What's Going to Happen to My Boudoir Images When I'm Gone?
Recently, a client and friend, asked me something I hadn't had to answer before: "Do you ever think about what will happen to the boudoir photos when people die? Sounds morbid, but I know family photo albums are cherished, what happens to boudoir albums when our kids are going through our stuff? LOL"
My response at the time was this: "Ha ha. Well, yes. I think children are usually much older and will understand at that point. They will think you are beautiful and will view it less sexual than you did at the time, especially since the genre changes so much over time. It will probably be tame by then...unless we move backward to a post-apocalyptic, dystopian dictatorship with intellectual and artistic censorship..."
But, honestly, I hope some of them end up on museum walls for art lovers to look at fondly (just like this lovely lady below). If not a museum (I know, I dream big), hopefully someone just like me appreciates a good female portrait and will find a classy and unique use for them. I mean really, who collects those old photos at antiques stores and flea markets anyways? This girl does!
Why not assume they will be valued or have value? After all, we make art when we photograph boudoir. We are using all the elements of art: color, form, line, shape, space, texture, and value. So why not call it was it is? What is a better subject for any medium than the female form? Sculptures, painters, poets, photographers, songwriters, dancers all have one thing in common: their art form is dominated by the female form.
That's right! We rule the world! (cue Beyonnce's "who run the world")
Future generations will look at these images in a completely different light than we did when creating them - as we do now with vintage photos of the like. 90 years ago, women and photographers were jailed for the creating images like the ones in this blog. And look at us now! If we are raising our children right, they will have no need to blush or hide them from the world. Hell, if you're like a lot of my clients, they will have already been gracing your walls long before you kick the bucket.
Perhaps they will even view it as much more than we ever did. What could these images possibly become in the next 50, 70, 100 years? In the right hands, hopefully they are seen as they were meant to be and then some!
Art can be kept in the family too. These will be YOUR children and grandchildren. I don't suspect a women that loved herself enough to commission these photos in the first place would rear children that would think any less of these photos than what they are: you as art. I was recently speaking with a friend of mine who also happens to be a photographer and, like myself, loves the photos she has of her mother. We find them goddess-like and empowering. Whomever "finds" your photos will see a fearless, confident, and empowered woman. There's no reason for us to assume you would be thought of as anything else. When these photos are passed on, your self-loving legacy will also be handed down.
Photo of Susan Sarandon by Robert Mapplethorpe
And what the hell do we really care what they think, anyways! Am I right, ladies?
I'd be more worried about the girls taking half-naked, duck face selfies on Instagram, and what's going to happen to that content when they die, than I would about your art being seen by people that love you. There is SO much content in the world that these photos of ours might never make a ripple in the ocean of media. But I kinda hope they do, because these deserve a bigger spotlight than Kylie Jenner's Instagram.