by! We had about 8 outfit changes, and we just had fun!”

“Only after I sat down on the bus, did the rush hit me. It was pure serotonin in my brain and the celebration of this magnificent vessel that I get to live in every single day. I remember sending Rebecca a message that I felt ‘euphoric’ because I really did.”

“When I first saw the photos, I was shocked, I really couldn’t believe it was me! I realized my body dysmorphia was REAL.

Pre-photo shoot I had some health issues that made me really bloated, and I almost backed out because I wasn’t feeling myself in my skin. Yet seeing the photos made me realize my eyes were playing tricks on me!

What I think I see in the mirror is NOT how I look in real life. The biggest issue I had was that THEY WERE ALL SO GOOD, and it was too hard to choose.”

“The boudoir session left me with a feeling I will forever remember, and photos to help me just in case I forget.

For so long, I was the funny, fat girl, the one that the boys didn’t like, the friend of the pretty girls - just so they would have someone uglier than them around. I can’t believe it’s taken me 3 decades to really fall in love with myself.

This temple can provide life, it can move, she is strong, and also resilient. And she is hot as hell. Looking at those photos makes me want to make love to myself, and that is something I want to feel every day. To keep that feeling, I go to the gym and work out to get strong. I dance and pole dance to feel sexy.  And I hike and fill my body with nourishing food to stay healthy. I also meditate and have built a routine around taking care of myself.

Lastly, the street is my runway. I make an effort every morning to wake up and feel into myself and dress how I am feeling. No two days are the same. Sometimes I dress in my masculine, sometimes I put lingerie under an oversized t-shirt, sometimes a dress, sometimes glam, and sometimes goth. Whatever I choose that day, I know it matches my mood and allows me to strut my stuff. Every. Single. Day.``

“Of course, I would recommend this experience to other women. It’s not just photos, it’s an experience. It’s working with Rebecca to make sure that YOU feel good with whatever happens.

I think the people that would benefit the most from this session are all the people that told me I’m ‘brave’ for doing the session, or that they ‘wish they had my confidence.’ I am you, and your fear is your desire.

Do yourself a favor, because when you’re 70 and the opportunity has passed by, you will want to kick yourself for not celebrating your amazing body along the way.”

Makeup and Hair by Rhonda Lev