Nolan Conley & Lucinda Conley shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Nolan & Lucinda , so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity is by far the most important trait of any person. Without integrity, a person’s word is worth nothing. Without integrity, we cannot be trusted, or believed. Especially with sensual photography of women, you MUST be honest and trustworthy. This photography category is a very private gift. If a client asks you… “will my photos only be used by me?” you MUST be honest and trustworthy. Every image on our website is backed by a written and signed model release.
Integrity also show in our reviews. Google “My Sensual Gift” and you will see we have some of the highest 5-star ratings in Texas, maybe the U.S.! Integrity means everything! Personally and in business.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Nolan Conley and I’m a real photographer. I’ve studied lighting with Dean Collins and studied photography under James M. Godbold who was the First Director of Photography for National Geographic magazine. I’m not a kid who just went out, got a camera with an automatic setting and business cards, then starting calling themselves a photographer.
My wife Lucinda and I started our photography business in the latter part of 1984 and have continued our business to today where we have had thousands of clients and we operate out of a state-of-the-art studio. I, Nolan, do the photography and my wife assists me with all the shoots! This gives the woman a man’s perspective which is very important when giving the gift to a man! We have been blessed to run this business together!
In 2025, we don’t do weddings anymore, we mostly do commercial photography and boudoir and artistic nude photography. Many don’t understand fine artistic nudes… we create art with the female form and don’t even consider doing porn. View our website https://www.mysensualgift.com/ and you will understand! We love art and beauty, not sleaze.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
I was raised by my grandparents and my grandad (who worked in the oilfield) influenced my work ethic the most. My first job was mowing lawns! Later, I worked on an oil rig and learned the value of really hard work. Mr. Godbold, one of my photography mentors, was a Marine Corps Colonel, suffice it to say, we learned photography the hard and excellent way!
What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
I wanted to have an multi-faceted photography company, where I did the photography and also had a photo lab so I could print it out quickly, back then, digital was just being talked about.
So, I purchased the equipment and started doing both. My health began to suffer and my personal doctor told me that my body was not built for 20/7 every day and I would need to be a photographer or run a photo lab, but not both or I would slowly die.
I sold the lab and became a full time photographer only!
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes and no. I love making art with photography. Lighting is everything in photography. The public version is a nice family owned business and the more private version of Nolan is a person who loves tools and likes to build and fix things. One of my favorite places is my barn where I have several old tractors that I work on and fix a lot of old tools, making them look new again! That’s my secret passion!
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
Sure, I’ve done it before! I had a unethical (read lying) client and we agreed on a price before the job started. The job ended with the images of his products done very well and commercial grade. He looked at me, told me he was Jewish (and I know quite a few very nice Jewish people) and wouldn’t pay me. He died 4 months after that so I guess money doesn’t buy everything! Hi obituary comments were replete with former clients wishing him a quick trip to hell. Guess I wasn’t the only one. I doubt he took his quality photos with him!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mysensualgift.com/
- Twitter: https://x.com/mysensualgift
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/houstonsexyphotography
Image Credits
All photographed by Nolan Conley
