Boudoir isn’t just about beautiful pictures. For us, it’s tied to two very real reasons, and we wanted to actually say them instead of leaving them unsaid.
Heidi’s story.
In 2017, my world shifted completely. A relationship I’d believed was permanent ended after twenty years, one that had been emotionally abusive and had come close to physical abuse. I found myself a single mother of three, working three jobs, managing swim practice and baseball and karate, doing whatever it took to keep things moving. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, I lost track of myself. Everything became about the kids, their needs, their schedules. I’d do it again without hesitation, but I couldn’t ignore that I’d disappeared in the process.
I had real healing to do. Like a lot of women after a relationship like that, I felt the pull to change something, working out, a new haircut, anything that made me feel like a woman again instead of just a mom. That’s when boudoir first crossed my mind.
I hesitated at first. I wasn’t ready yet. I needed to lose weight first. Maybe after I felt more confident. Then a friend booked a session as a gift for her husband, and watching her go through it, something clicked. I didn’t have to wait to be ready. Confidence wasn’t a prerequisite. It turned out to be the outcome.
I was nervous walking into my first session. Then Chris showed me the back of the camera after our first few shots, and something in me shifted. I didn’t recognize the woman looking back. When I saw the final images, I teared up. It wasn’t just a photoshoot. It was the day I stopped waiting to feel like myself and started believing I already was.
Chris’s story.
In September 2019, I was diagnosed with cancer. Three weeks later I was in chemotherapy and radiation, five days a week for seven weeks. I’m cancer-free now, but an experience like that changes how you see things. Life is short, and I stopped putting off the things I actually wanted to do.
I’d been an artist most of my life without ever really pursuing it past high school. That changed after treatment. What actually got me started was almost accidental, a half-joking comment at a get-together about wanting to try boudoir photography. I’d already been thinking about it, had photographed Heidi a few times, had even asked a couple of photographers if I could shadow them. That conversation was the push I needed.
The real answer to why boudoir, beyond how it started, is that it lets me keep being an artist, just with a different medium. I like showing women something true about themselves that they don’t always get to see clearly, especially in a world that gives a lot of women plenty of reasons not to. Watching someone go from nervous to genuinely happy at their reveal, and then again weeks later when their album arrives, that’s most of why I keep doing this.
Why we built this together.
When we started Primal Soul, we wanted one thing clearly: for every woman who works with us to see something in herself she’d stopped noticing. Not a new version of her. The one that was already there.
You don’t need to wait for the right moment. The moment you’re in is enough.
When you’re ready
If any part of this resonates, we’d love to talk. Book a Discovery Call whenever you’re ready.
