Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Maddox.
Hi Amy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I got my start in photography by a sheer stroke of luck! A prominent commercial and industrial photographer in Georgia needed an assistant to help carry bags, hold reflectors, and set up lights and I jumped at the chance to work for him. In the 5 years I worked for his studio he taught me just about everything he knew about photography. He even loaned me his old camera gear to practice on!
I started shooting everything from commercial photography, photojournalism, seniors, fashion, events, and weddings… and eventually discovered boudoir. That’s when I found my true calling.
When my husband and I moved to Houston I focused primarily on weddings and boudoir. But in the summer of 2021, I designed and renovated my own space and officially launched the Boudoir by Amy studio!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the beginning, I struggled with learning lighting and posing. I wanted every single woman that walked through my doors to feel beautiful and empowered. But posing is a fine art, and it’s very easy to do it badly. It takes a lot of skill and experience.
So, I invested nearly everything I earned back into education and I practiced every week for a decade. I learned posing and lighting from some of the world’s most renowned boudoir and portrait photographers through courses, webinars, and one-on-one mentoring. I devoted my life to it.
Now, I am confident that I can pose any woman, any body type, any size, color, or age.
It also took years to define my lighting style, which is very bright and airy. I love this style because it’s very flattering for women. It can hide pesky things like cellulite, wrinkles, blemishes, and it makes your skin glow and looks youthful and dewy!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My clients come to me for my light and airy style and expert posing skills. Most boudoir photographers have a darker or more dramatic editing style, but they can also be a lot more risque in their posing. My boudoir style is more feminine and classy.
I often joke that my boudoir style is classy and elegant enough that you could show your mom your album and she would say that you look every bit as lovely as a Victoria’s Secret Angel. I don’t believe that women need to be raunchy to be sexy. Many of my clients will use one of their boudoir photos as their Facebook profile pic!
My light and airy boudoir style is PERFECT for bridal boudoir, so many of my clients are brides! My studio is a full-service, luxury experience. I include a detailed How to Prepare guide, wardrobe consultation, professional hair and makeup, and professional retouching on all of my client’s images, and I offer luxury hand-stitched albums.
My studio is a one-of-a-kind space that has tons of natural light, luxe tufted velvet furniture, ornate gilded mirrors, European-inspired walls, polished concrete floors, and feminine decor with florals everywhere. All of my clients have access to my Client Closet. I have over 250 lingerie sets in sizes ranging from XXS-4XL in all colors, shapes, and sizes.
I buy pieces that I KNOW will photograph well and look good on different body types. I also have a huge collection of tulle skirts, beaded dresses, corset dresses, ballgowns, mermaid dresses, chiffon and lacy dresses, and 3 pairs of angel wings. My studio is like a woman’s idea of heaven.
So it’s ok if you don’t own lingerie, just come to my studio and play dress-up!
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I’ve had a 13-year career and have photographed a POTUS- twice, Little Richard, and rock legend Gregg Allman just before he passed away. I’ve shot out of tiny airplanes, massive theaters, and on top of giant cranes- all with a huge fear of heights, mind you. When shooting events I got to go on stage with a few well-known country music artists like Trace Atkins to get cool shots from behind the stage. I like to say I’ve shot every kind of genre imaginable.
That was fun, but nothing beats having my own boudoir studio where women can come and learn to love their curves in a whole new way. Seeing women cry happy tears when they see their photos for the first time, or when they tell me that the photo shoot was so much easier than they thought it would be, makes me so happy, and it lets me know that I’m doing exactly what I was born to do.
As a woman, I know that we are bombarded every day with ads and images of women with unattainable, often cosmetically enhanced physiques. It can seriously affect our own confidence- especially when we only ever view ourselves through our selfies. This is particularly detrimental because camera phones are notoriously distorting and unflattering, and we take them from unflattering angles.
But when you have a boudoir shoot and are posed, lit, and directed by an expert, and then you see yourself looking every bit as stunning as the women in lingerie catalogs, it changes something in you. It gives you this amazing confidence that affects nearly every aspect of your life. I’ve seen this happen over and over again.
Women often define themselves by their looks, and while I wish that weren’t so, I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I can’t create a new standard of beauty for the world, but I can show a woman that she is perfect just the way she is. That’s my calling.
Pricing:
- Most of my boudoir clients spend $3000-$4000, some spend a little less, others spend a little more. My minimum overall investment is $1000.
- I include professional hair and makeup, professional retouching on all of your images, a How to Prepare guide, access to my Client Closet and angel wings, expert posing and directing, and the ordering appointment. I offer luxury albums, wall art, and digitals.
Contact Info:
- Email: boudoirbyamy.net@gmail.com
- Website: www.BoudoirbyAmy.net
- Instagram: @amymaddoxphoto
- Facebook: Amy Maddox Photography, LLC
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGHvH7SaLso&t=3s
- Other: www.AmyMaddoxPhotography.com
Image Credits
Boudoir by Amy/ Amy Maddox Photography
