Ellie Vayo has been shooting boudoir for nearly her entire thirty year career. In that time what is considered, how you say, sexy, has changed. However, some of these shots do go back to her film days and early on in her career. This is to say if you shoot boudoir and have only been doing it for the last few years: WARNING, here there be feather boas.
Of course, while the book does dip back into a time that many current boudoir photographers consider cheesy, it also has many timeless images and a few that come across as completely modern. There are some photographs that will tickle the eyes of a photographer, others that might feel dated, old fashioned, or somehow irrelevant. There are some great ideas for poses, and there are some shots that, well, I wouldn’t have shot it like that.
The text offers a similar mixed bag of advice. Some of it is brilliant, starting from the first page where it discusses finding clients, and a detailed discussion of what her studio offers. Some of it is just confusing, like a dozen solid pages of text (no images) of her employee handbook. It’s interesting, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not sure how the section on Vacation Pay relates to Boudoir Photography, exactly? Some of it is…well, I don’t really need another photo book telling me that Adobe Photoshop is used for retouching.
There are sections that demand to be expanded. The section on Post Production could easily be spun out into its own book, instead of the five pages given here. (Dear Amherst. I’ve got a great idea for a book….) And there are sections that probably didn’t need to be here (cf section on Employee Handbook.)
The book is a little business heavy. Do note that none of the examples above deal with anything about, oh, say, posing. But that’s okay by me, as it’s the business side of photography that presents the most challenge. But that’s me. Others might find the lack of information on posing (or editing, or the psychology of working with women who may have never gotten down to their skivvies with a stranger) a drawback.
So, no, this is not the indispensable guide to boudoir photography. Despite a number of titles out there, that book doesn’t exist yet, and may never get written. However, it is a great book to have on the bookshelf for inspiration and for some solid business advice.
2 Comments at "Review: Ellie Vayo’s Guide to Boudoir Photography"
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Employee handbooks are really important in reading those articles though it needs to be applied always.
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