Looking for photographic inspiration

Inspiration is what enhances and evolves your style. It helps you to be unique and leave boundaries behind. Inspiration is everywhere, and if you stay open to finding it in even the most unlikely places it will allow you to stay creative even when a location is difficult and the odds seem to be against you.

Inspiration is everywhere!

Don’t just look for inspiration in other photographers’ work. In the end, this will only bring you closer to what others do and limit your creativity. We are exposed to a plethora of imagery, and much of it can be inspiring: magazines, advertisements, movies, art, literature, and even the everyday life around us. Light, colour, and motion are everywhere — the pose in an advertisement, the lighting in a scene from a movie, a piece of furniture, or a little accessory like a bracelet. Everything can make you try something new or unexpected at your next shoot.

Other photography

Some of our inspiration can come from other exceptional photographic styles, such as the posing in fashion and advertising. It doesn’t matter if the models are fully dressed or totally nude, they can still give you new ideas. Try seeing instead of just looking. Analyze the image and ask yourself how it was done. Soon you will find that this becomes second nature to you and happens even when you don’t think about it. If anything you see pushes your buttons and triggers emotions in you or others, think of how and why this happens. Often you will find that it contains elements that you can easily incorporate in your work: colours, relation of objects, contrast, play between foreground and background, and so on.

Assemble ideas

Try to assemble an inspiration portfolio of tear sheets, and save images from the Web in a folder that you can go back and revisit. Don’t stop at taking in just the details. Look at the whole scene—the mood, the feel—as this is something your boudoir photography can vastly benefit from. If you watch a movie in which something inspires you, rent or buy it, watch it again, and think of how it can influence your work. Besides the look of a scene, a theme can be an inspiration, and something that you can offer your client.

Museums and galleries

Visiting art galleries and museums is another way of getting new inspiration and widening your horizons. Paintings can give you a whole new perspective on how things can be seen.

Courses and workshops

Learning and training also contribute to inspiration. Workshops and seminars, whatever the photographic genre, can bring you to the next level and enhance your vision dramatically. Join a group of photographers that practises your favoured style of photography—it can be a great resource and can have a big impact on your work.

Finally

When you find inspiration, don’t stow it away and forget it. Go through your resources frequently and try to incorporate just a little in every shoot you do.
Boudoir Photography is Critsey Rowe’s guide to a genre of photography more sophisticated and collaborative than old-fashioned “glamour” shooting that has snowballed as more and more women commission intimate portraits of themselves. With advice on pre-production, wardrobe and makeup, a dedicated posing guide, and post-production techniques covered in detail, Boudoir Photography will help the shooter work closely with the client to come up with a portfolio that is technically perfect, beautiful, and completely unique.
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Boudoir Photography by Critsey Rowe

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This PDF version retains the styling of the original print book.
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