A little boudoir never hurt anybody...

This smashing woman I had the pleasure of working with is now pregnant!! (I'm not taking the credit...well I'll take SOME credit I mean these photos couldn't have hurt, am I right??)

When we started shooting Miss B was a little timid. I wanted to break her out of her shell because I knew she was a powerful, courageous, sexy woman under that beautiful exterior.  I snapped a few photos and thought, "I can do better than this!" so I found an iPad, and a "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" playlist and let 'er rip! Spice girls "Wannabe" started blasting and I told her, "Shake out your hair with your hands, have some fun!" and I snapped the one you see below. See that light in her eyes? Magical. What a lovely woman, I know she's going to be a wonderful mom and her husband is a lucky man! Enjoy!

Hair and Makeup by Michele Miguel

Three Women I don't look like and don't want to...

I wanted to write this big grand post about society and their view of what a woman should look like but after writing and deleting several drafts I'm just going to show you some pictures:

These are three beautiful images. I love the expression, the gentility, the strength and the sexiness. I keep these images on my pinterest board so that I can look for these qualities in my photographs as I'm shooting. Sometimes I'll take a break in between outfits so I can peruse this board to get inspiration so I've seen them quite a bit. In looking at these photos over and over and over again I realize as a photographer than not everyone is going to be able to pull these poses off. Beyond that as a woman I realize I will never be able to pull these poses off. I was not born with the DNA of a small woman, I can be fit, healthy and lean and I will never look like this. It's the plain truth.

So, if I can't change these images and I can't change my DNA what can I change?

My perspective.

I can change the way I perceive my own beauty by looking at images and women whom I can be like, who I find sexy who look like me. Who have the same body type as I do, who are freaking ROCKING their bodies and then I can aspire to be like them. So here are three photos of women I find sexy and beautiful, confident and strong:

Jayne Mansfield, hands-down one of my favorite women. In her day and age this girl was drop-dead gorgeous, and who could argue with that? I just wish a little meat on our bones still made us as "sexy" as it did back in the day, but who doesn't?

Of course Marilyn Monroe. In this photo she isn't putting on a face, she isn't playing it up for the camera. She looks very introspective (which after reading about her I found out that she was very introspective, smart, AND well-spoken) but she looks like she's got my hips and she's wearing a bathing suit without fear. Granted there's no one on the beach behind her buuuut I'm willing to let that slide ;)

And this lady. I don't know who she is (I could probably find out if I were to read the fine print but...) she is making women look good not in spite of her curves, not because she's got "curves", she's not "sexy for a plus size model" she's freaking gorgeous for a woman plain and simple.

So after my search to find beautiful women and some beautiful photography of women who look more like my size that still look gorgeous and sexy I've added a few more photos to my pinboard. So if you want some beautiful, real, photography check out this board.

Who do you look up to as your healthy role model?

Live, love, and take LOTS of pictures!


Kirsten

I'm obviously a photographer and not a illustrator...

Yes, I drew this. You can see why I put my dreams of being a cartoonist away at an early age...

Lies we tell the husbands:

A client today told her husband that he had to leave the house because a "lady doctor" was visiting her!

Jump into bed and find out what we're all about

Since this will be my first blog post on my new website I thought I’d take a post to tell you a little bit about Pink Dahlia Photography and what it stands for.

PDP is about relationships.  How we relate to one another and how we relate to the world.  Photography is, to us, a way to showcase our relationships, whether it’s with a boudoir session between the happy couple or a family shoot with a small or larger family we want you to look at our photos and see your love for one another in the way you are looking at each other, looking at the camera or just the relaxed nature of your pose. 

We want to capture what you only see in rare photos in every shoot we do. 

Looking at it written out like that kind of scares me, scares me because it’s a tough goal to live up to every day, it’s a touchdown at every game, a half-court swish at the buzzer, a perfect over-easy flip at every breakfast (or brunch, or lunch, or dinner, who are we kidding?).  We know it’s a lot to live up to but the truth is we are pretty patient photographers.  As long as you have a moment when you let your guard down and feel comfortable (we’re good at helping with that too) we can capture that beautiful shot.

These are a few of my favorite shots because I had to be patient, I had to wait for a connection and it worked out.

Right before she said, "Yes."

Right before their daughter said, "I do."

This was just after a joke about being new parents.

Right before she stopped spontaneously spinning

     That’s what sets us apart from the rest, we will wait for that one special moment and SNAP! It doesn’t come around very often in a shoot but when it does it’s almost transcendent. When I see it later on a computer screen it almost makes me want to leap out of my chair (and sometimes I do).  It’s a great combination of feeling like you did a good job and the joy of being able to give that back to someone, proof that you saw what they see every day: love and adoration. 

That’s why I’m a photographer. That’s why I love what I do.

-Kirsten Filonczuk

Creator/Photographer

Pink Dahlia Photography