You Don’t Need to Wait
I hear this more than almost anything else during consultations: “I want to do this, but I want to lose some weight first.”
I have been shooting boudoir for over 15 years. More than 31,000 photos. More than 105 sessions. And I can tell you with absolute certainty that the clients who wait until they hit some magic number on the scale almost never book. They keep pushing the date. Six months becomes a year. A year becomes “someday.” Someday becomes never.
The clients who book now, at their current size, in their current body, are the ones who end up crying when they see their images. Not because they’re sad. Because they had no idea they could look like that.
You can look like that. Right now. Today.
What Plus Size Clients Actually Worry About
Let me address the specific concerns I hear, because you deserve straight answers instead of vague reassurance.
“Will the poses work for my body?” Yes. But I don’t use the same poses for every client. I adjust constantly. A pose that looks great on a size 4 might not flatter a size 16, and the reverse is also true. I have a mental library of angles, positions, and body placements built over hundreds of sessions. When you’re lying on a bed and I ask you to shift your hip two inches to the left, it’s because I know exactly what that adjustment does to the line of your body in the frame.
“Will I actually look good?” You will look like you. The best version of you, lit well and posed with intention, but still you. I’m not going to Photoshop you into a different person. I’m going to photograph you in a way that shows what I see when I look at you, which is someone worth photographing.
“Should I wait until I lose weight?” No. Book the session. If you lose weight later and want to do it again, great. But your body right now is not a rough draft. It’s not the “before” photo. It’s you, and it’s worth documenting.
How I Pose Plus Size Clients
Posing is where a lot of photographers fail plus size clients. They use the same poses from their portfolio (which is usually full of size-2 models) and then wonder why the images feel off. That’s not a body problem. That’s a skill problem.
Here’s what I actually do differently:
Angles matter more than anything. A slight turn of the shoulders. Chin tilted forward and down just a fraction. One leg bent, the other extended. These small adjustments create dimension and depth. I’m always thinking about the geometry of the pose, not the size of the person in it.
Hands with purpose. Hands placed on the body with intention create shape and draw the eye. A hand on the hip defines the waist. Fingers trailing along the collarbone pull attention upward. I direct hand placement specifically because it gives structure to the entire image.
Lying down is your friend. Gravity works differently when you’re horizontal. Things settle, smooth out, spread naturally. Some of my strongest plus size images are shot from above while the client is lying on a bed or the floor, hair fanned out, completely relaxed. The perspective changes everything.
Standing poses with weight shift. When standing, I always have clients shift their weight to the back foot. This creates an S-curve in the body that’s universally flattering regardless of size. It’s one of the oldest tricks in portraiture and it works every single time.
Why Lighting Matters More Than Size
Here’s something most people don’t think about: lighting is what makes or breaks a photo, not the body in it. I can take two photos of the same person in the same pose, change only the lighting, and produce two completely different images.
Side lighting creates shadow and depth. It sculpts the body, defines curves, and adds drama. I use it constantly because it makes every body type look three-dimensional and interesting.
Window light, which I rely on heavily since I shoot at client homes, hotels, and Airbnbs, wraps around the body in a way that softens without flattening. The quality of natural light through a sheer curtain is something no ring light can replicate.
When I arrive at your location, the first thing I do is find the light. I check every window, every angle, every time of day consideration. This isn’t an afterthought. It’s the foundation of everything that follows. You can read more about how I approach sessions on my experience page.
The Instagram Problem
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. If you search “boudoir photography” on Instagram, you’ll see a very specific body type. Over and over. Thin, toned, usually white, usually between 22 and 30. That’s not because boudoir is only for those bodies. It’s because those are the images that get the most likes, so photographers post more of them, which attracts more of those clients, and the cycle continues.
My gallery includes a range of bodies because that’s who I photograph. Real people. People with stretch marks, cellulite, belly rolls, back fat, and all the other things that are completely normal parts of having a human body.
I’m not photographing you “despite” your body. I’m photographing you in your body, because that’s who you are and that’s what this is about.
What to Expect at Your Session
The session itself is the same regardless of your size. We talk beforehand about what you want, what you’re comfortable with, and what kind of images you’re hoping for. I show up with my gear (including my 1975 Nikkormat FT2 for anyone who wants film shots). We start slow. I direct every pose. The nerves fade somewhere around the 15-minute mark, and by the middle of the session most clients are genuinely having fun.
You don’t need to be flexible. You don’t need to be athletic. You don’t need to be able to hold a yoga pose for 30 seconds. You need to show up. I handle everything else.
Stop Waiting
Your body right now is not a problem to be solved before you can have nice photos of yourself. It’s the body you live in, the body your partner loves, the body that carries you through your life. It deserves to be photographed well, by someone who knows how to do it.
I’d like to be that someone. Get in touch and let’s set a date. No weight requirements. No dress size minimums. Just you, good light, and a photographer who’s done this enough times to know exactly what to do.