Ms R’s Nashville Boudoir Session

Meet Rachel. She is one of my closest friends and a fan-damn-tastic photographer herself. She specializes in birth and babies. She also has an incredible eye for capturing the love between families with her family sessions (you should check out her work and book your next family session with Rachel just follow this link https://alurawayne.com/#/children-and-families/.)

Here’s what she had to say about her session with Holly Douglas Boudoir…

I want to tell y’all about my session yesterday with Holly. I’m not getting anything in exchange for this review. She didn’t ask me to write anything whatsoever. But I want to share my honest opinion on her work and they entire experience. I’d like to also preface this with the fact that I too am a professional photographer (not boudoir, I stick to nudity only when a baby is exiting 🤣🤗). And I’m going to start from the beginning, because I tell long ass stories…so let me just apolgize for my long winded-ness from the get go!

I’ve known Holly since pretty much the first month or so that I moved to Nashville, so going on 4.5ish years now. I had been a photographer for a couple years at that point but nowhere big, I was still small peanuts back then. I joined a local photographer group and had just booked a big job shooting a corporate event and realized I wasn’t able to rent a wide angle lens in time. I posted in the group asking if anyone knew where I could rent a lens in time. Holly commented- never having met me or much less even spoken to me prior- and said you can just borrow mine! I want y’all to know how insanely RARE that is. There’s a saying in our business that gets parroted often but rarely lived out- community over competition. The photography industry is HIGHLY competitive, especially in a city our size. Photographers are protective and often even jaded around other people in the industry because we get burned and betrayed more often than people might realize. But several of us try to rise above that…and Holly was modeling that community aspect in a way that went FAR above and beyond what anyone would ordinarily do. I’m sharing this because it speaks LOUDLY of her character as a whole. And in all the years I’ve now known her I’ve learned that she is someone who has more integrity, loyalty, and overall kindness than most people might carry in their little pinky.

Let’s fast forward. We were both trying to find our niche in this photography world. I ended up falling in love with families, birth and babies. Holly started to dip her toe into boudoir. And it quickly became evident that this was HER. Her passion, her talent, her absolute niche. You could see it in her work and in her energy as she started to build her boudoir empire here. She found a studio space. She completely transformed it and poured her heart and soul into it. She hustled. She worked night and day building the beautiful and highly successful business we see now. She put her blood sweat and tears into this because it’s who she is. This is her passion and I’ve never seen someone pour so much of themselves into a business as I have watching Holly. You guys all should know…shes a BEAST with this stuff. She’s a pro. She’s THE. BEST. Because she isn’t just great at the photography itself (which…hello, freaking AMAZING work). She’s amazing at every single part of your journey with her. From her communication with you. To knowing how to help pick outfits that are so YOU and make you feel so much sexier than you ever thought possible. To the emails. To how prompt she is at getting all of your information and the contract/scheduling/admin side. To how she cheers you on during your session. To the SPOT ON posing and direction she gives. I had the unique perspective of getting to watching her work as a person in this industry myself and trust me when I say she knows what the hell shes doing and then some. She’s an absolute expert at every single stage in this.Are y’all still with me? I sure hope so. Because here’s what else you need to know. This whole experience is an investment…because it is an EXPERIENCE. These aren’t just photos snapped then delivered. This is an entire overhaul of your confidence and spirit. It’s an adventure. It’s a day of confidence and bad-assery that will last far beyond this one day because it’s truly life changing after you step foot into her studio. I’m extraordinarily modest and I was waltzing around like I was in my own bedroom- because Holly made me feel THAT comfortable.

She made me feel beautiful and confident- and anyone who knows me personally understands that I have had what you could probably call an undiagnosed case of body dysmorphia for years and years, so that’s no small feat. And when she showed me my images I could barely handle it because I had no idea I could look like THAT. The way she made me feel through our session together and after seeing those photos is something that will stick with me forever.So if you’re on the fence about booking because of insecurities- shake that off. And you know what, even if you can’t shake it off? She’ll help shake it off for you when you’re there.

If you’re on the fence about booking because you want to lose those few extra pounds- I booked my session after thanksgiving and even gained five pounds in that time frame. Book anyway. She knows how to pose you, no matter what your insecurities are. And I know we ALL have them.If you’re on the fence about booking because of the cost- trust me. I was probably more hesitant because of that more than anything. And hell, I’m a photog who understands the cost of doing business!! It’s still tough to think of spending that much on MYSELF.

And I’ve heard a lot of other women say the same. But trust me. Once you’re in there. You’ll know. You’ll know every single penny is worth it. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.And this is why I finally jumped all in and said I HAVE to do this. Holly was so lovely and squeezed me in because I had to get a little part of my boob hacked out next week. That snapped me into reality that this may be the last chance I have with two normal looking boobs. These breasts that I have honestly hated for years and years. That I not-so-affectionately call my “pancakes”. And now I’m over here apologizing to them for treating them so poorly, my husband and I keep joking that they’re angry at me and that’s why one of them revolted. 😂🤣 But why did it take THAT to make me finally try to love my body as-is? Truth be told I still have other insecurities. Mountains of them. But I’m looking at myself in the mirror today in a new light after my session yesterday. Because I SAW those pictures. I saw how Holly made me look. And I’m still holding on to the way she made me FEEL.

Because that, my friends, is absolutely priceless.Holly, I love you to pieces. I’m insanely proud of you for a multitude of reasons, but right now I want to praise you for the BOSS you are in this industry. You inspire me daily from the business side, and from your personal side just for the wonderful human you are…but now I can add onto that even more for the way you have boosted my confidence. I even feel more confident walking into my surgery next week. I’m a little less scared of how I’ll look after.

Because I still feel beautiful in a way that I didn’t before yesterday. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.Now everyone- get your asses in there. You won’t regret it.