Category Archives: Boudoir

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How to Flatter Every Woman

LOVED shooting Miss M at my recent creativeLIVE Boudoir Workshop! She is curvelicious and knows it. I get asked so often how to flatter curvy women, and it’s really the simplest thing ever – most curvy gals (especially the ones stepping in front of a camera) absolutely adore their body and dig their curves. Most men do too :)

We spent the entire first day of the workshop discussing how to work with women, flatter every size and shape, relax nervous clients and bring out the best in every woman. We covered essential posing, shooting & lighting techniques that every photographer can rely on to capture gorgeous photographs…


During the creativeLIVE workshop, we covered posing and how slight adjustments in posture can really enhance curves. For example, dropping her left elbow behind her body, putting her hand at the height of her hip, dropping her knee and working that extreme posture all work together to enhance this gorgeous gal’s hour-glass figure… (and let’s be honest: wearing a corset helps too :)

We also discussed crossing your subject’s arms in her lap when shooting a close-up. Again, creating lines that curve when they hit the end of the frame…

I also demonstrated how coaching actions is a simple way to create natural movement (instead of stiff poses), eliminate your subject’s nerves, and create photographs with some emotion and life!

A woman enjoying herself and her body, getting undressed, smiling and flirting is just too cute and so damn sexy… These were just a few of the actions I coached while shooting. (ps. and as I said throughout the workshop – make sure to add the FAN!)

Lastly, good posture is divine: straight back, relaxed shoulders, elongated neck, chin/hips/chest out… easy peasy.

These were just a few of the tips covered in my 3-day creativeLIVE Boudoir Workshop (more photos & tips coming soon!).

But the real secret sauce to flatter any woman regardless of your subject’s size, shape or age: focus on her personality, confidence, her favorite features / body parts, and her enjoying herself!

That’s it baby.

Because the sexiest trait in a woman is happiness, and confidence is the sexiest thing a woman can wear.

xo Christa

ps. I’m coming to you from Vegas baby – here for WPPI. If you’re attending, stop by and say hello! I’ll be judging the print competition in the Portrait category on Sat and Sun. And I’ll be teaching a MasterClass in Boudoir on Wed at 2:30p – since it’s a MasterClass, the seating is limited, so snag one by registering online for my class when registering for WPPI. If you’re already registered for the conference, sign-up for my class by calling 1.877.779.3127. See you there!


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creativeLIVE “After Dark” Fine Art Nude Sneak Peek

Wow, it’s been a jam-packed and amazing weekend teaching for creativeLIVE so far. Last night we shot their first ever “After Dark” segment with a focus on Fine Art Nudes. I shot with a gorgeous figure model for an hour and half with 3 different backgrounds and lighting set-ups, and I had such an incredible time!

Our in-studio participants said it was their favorite segment thus far as well, and saw a totally different part of me come alive. I am in the zone when shooting nudes. Many aspects are completely different from shooting boudoir with real women, and both are integral aspects of my brand and business, which was part of the discussion during this “After Dark” segment.

You can watch a sweet sneak peek trailer of the After Dark segment here.

I would love to share my passion for shooting Fine Art Nudes with you, and I hope that you get a chance to watch it via the download you can purchase.. You will see that my shooting style is different from the rest of the weekend’s shoots, in how I coach & pose my model, my rhythm of shooting, my energy and my focus. I think it’s a valuable and essential practice for the boudoir photographer, with skills you can bring into building a successful business.

Here’s a little sneak peek….

Nude model + sheer fabric + fan = one of my all-time favorite set-ups!…










Thanks so much for tuning in and sharing your love via comments, tweets and Facebook updates – I am so grateful for all the enthusiasm! It has been such a powerful and fun experience sharing my love for and experience in this industry with creativeLIVE’s worldwide audience.

Tune in to Day 3 today for one more surprise, a couple more shoots and discussion about building a successful business – sales, pricing and marketing.

Lots of love, nudity and inspiration!

xoxo Christa

ps. you are able to watch the “After Dark” shooting segment with purchase of the download  (which is a freaking steal at $99) when you buy it before end of day today!


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creativeLIVE Sneak Peek, Mercedes

Just flew into Seattle Monday night and had an awesome day with the creativeLIVE crew, met up with Chase Jarvis, and did a couple of pre-shoots for my upcoming creativeLIVE Boudoir Workshop. We’re busy preparing some hot and sexy fun for you all, but I wanted to give you a quick sneak peek of the sexy fun in store!…










If you’d like to watch me shoot and see behind the scenes of this shoot went down, get it in gear and get signed up for the FREE live event this weekend!

More soon :)

Christa

ps. Once you enroll now, you’ll receive timely reminders so you don’t miss a thing!


creativeLIVE Boudoir Workshop, Sneak Peek

Happy Saturday!

Less than a week til my creativeLIVE Boudoir Workshop and I’m getting EXCITED! We have lots of sexy surprises in store for you, so I thought I’d share a super quick run down of the hot & sassy weekend we have coming up real soon!

CLICK PLAY to get the juicy deets…

ENROLL NOW

See ya online from Seattle!

xoxo Christa


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A Romp Around the Vineyard

A little sunshine from Italy for a rainy day…

This is what happens when I ask a model to RUN! towards me and she’s not wearing a bra… a total outtake but it cracks me up :)



This is kinda what I feel like doing today…

This set is No. 11 of 12 taken during my Workshop & Retreat in Italy this last summer. I’m planning on topping it with a Fine Art Nude & Boudoir Photography Retreat in PARIS this Spring! Already halfway sold out, you can grab your spot to romp around the City of Lights with me and get the details here.

Hope to meet you soon!

xoxo Christa

ps. You don’t have to go all the way to Paris to watch me shoot and take one of my workshops… Join me next weekend, Feb 10-12, for my FREE creativeLIVE Boudoir Workshop streaming LIVE online, worldwide. We are going to heat things up in creativeLIVE’s Seattle studio, with lots of sexiness and surprises in store (hee hee – it’s all very hush hush right now :) So you’ll have to enroll now & tune in to catch all the fun!


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Hot Contrast

Happy Friday boudies! If you have time to play with gear on the weekend, I am digging this new light modifier – the Westcott 43′ Apollo Orb. The inside of the orb is silver so it’s higher contrast than my usual medium softbox. Since it’s round, I also thought the catchlights would be sexier…

I love experimenting! Check out the results…








Even though I pushed myself to shoot higher contrast, I found myself softening things up a bit on a few of them in post – lol! That’s my style, what can I say?

Let me know what you think about the results in the comments below.
And since I’m playing a lot with gear lately – tell me what light modifier you LOVE…

Happy experimenting,

Christa xoxo


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The 6 creativeLIVE Boudoir Workshop Participants!

I’ve been watching all the wonderful video submissions (56 total!) to attend my creativeLIVE Boudoir Workshop for weeks, and it’s been the most difficult decision trying to narrow you all down to just six. I LOVED all your videos. You all made me laugh and smile, and even get choked up.

You are a creative bunch that will go far, and I just want to thank every single one of you (which I did personally on twitter :) for having the courage to step in front of the camera, take action, take a risk, and put yourself out there. Believe me, I know how hard it was to shoot my video, lol, and I’m so grateful and honored that you all took the time to send me a message about your passion and desires. I truly wish I could have you all there, but dang, the producers at creativeLIVE insisted on an intimate group of six.

So, here they are!…

Nicole Gravatt – Kansas City, KS
Carlo Nicora - London, England
Brandy Medina – Charlotte, NC
Michelle Coppini – Fort Walton Beach, FL
B. Allan Stewart - Melbourne, AR
Jen Mcken – Blairsville, PA

Congratulations! I am so looking forward to seeing you all in Seattle, geeking out together for 3-days (of “Awesomeness!”), and helping you bring your business, creativity, and brand to whole ‘nother level baby!

I hope everyone will join us live online on Feb. 10-12. To grab your ringside seat to the action, enroll now for free.

Lots of love and inspiration,

Christa

 


You’re invited to a FREE workshop on creativeLIVE!

I was beyond jumping up and down excited when the awesome crew at creativeLIVE called me a couple months ago to ask if I’d host their first and only BOUDOIR WORKSHOP! Sitting on this awesome news since then has been torture, and now I’m thrilled to finally share it with you!

Now, in case you’re not already familiar with the company, creativeLIVE is the brainchild of Chase Jarvis, bad ass commercial photographer,  and provides the best creative education on the web – for FREE – and is broadcast LIVE, available for anyone around the world to watch in realtime. Isn’t that crazy awesome? You get a ringside seat to all the action on Feb 10th, 11th & 12th – LIVE from their studio in Seattle, where I’ll be shooting/teaching/hosting a very sassy and sexy BOUDOIR WORKSHOP!

To learn more, CLICK PLAY on the video above.

I would so appreciate your help in making this event even more awesome, in two ways:

1. In the Comments below, tell me what you’d LOVE to learn or see during this workshop.

2. Join me in Seattle! CLICK PLAY to learn more about this unique and totally cool opportunity for 6 photographers to join me for free in the studio and be an integral part of this workshop. I want to see entries from ALL LEVELS and types of photographers (total newbies and seasoned pro’s, digital/film, men/women, canon/nikon) I look forward to seeing all your videos!

Thanks so much to YOU, my awesome blog readers, who bombarded creativeLIVE with requests to see me teach there. I am so honored, grateful and humbled – and I’m freaking psyched to provide a super fun, sexy and smart workshop for you come February.

Lots of love,

Christa

ps. make sure to ENROLL FOR FREE right now on the course page so you don’t miss out.

 


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Happy New Year!

Happy 2012 everyone! Hope you all had a blast ringing in the new year last night in whatever way you chose to celebrate. It was my first new year’s eve in NYC, and it was the most memorable one ever. I accompanied a photographer friend to the absolute BEST, most fun, out of control, off the hook, luxury uptown hotel wedding, and indulged in dance, lobster, wedding cake, cocktails, interesting characters, and new friends til it was well into morning and light outside.

And now, onto 2012!

Wishing you lots of amazing moments in the new year!

Christa



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Hotel Tryst + Podcast Interview

This band-groupie bad-girl Marilyn Monroe inspired shoot was so much fun. And even more so because it was with my good friend Claire, who loves dive bars, rockstars and black & white photographs. So here ya go love :)

MY INTERVIEW ON SHOOT TO KILL PODCAST
Good news: I’ve got even more great tips in store for you! Recently, the brilliant husband/wife team Phil & Mindy Thornton interviewed me for their hugely popular podcast Shoot to Kill. We covered a lot of FAQ’s and some even deeper questions and issues:

How I got started in photography and in business.
My Top 5 Tips for getting started and the equipment I’d recommend.
3 easy steps to getting that first client.
Special advice for male photographers wanting to get into boudoir.
How I avoid cheesy stereotypes of boudoir and create fine art images. 
The 4 places I draw inspiration from.
Easy tips and tricks for making clients feel comfortable.
What’s my sales process from A to Z.
Best tips for boosting sales. 

So check out my podcast episode and enjoy – it’s very entertaining – and fair warning: it contains EXPLICIT language and nudity – yeah I know it’s audio only, but use your imagination :)

Cheers to that and hotel trysts!

Christa