We had SUCH a wonderful time in Madrid last week! While it was only the first leg in many adventures to follow, it was a big one for sure. Foro de Fotografos are a group of people that despite the language barrier, make you feel so very welcome. From the seventy year old woman who was a firecracker of a gal, to the many friends we make in our workshop and our speaking presentation, and then Rudy – the one to whom we owe the honor – each person we met was so darn friendly and thrilled with the concept of boudoir.
We spoke for 3 hours, which besides a workshop is quite a record for us, but get us on the subject of boudoir and you will have to pull us of the stage with a hook. The new experience of having our audience wear headphones while listening to a translator was a newbie of many newbies this week. Boredom in our lives seems a rare thing, and we love that!
Thank you to Julietta our translator whose brain was so far next level that it make me really want to go back to school to freshen up my recall skills. Holy crap lady.
Oh and for our workshop attendees, you wanted to see what the dark underexposed (purposely) photo would look like. Here ya go…
Although we were working most of the time in Madrid, we DID get out to explore the city one day. It is a really cool city, and we especially enjoyed spending the afternoon at Retiro Park – and then that night we got to see a really amazing flamenco show too. We really enjoyed being in Spain, and can’t wait to go back. Thank you again to all of the wonderful photographer friends that we met in Madrid. We really had a wonderful time with you all, and hope to see you again soon! Until next time, besos y abrasos! -K & M
OH – also, we wanted to let you know that a LOT of your email addresses ‘bounced back’ to us when we were sending out invoices for the digital version of the Posebook. So, if you would like to purchase that still, here is the link for that: thedivasblog.com/madrid/ Simply fill out your info, and purchase it through Paypal – and we will email the digital version to you asap. Thanks!
Wow, this has been a WHIRLWIND couple of weeks! After my wedding & honeymoon, Marissa & I traveled to Madrid, Spain, to be a part of the Foro De Fotografos annual convention. It was AMAZING – we had such a wonderful time! (More on that to come soon, we are hoping to blog some pics later this week).
Currently we are in Venice, and I can’t BELIEVE how beautiful it is in this city! We’ll be here for a few days, and then we’re heading up to Maniago for the Graphistudio event! We are THRILLED that we have been invited to be a part of GraphiStudio‘s Accademia – a full-day event with a star-studded lineup of speakers, including Yervant, Jim Garner, Bob & Dawn Davis, and MORE! Can’t wait to meet everyone who will be attending! Click here for more info!
***EDIT: We also just found out that this program will be streamed LIVE!!! Which means you can watch us at about 10:15am pacific standard time on Saturday morning! Click here to watch!
Our program description: “Boudoir Posing & The Supermodel Experience”… The Boudoir Divas will share how they have created their unique Supermodel Experience that brings people flying to their studio from all over the world. They will also share how they created a marketing and branding strategy that brings them 500 boudoir shoots per year and how they sell their top products including high-end books. The information they will share will be helpful even to photographers who do not intend to shoot boudoir.
I was that annoying friend that asked the wedding photographer if I could get some pics asap. Oops. But I was just too excited to show off Kimberlee and her handsome hubby. So Jackie Wonders was kind enough to entertain my request and send these over. Thank you Jackie!! They are so lovely.
That’s right – we are going to Spain & Italy!!!!! We’ll be traveling, speaking, and teaching for the next 10 days, so please be patient with us (we might not check email very often!) Thank you! Looking forward to meeting some amazing photographers in Spain and Italy! xoxo, K & M
Hmmm… and since we’re leaving tomorrow, maybe I should start packing. Ok, gotta go! Have a wonderful rest of the week. We’ll try to blog at least once while we’re on our trip!
Kimberlee West became a MARRIED WOMAN last week!!! If you visit this blog somewhat regularly I am sure you have heard K be very open and honest about her love life, from difficulty to the beautiful picture it is right now. I am so honored to be tied, in friendship and business, to a woman who trusts in God’s restoration and has unwavering faith that he has a plan. I can honestly say that that may be one of the hardest things to do in life; to have faith and trust in the darkest of times. Kimberlee (and Eric) is such a gorgeous picture of God’s love in that way.
While K let me actually be a part of her festivities rather than photograph them, I did have the honor of grabbing a few shots during the getting ready portion of the day (probably my very favorite part of the entire day from past wedding experience) while her truly amazing photographer and friend snapped the “official” photos. I am sure that our the talented Jackie Wonders will have images for Kimberlee to post soon, but until she does I wanted to share the few that I snagged of her getting ready moments…
DATES: January 22-23, 2012
LOCATION: The Boudoir Divas’ studio in San Diego CA!
REGISTER: $600 deposit is required to save your spot. Click here to sign up TODAY!!!!
DAY ONE: Covering shooting style, lighting, posing, demo shoot and hands on practice using our equipment and 2 of our favorite sets! You will be able to shoot “models” to build your boudoir portfolio. Some one on one shooting with models as well as small group shoot settings.
DAY TWO: Covering marketing, pricing/packages, post-processing, and more – all about the boudoir business! You’ll also get 1-on-1 time (ten minutes) with either Marissa or Kimberlee to identify the next steps to implement with your business.
HOW TO SIGN UP: 50% deposit ($600) to lock-in your spot. (Click here to sign up & pay the deposit now!)
LIGHTING: If you like our boudoir images, you’ll probably notice that a huge part of our style is all wrapped up in the lighting that we use. Lighting is SOOOO important for boudoir, and over the past six years of having THE premier boudoir studio in Southern California, we have developed a lot of tips and tricks for boudoir lighting. It is absolutely essential to learn how to light a woman in a flattering way, to show off her best assets, and maybe even minimizing some of the areas she may not want to emphasize quite so much. At the boudoir workshop, we’re going to show you the simple lighting recipes that we’ve created for our boudoir clients. We’ll be focusing mainly on our favorite lighting set-up (what we call our ‘hot lights’), and then you’ll also have an opportunity to work with natural light and video light.
POSING: Ah, yes, boudoir posing. First off, I think we all know that when it comes to boudoir, this is NOT something that just ‘happens.’ If you can think back to your first boudoir session that you shot, you might say that posing was one of the MOST difficult aspects of the boudoir session (don’t you agree?) Your typical client is not a professional model; she’s an everyday woman who does not know how to pose or ‘be sexy’ in front of the camera… and as the photographer, it is your job to coach her through the entire boudoir photography experience. We created our Posebook a few years ago simply because we kept receiving emails from photographers, asking for advice on how to pose their boudoir clients. Even though posing can be quite difficult at first, we don’t want you to be overwhelmed! We want to empower you with some of our top posing tips. And we want to share some of our favorite poses (also our TOP-SELLING poses!) If you can get comfortable with some favorite poses that are flattering for all body types, then before you know it, you’ll be coaching your client into poses without even thinking about it!
SHOOTING: One of the big benefits of coming to a Boudoir Divas workshop is the shooting time. We set you up with a few GORGEOUS past clients, and you get to work on our sets, with our lights, and have the opportunity to capture some BEAUTIFUL images for your boudoir portfolio! You’ll be shooting in small groups, and then you’ll also have a little 1-on-1 time, where you’ll be able to work by yourself with one of the clients. We’ve had past workshop attendees come to this workshop without ANY previous boudoir experience… and then they walk away from the workshop with a solid portfolio of images – ready to post online on a new website, or create a sample photo album. Our goal: that you will be in LOVE with the images you get at this workshop!
BOUDOIR BFFS: We all like meeting new friends, right? Especially friends in the photography industry, who are also passionate about something that you are passionate about. At all of our workshops, it seems that our little diva attendees establish some really cool friendships with each other. We’ve seen our attendees start new Facebook groups with each other just so that they can all stay in touch after the workshop – and we always see this amazing community develop, where all of these new boudoir photography BFFs share, connect, and help each other out! Love it!
OUR STUDIO: We have a 4500 square-foot studio, and we’re opening it up to all of YOU! We’d absolutely love to have you join us here!
THE SWAG BAG: The goodies!! We have hooked you guys UP with this swag. We’ve got some amazing vendors who are giving you some amazing gifts and special deals! You’re going to receive over $500 worth of sweet hook-ups and deals!!!! Just a FEW of the awesome vendors you’ll see in your swag bag: Bay Photo | Graphi Studio | Totally Rad Actions | Shootsac | Drop It Modern
LEARN FROM US: Ok, so we are obviously not super cool, heehee! If you’ve ever watched our Youtube channel or spent any extended amount of time hanging out with us, you’ll know that we are more nerdy than cool. But in any case, we would LOVE to hang out with you for two days. If you’d like to know more about who we are and why you should learn from us, go check out our BIO.
QUESTIONS: Want to know more? Email me (Kimberlee), and I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
Alright… so… Have we got you interested??? Check out this Video overview of the Boudoir Workshop:
And if you’d like to watch a more DETAILED video, showing our brave workshop attendees talking about their experiences, here is a longer video, with the unedited testimonials. If you are thinking about coming to this workshop, I HIGHLY recommend watching this. We left the video camera in the back while everyone else was hanging out in the lobby… and just let the gals have free-reign to chat and share all about what they learned. The Boudoir Divas did not have any part in the filming of this video. 😉 Seriously, though, M & I can ‘talk ourselves up’ and try to convince you to come hang out with us in SD, BUT, we think that it’s way better to hear it from the mouth of our past workshop attendees. (Thanks to all of you wonderful June Workshop ladies who shared!) xoxo
So in less than TWO DAYS, we are down to just TWO SPOTS LEFT for the 2012 Paris Boudoir Photography Workshop! Wowzers – these spots have been snagged SO fast. So… if you are thinking about coming to Paris, NOW is the time to sign up – before those 2 spots are taken.
********EDIT: The Paris Workshop is now FULL!!! Due to the HIGH DEMAND, we MAY add one more workshop in Paris… if you are interested, please email me to let me know. [email protected] And, don’t forget – we also have a workshop in San Diego in January, so be sure to check that out too!
Email if you have any questions about it: [email protected] AND CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY!
Can’t wait to meet all of our Paris attendees! And if you’ve already registered for Paris 2012, be sure you join our private Boudoir Divas forum – AND become my friend on Facebook – so that I can add you to our FB Paris GROUP! Ahhhh I wish it was April already! 🙂
Details for the Paris boudoir workshop can be found here.
“Believe in Beauty” is a term K and I decided on because it is just that. It is the gratitude we feel for God allowing us to have a career in which we can celebrate His beauty by using every bit of the creativity and imagination He blessed us with. These concept shoots are something that we plan months ahead and dream about even longer than that. We are so grateful to Tenley and Kiptyn for doing this shoot with us. As well as quite a few others like:
Weston Boucher wrote the song for us which can be found for photographers use at www.triplescoopmusic.com
John and Norma of NR3 Video Productions did the fancier video footage
Peggy Rogers, amazing make-up & hair! Find her here.
Handsome gentlemen in tuxes:
Brian MacKenzie (ladies he’s single)
Luke Long (he’s in a famous band called Ha Ha Tonka, he’s not single, sawwy)
Jeff See (amazing artist, no idea if he’s got a lady friend)
Weston Boucher (step off, he’s mine, lol)
Ps. Not sure why this became about their relationship status, guess I knew we’d get a comment or ten about it.
Hot air balloon was provided by Sky Surfer Balloons
Becky Pesche and Ashley Sapp also helped take video and stills
Danielle Adams was the much needed and appreciated reflector holder
Always a thank you to our sponsors BAY PHOTO LAB & GRAPHI STUDIO
You can also check them out at the end credits of this video. Thrilled that this video and our Paris launch could be on the same day! What a celebration!
Pop the bubbly! Talk about a happy day for us!! Yay!
At exactly 3pm Pacific time, you will be able to go to the Boudoir Shop, pay your deposit, & officially register for the PARIS 2012 BOUDOIR WORKSHOP! In the meantime, go check out our new Boudoir Workshop Website – dedicated to telling you all about our workshops (both the San Diego & Paris boudoir photography workshops). Go check it out, and get a sneak peek into all the details for the Paris workshop! Registration opens at exactly 3pm… and let me tell you, we have had a LOT of interest in this workshop, so it is going to FILL UP FAST!! If you’re interested in joining us, I would recommend registering and paying your deposit ASAP in order to lock-in your spot (We are capping the max # at 15 attendees for this workshop, which will be smaller than our normal max of 20). Can’t WAIT for Paris! Eeeeek!!! 🙂
So, we aren’t going to start taking registrations until MONDAY at 3pm (pacific time), but in the meantime, we wanted to give you a heads-up so that you can check your calendar, and block out these dates to come join us in PARIS, FRANCE – for the best Boudoir WORKSHOP OF YOUR LIFE! 🙂
{The above photo is at one of our favorite places… Versailles! If you come to this workshop, you have GOT to take a few extra days of vacation, and travel around the city… take a train to Versailles… and just enjoy one of the most amazing cities on earth!)
And, no post about Paris would be complete without posting our fun {dorky} video from our first-ever boudoir workshop in Paris back in 2009…
(Hmmmm… wonder what kind of Paris music video we can do for 2012… any suggestions?) 🙂 We can’t WAIT to send you
