Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Emporia State’s Photo Club offered a “Love your Selfie” boudoir photoshoot. Students could schedule an appointment for Feb. 3 or Feb. 4 by scanning the QR code on the club’s fliers around campus.
Boudoir photoshoots are “meant to exude sensuality and are intimate in nature” and subjects usually wear “racy lingerie and pose seductively to profess ownership over their sexuality,” according to thephotoshoot.com.
There can be some misconceptions about boudoir shoots but they are meant to help the client feel more comfortable with themselves, according to Victoria Hernandez Velazquez, one of the photographers and senior photographic design major.
“It feels kind of risque,” Hernandez Velazquez said. “But it’s just to appreciate yourself and treat yourself and love yourself. It doesn’t necessarily need to be for anyone else, it’s just for you. It’s okay to give yourself that self-care and self-love, too.”
Rachel Salazar, a graduate student of forensic science, decided to participate in the photo shoot as a “self-confidence booster.”
“It was something around Valentine’s Day, everyone wants to feel good about themselves or have something to give to somebody else,” Salazar said.
In order to make their clients feel comfortable during the shoot, the club had clients answer a small questionnaire while signing up, according to Mirka Leyva-Gaucin, one of the photographers and senior photographic design and printmaking major. Some of the questions asked included: “What do you feel uncomfortable with us taking photos of?”, “What’s your favorite part of your body?” and “What kind of music do you like to listen to so we can play it?”
Additionally, clients did not have to be completely nude in front of the camera. They could wear whatever they were comfortable with, according to Hernandez Velazquez. Even wearing an oversize t-shirt was acceptable.
“They really made me feel comfortable, because you’re a little bit however exposed you want to be,” Salazar said. “They were very, very nice and accommodating for how much or how little you wanted to show.”
Despite it falling so close to the holiday, the photos taken during the photo club’s shoot didn’t need to be for a partner, according to Leyva-Gaucin.
“It’s more about loving yourself,” Leyva-Gaucin said.
This photoshoot gave students the opportunity to experience being photographed at an accessible price, according to Leyva-Gaucin. The club charged $25 for two photos and $5 for any additional photos the client may want to keep.
“I think we wanna keep it accessible. We don’t want to get too crazy with the price because we want people to sign up.”
The prices for the shoot were the same from the first time the club offered the photoshoot in 2019. They have not offered a shoot since due to COVID-19.
The Photo Club will be using the money raised to update equipment and attend photography conferences, according to Hernandez Velazquez.
Hernandez Velazquez and Leyva-Gaucin are already working on ideas for another photoshoot for either this semester or next fall. They are considering expanding the clientele to couples and using a 90s theme.