You’ve done the heart-shaped box of chocolates.
Crossed off the candle-lit dinner at your favourite restaurant.
And the long walk, arm in arm along the picturesque waterfront is a fond memory.
So, what’s left on the Valentine’s Day list?
How about a professionally shot photo designed to ignite the passions within?
That was the answer for this Feb. 14’s visit by Cupid for a group of Richmond women who cast off their inhibitions, slipped into something a little more comfortable, and entered the realm of boudoir photography.
The News caught up with a few of them who, a few weeks ago, attended Steveston photographer Sandra Steier’s shoot, which she dubbed “Sexy Sessions.”
And as the resulting photos suggest, there’s a story, and motivation to go with each of them.
Confidence booster
For Steveston’s Suzanne Clowes, the chance to get in front of the camera, be the focus of attention and have her hair and makeup done was a chance to break out of the stay-at-home mom blues.
“It was a chance for me to feel sexy and attractive,” said Clowes, who has a 15-year-old daughter and an 18-month-old son. “For once, I wasn’t in my Lululemon yogas pants and hair in a pony tail.”
While she was anxious and nervous before the shoot, Clowes said she felt the end product would give her confidence a boost.
“It was a perfect way to do that.”
But does it send the wrong message? Does it objectify women?
“I don’t think so at all,” Clowes said. “They are sexy photos, but done in a subtle way. Everyone has their opinion. But no, for me it doesn’t.”
Clowes said, since she’s turning 40 this year, the photos were also a way of marking a milestone in her life.
“Everyone says, ‘Oh, you don’t look it. You look so much younger,’” said the former personal trainer. “But I’m starting to feel I look it, and I wanted photos to show I still got it.”
Marking time
Another Steveston mom wanting to capture a moment in time was Clowes’ friend, Tabatha Krumenacker.
“I love them (photos). They’re great — something that I can keep forever and remind myself of what I looked like when I was young,” said Krumenacker, 24, who has a two-year-old daughter. “I am pretty comfortable with my body after I had my baby. I’m proud of what I’ve done with my body.”
Both Clowes and Krumenacker said their photos will be a surprise for their respective husbands.
Will they be shocked?
“I think he’ll be shocked,” Krumenacker said. “I don’t think he has any idea that I did it. He’ll be excited, though, at the same time.”
“I think he’ll be a little shocked, only because he knows how I’ve felt lately,” Clowes said. “I haven’t been back running as much as I want. And day in, day out, being immersed in motherhood, I haven’t been feeling that great about myself.”
Also in for a surprise is Samantha Harrison’s husband.
“He has no idea,” said Harrison, a manager of a local financial institution. “He’s going to be quite surprised, for a couple of reasons. First of all, we don’t usually do gifts on Valentine’s Day. But he’ll be surprised mostly because it (posing for photos) is out of the norm for me.”
While that is a departure, Harrison said it was always something she wanted to do, but never really felt confident enough to act on.
“It was a side of myself that I was very interested in exploring,” she said. “I didn’t know how that was going to turn out, so that made me a little bit nervous But after I saw the photos, I thought they were great.
“The whole atmosphere during the shoot was conducive to having that sexy side of me come out,” Harrison said. “And I think some women, who are usually their own worst critics, can be inhibited by that.”
Helping the process was the fact Harrison had Steier, a former model, shoot her corporate head shots for work.
For Erinn Bryan, who along with her husband, Grant, run O’Hare’s Gastro Pub and Liquor Store, getting her boudoir photos done was, “something fun to do and make yourself feel good.”
“It was all very tasteful,” said the mom of two. “It was probably something that, in the past, I would have been scared of doing, or not being as comfortable with. But I thought, well let’s make the most of it. No one else is going to see them all but me.”
The shoot also got Bryan to thinking that, for her, getting professionally shot images is an important way of stepping back from a busy schedule and chronicling life.
“After I had my photos taken I was thinking I should get my whole family out and get some more taken as a group, because when you see the results, you can never quite capture that in the same way yourself,” she said.
‘Bringing sexy back’
While Georgina Patko had her boudoir photography session done a couple of years back with Steier, she still recounts the experience as a personal revelation.
“Those photos sort of brought my sexy back,” said Patko, a well-known, local business consultant for non-profit and service organizations.“ They gave me loads of confidence in my appearance. Plus, I thought it would be a real fun thing to do, just to try it and see how they turned out.”
Patko was diagnosed with breast cancer in the late 1990s and had a mastectomy in 1999.
“I didn’t realize, before Sandra took them, what I would get out of it,” Patko said. “I thought it would be some fun, and if they didn’t work, I’d throw them out.”
But when she saw the results, Patko thought they were lovely.
“I was so proud. They gave me great self confidence in my own body, really,” she said. “It’s funny, because a lot of people in Richmond know me quite well. And this is like an alter ego. She (Steier) just brought out a different side of me that’s always been there, but maybe not very public.”
The images were a Valentine’s Day gift for her husband, Steve, whom she has been married to for the past 32 years.
“He carries those pictures with him when he travels for business. And that’s kinda nice,” she said.
But that particular year’s exchange of gifts has been the source of some good-natured teasing for her husband.
“The photos weren’t exactly inexpensive. And I was happy to give them to him as a Valentine’s Day gift. But what my husband got me in return was a handbag hook,” she said laughing. “It was something very practical, inexpensive and not at all in the same spirit as my gift. But that’s caused lots of laughter over the years. He gets ribbed mercilessly, and now he really has to make up for that, every Valentine’s Day. So, I hope he’s working on that right now.”
Focusing on a feeling
So, what makes a boudoir photo work well?
For Steier — who, as a teen, modelled in Japan for many years and took up photography when she returned to the Lower Mainland — it comes down to more than just the right lighting and lingerie.
“It’s more about coaxing out the feeling in an image,” she said, adding her experience in front of the camera helps clients feel at ease. “I can show them examples of what I want them to do – coaching them, mostly not be nervous. I ask them to think of their husbands, crack some jokes and keep it light.
“Plus, I think I’m so used to being in that environment,” Steier added. “At fashion shows, everyone is naked in front of each other backstage as you get changed quickly. It doesn’t even faze me. And that makes me feel so comfortable around my clients. I guess that rubs off on them.”
Trading places?
With their shots taken, pictures printed and ready for gifting, would any of the women who posed be shocked if they got a similar gift from their husbands?
“Probably,” said Bryan. “Isn’t that funny, reacting like that.”
“I think that’s something I would never expect,” added Harrison.
“Oh, yes. I’d be totally surprised. I’d be partially horrified, as well,” Patko said laughing. “Isn’t that interesting. That’s completely the opposite. I would never think of him doing that.”
