+ by Terese Schlachter + photos courtesy of Veronica Campbell
Bouder is the French word for sulk. When in France, a woman might retreat to her boudoir—her bedroom or private room—she might do so to have a good pout, or perhaps to leave others in the vacuum of her absence to reconsider their boorish behavior, or to ponder their petulance-triggering gaffe before she reenters the fray stronger, enabled, empowered. Today, the boudoir and, from it, boudoir photography, have transcended this notion.
“I want women to reclaim their sexuality,” says Veronica Campbell, who bills herself as Maryland’s top boudoir photographer. “We celebrate ourselves as women, but that facet is ignored. We’re not allowed to be considered sexy.”
Campbell sets no boundaries. Her studio is a place for both male and female clients to unleash, slip into something liberating, and discover their inner J.Lo. It’s not your great-grandmother’s sulking room.
Modern boudoir photographs are often presented as gifts to romantic partners—a bride-to-be might present a completed album to her intended groom. But another approach focuses less on the slick results and more about how it makes the subject feel. “You do this for yourself. You do and wear things that make you feel your most confident, even if no one else ever sees,” says Campbell. “It’s about taking ownership of yourself and not making yourself an object to someone else. It’s about body autonomy.”
As a young girl, Campbell was always begging her parents to buy disposable cameras. She would take pictures and send them off to the lab for processing. Eventually, her father bought her a Kodak 110. She’d ask her teenage friends to come to her room so she could take their portraits. Thus a seed was planted. While her professional photography career began with portraits, Campbell shifted to the boudoir set when a friend suggested doing a sexy shoot and volunteered to be the sultry subject.
Boudoir photography has roots in nineteenth-century Europe. Julien Vallou de Villeneuve, one pioneer of the genre, created sensual, intimate images of women in the 1850s. Boudoir photography had its golden age between the 1920s and 1950s, with a focus on sensuality and elegance. Curvy girls posed seductively, and many images made their way to World War II soldiers overseas. But apparently, homesick soldiers provoked a shift by requesting that the pinups look more like everyday women. By the 1960s and 1970s, the genre branched out, with one branch providing a feminist perspective that supported a woman’s desire to express herself politically and sexually, and another providing provocative, explicit representations, as seen in erotica (and, in the extreme, pornographic material). Another iteration of boudoir photography emerged with the advent of the digital age, in which the internet, including social media platforms, provides more accessibility and a broader reach for the art form.
Campbell offers an opportunity for her clients to enjoy the experience as much as the product. It begins two to four months ahead of the session with a simple questionnaire about tone or atmosphere: Are you going for a Ginger thing, or are you more of a Mary Ann (referencing characters from the TV show Gilligan’s Island)? Or are you busting out into a full Madonna? The next step is a wardrobe consultation. She tells her clients to plan on three outfits. This means lingerie. And she expects you to bring it!
On shoot day, the focus is on fun. Campbell creates a playful atmosphere, with music and a refreshing beverage. And she coaches her clients every step of the way.
“Everyone thinks about their imperfections,” she says. Some of her clients have been visibly shaking with nervousness. A few have nearly backed out. Campbell often puts down the camera and dons her counselor cap. Sometimes she incorporates a bit of yoga or some breathing techniques. It may take 5 or 10 minutes, but soon she sees the client relax. Then she watches their natural body language to see how they might be comfortable posing. “People are vulnerable. I am a stranger, and they’re in their underwear,” Campbell acknowledges.
“She connects with you,” says Elethia Singletary, who has posed twice for a boudoir shoot with Campbell. The first time was following a weight loss of nearly 150 pounds. “I’d had big boobs and all this behind,” she recalls, smiling. She reached her lowest weight of 152 pounds and wasn’t quite comfortable in her new and in some places generous skin. She booked a session with Campbell.
“It was liberating,” she says. “I am a modern Christian woman with a conservative background. It was definitely out of my comfort zone, but I’m so glad that I did it!” Singletary says it boosted her confidence. “It helped me to see that being sensual and feeling beautiful and putting on lingerie does not mean that you are risqué or a nightwalker.” For her, the experience was about getting her power back. Singletary’s second session was for inclusion in Campbell’s three-year study of women over 40 years old, called “The Woman: Uncensored.”
“We start to be ignored,” say Campbell. As women age, they become less visible in some societal settings. They want to know if they still “have it,” so they come to her. After a session, Campbell culls the photos down to the best 100 to 120. Reactions vary, from tears to laughter to screams. “You see me,” says one client. “There she is!” says another, delighted with Campbell’s ability to capture her true essence. Most are shocked to see that they do, indeed, still “have it.” “I didn’t know I could look like that,” many have confessed.
Looking “like that” is the result of using light and shadow to create a steamy, seductive atmosphere while the subject stretches and slithers into various provocative poses. She might be prompted to close her eyes, to yawn the stiffness from her face, and pretend she’s fogging a mirror. The photographs are as erotic as they are stunning. Many clients choose to keep them private. Campbell’s youngest boudoir client was 21, and her oldest was 76. While her clients are predominantly women, she’s worked with a few men and some couples.
For a number of Campbell’s clients, the sessions are therapeutic as they recover from trauma. She’s worked with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Some are learning to live with scars left from heart surgery or a mastectomy. One woman initially wanted Campbell to touch up a photograph by removing a scar left from a chemotherapy port; Campbell helped her embrace the mark as part of her story and her beauty, and the port stayed in the picture. In these sessions, Campbell reserves a special gentleness, reaching into her ongoing trauma-informed yoga training.
Outside of the studio, Campbell has gone back to school to finish a communications degree that she began long ago. Since that time, she’s become a mother of three boys—ages 7, 11, and 15. “I want them to grow up to cherish women. I don’t want any of them to be that guy catcalling women. If that happens, then I’ve failed as a woman and a mother,” she says, laughing.
Back inside, the photographer relies on her instincts and her camera’s iris. She uses only natural light because light stands are too distracting. The sessions are a secret seduction between the woman, the lens, and the photographer’s eye. “It’s heart-wrenching,” says Campbell, wistfully. “Some of my best work will never see the light of day.”
For more information, visit boudoirbyveronica.com.
