When Ila contacted me asking if I was open to doing a boudoir shoot outdoors, I was so excited by the idea! I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to shoot this genre outside, and it is something I have been wanting to explore. Beyond the label of “boudoir”, this was more of an epic nude in nature shoot – raw, real, and surrounded by Nevada landscape.
Ila has lived in Northern Nevada for all of her life and she has known for years that as a gift to herself before turning 40, she wanted to do this. For her this was a bucket list once in a lifetime experience and a way for her to exercise pride and gratitude to her body. I was honored to be the one to do this for her.
She gave me full creative freedom, and only shared her vision of being nude in a location that represented Nevada. We played with the idea of a forest shoot in Tahoe as well as a dry lake bed at the Black Rock. We decided on the Winnemucca Sand Dunes – thanks to Scotti’s local expertise of the area.
In many of the photos, Ila dressed in a Native American headdress with her grandmother’s jewelry, and nothing else – representing her Navajo family origins. She also gave Kristina with Kiss and Makeup free reins of creativity to compliment the theme with gorgeous dramatic makeup.
I could not be more proud and thrilled by how this session turned out. It is creatively invigorating to try new things and stretch out pushing beyond my comfort zone. I am so proud and excited to share these photos and hope to have more opportunities to do shoots such as this one.
