St. Louis Photographer » A Journal by Holly McCaig

I’m pretty wiped out. It was a long weekend with so much of me shooting. I’m now doing what I love and that’s editing and proofing images. This always makes me happy. Lots of emails to catch up too. It’s all good. I’m starting to visualize how my work week schedules and processes should be before it gets busy again this summer. These are the things that make me smile and drive me to wanting to do so much more.

This Saturday, I teamed up with the ever adorable, Elisabeth Cutshall – Makeup Extraordinaire! – and we did three boudoir shoots. We LOVED IT! It was a great learning experience when you try to figure out the best way to schedule these and not let our creative minds take over and take longer than we should. We are starting to prepare for our Christmas Boudoir Marathon and it will happen some time in the Fall. Keep watching for dates. We won’t schedule more than five ladies in one day, so spots will be limited if you’re interested!

I captured some images of Elisabeth putting on makeup on our clients. There may be some sneaks of the boudoir images to come later. Our clients have to give permission for this to be on the blog and tell us which image they don’t mind. We keep this very private for them so they always remain comfortable with the nature of their images. Go check out Elisabeth’s new website too!

I’m wrapping up the last of my boudoir sessions and wanted to share my favorite from Shelia’s! Now that these are complete I will be putting together an entire website dedicated to boudoir photography services in St. Louis complete with information on how it works, packages and much more. And, without further ado, here’s my favorite!

Isn’t she just adorable! I really can’t wait to show off all the photos from the Boudoir sessions I did on Sunday. Meaghan was a willing volunteer model for me and I couldn’t be more pleased. People ask me since showing some of my boudoir shots if I do retouching. The answer is, YES! It’s a given. However, I only retouch on the images that are purchased from the sessions. It’s a time-consuming process that doesn’t take place on my every day portrait sessions. I want to make a woman feel beautiful and look like their photo can be seen in a magazine. And, let’s face it…even if the men don’t want to hear it…they are all retouched in the mags! I work to even out skin tones, smooth the skin, enhance the eyes and makeup and even do a little “plastic surgery” if you will to make you look your absolute best!

Stay tuned for my website featuring more about Boudoir Photography and rates and packages available!

Here’s a sneak of Meaghan’s experience…love it!

This pas weekend, I photographed three, beautiful women for my boudoir portfolio. All a part of my greater plan! And, I loved every minute of it. I love helping people feel like a model and comfortable with these type of sessions. We’re still a pretty conservative state – so helping people “see” the point of these types of photos is a challenge. I think they are a great way to surprise your significant other, or even do something nice for yourself.

We photographed at the Robert Mayfair hotel in downtown St. Louis. The suites are newly remodeled in this historic hotel. I am over the whole “traditional” hotel/suite feel. I’m always open for something modern, sleek, swanky, and stylish. This is pretty close. If you know of some  amazing hotels in the area that are fitting of this, please let me know!

Here is a peek for Iris – I’ve known her for a long time now, but we hardly get to see each other. I think this one turned out great. It’s my favorite from her session! Stay tuned down the road to see this whole project come together and lots more from her session!