Film Boudoir Photography in Charleston

You are a real woman who is living a real life. Now it's finally the time to celebrate you in a unique way. Because you are one of a kind. Boudoir portraits are not for anybody else. They are for you. They are going to be with you for many years. They are meant to be a joy for you to experience, time after time. They are meant to make you feel proud, if for nothing, for having dared to do it.

It takes real courage to do a boudoir shoot, and I don't mean that you don't feel nervous. Almost all my clients who you see in these pages, were very nervous. But they did it anyway. Courage is feeling the fear and overpowering it.

I respect that and I celebrate that.

So, when you come to my Charleston studio I want you to have the absolute best and to me there is nothing like film. I will not bore you with technical reasons. Film has a look and that look if both deeper and gentler than digital. But there are other reasons too. Film gives us choices that we cannot have otherwise. There are cameras and lenses that have a unique poetry. It's their perspective, created by lenses that are not made anymore. Optics that come straight from the era of Hollywood glamour, a time when people appreciate beauty and knew how to highlight it, glorify it, and respect it. And there is no higher beauty than the female figure.

So, I use those camera of the past because they have a unique look that you cannot find otherwise. And that requires film. But I don't just "accept" film. I love it. I love developing film and open the developing canister wondering what treasures will be inside. Every time I unspool the roll of film, still wet form the developer, it's like celebrating Christmas. So much anticipation, it almost hurts. And then I see the photos. The moment when I gaze upon tNor as "raw" as you might thinkhe proud face of a client and I think: "Here you are. Engraved forever in silver and celluloid." Who would not love that?

The Look

Film has been used for so many masterpieces of the past and today great directors like Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, and Quentin Tarantino shoot their movies on film because they know what other directors don't: film's look is different. But what is it?

Quite simply, it's the way it captures light. Film has a way of handling light that is just beautiful. That means that those wonderful highlights on your skin, your hair, your clothing and jewelry will be absolutely beautiful. It's poetry in lighting. Also, the grain of film is very different that the matrix of pixels. Grain is organic and random, pixels are like a grid. There is a inherent gentleness in film that renders skin in a more beautiful way.

It's no coincidence that the cameras I use date from the same era as the portraits that inspired them — the Hollywoood studio photographs of Hurrell, Richee, and their peers.

Built-In Honesty

There is also a unique honesty about film. I shoot black and white film. Not color film and then turn it into black and white in post. What is loaded in the camera is black and white film. Microscopic specks of silver attached to celluloid. It's organic. It's real and it requires chemicals to be turned into an image. It's physical.

It's that inherent honesty that transpires when you see your photos. In that moment, you know that what you see is pure.

The Velvet Touch

I want to make sure, though, that you don't think that shooting on film means to not be able to add a very unique artistic touch to it. Even with film, my unique "velvet touch" retouching is present. In fact, that technique is directly inspired by the photographers of Hollywood, who would spend 8 to 12 hours in manually retouching the camera negatives. That is right. All those beautiful stars of the era, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich and others owed that flawless, heavenly look to skillful use of lighting and yes, masterful retouching. This is a little-known secret that took me months to discover.

It's that combination of well-rounded artistry, together with romantic posing, and beautiful wardrobe, that creates those unforgettable portraits.

Today, all that is presented to the everyday woman, so that she can feel like a star, and rightfully so. You don't need any experience, just the will to have fun and be a tiny bit adventurous. I will take care of the rest.

Ready to embrace your inner diva? Call me at (843) 701-1138 to start your journey. Ask for Paolo.