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...

Four years ago these lovebirds were married and I began an adventure

Amber was my first friend at community college. We met in a speech class and hated everything about it but one another. Two years later (after complaining for months that she would never find a guy here and needed to move abroad to find someone who appreciated her Amber-ness) she met a guy from Britain and half jokingly planned to marry him so he could get his green card. Four years later and now she's happily married and living out her dream of being an artist. She was the first one to ask me to photograph her wedding and on a whim I said yes. So inspiring to think how love finds us. Who knows where you'll be?

Live, love, and take pictures!

Kirsten

Why I do what I do...

I love boudoir photography. Why? A lot of people ask me this, they think I shoot porn. I don’t. Nor will I ever. (Although when someone tells me their significant other stacks their boudoir album with his naughty magazines I consider that a win.) Because all women want to feel like their significant other desires them.  The difference between what I do and what pornography is, you guessed it, that beautiful four letter word: l-o-v-e.

Some women do these shoots for themselves but a lot of the time they're doing it for someone they love.  The people I shoot love the person they're doing it for so I’m not just photographing body parts, or a sexy pose, I’m photographing their love for one another, her desire to please her husband/wife.  When she looks into my camera and connects--really connects--I know she’s not seeing a lens, she’s letting her guard down, she’s being the person he/she wakes up to, falls asleep to, the person they fell in love with.  That’s what I’m photographing. Yeah, she might be in lingerie which is obviously a turn-on but what does a photo have if it turns you on but doesn’t connect with you?  That’s what ART is about right? Evoking an emotion, not just lust. I’m not against Gay Marriage but for this instance I’m going to use a man and wife. My goal (whether it's right after a shoot or years later) I want that husband who as gotten so used to his wife that he can't see her any other way to crack the spine of that album see her as the beautiful, sexy, vulnerable, strong woman that he sees in those photos. I want him to want her outside of the album. And because this shoot has allowed her to show off these parts of her he can and he will.

In both cases I get to do a rare thing. I strive and push and pray to be a good mirror for other women.  We all have this view of ourselves that sometimes isn’t accurate and is sometimes downright unhealthy.  I try to reverse that thinking by handing them a photo of themselves that shows them, right there, in ink and paper, that they are beautiful and worthy.  Boudoir is one of those great mediums that allows you to see yourself in a totally different light.  I get to show women what I see in them, what other people see in them. Sometimes words aren’t enough to make someone believe they are beautiful, sometimes you need to show them. I am lucky enough to get to do that.  I have the opportunity (and now the responsibility) to increase your self-esteem and create a healthy body image THROUGH WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE! I'm not doing anything different to you, this is you, this is who you are, and you are a BEAUTIFUL and LOVELY woman.

 I wanted to be a therapist for a large part of my life (sounds strange, I know) but I think it’s because I want to give back to people. I feel fulfilled when I can make someone stop and think about something.  One of my favorite parts about my job (I know, I have a lot of favorites) is showing a woman her photos and she does this double-take thing where she’s looking at the photo and then back at me and then at the photo again with this wide-eyed suspicion and she looks up at me and says, “Is that really me?” and I love that feeling of being able to hand them to themselves and say, “Yes, and you really are that gorgeous.”

I hope they put their photos in a place where they see them every day and are reminded of how strong, courageous, and beautiful they are everysingle day. I hope I can give their beauty back to them.

-Kirsten Filonczuk

Creator/Photographer

Pink Dahlia Photography

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