Skip to main content

Introduction

Lesson 1 from: The Boudoir Workshop

Christa Meola

Introduction

Lesson 1 from: The Boudoir Workshop

Christa Meola

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

1. Introduction

Lessons

Class Trailer

Day 1

1

Introduction

07:36
2

Let’s Get this Party Started Right!

20:35
3

Redefining Boudoir: YOUR Brand & Style

29:59
4

Working with Women

20:01
5

Creating Relaxed Clients

17:49
6

Posing and Anti-Posing

12:05
7

Flattering All Body Types

21:13

Lesson Info

Introduction

We've got a lot to cover, and I'm going to basically take you through my business and what I d'oh from a dizzy and, you know, it's, just one way of doing things, it's not the way necessarily, but I could only teach what I know and what I do that works and, um so let me just break out the weekend super quick day one is all about working with women that's our job, right? So that it entails a lot like how to make them comfortable had a pose, how to create an amazing experience and day two is on lighting, posing and postproduction and day three is on building a successful business, pricing, selling, marketing and stuff like that, we now have we've added a couple models, so we now have, I think, fourteen models and we have, like, way said earlier, you know, only three are like we have the one nude figure model saturday night for after dark, and then we have to lingerie models, the rest of real women, their soccer mom, sir, curvy girls or like girls next door there women who've never stepped...

in front of a camera before because I wanted this to be, you know, relevant. And useful but I also think having models is useful as well very helpful and kind of I think essential if your boudoir photographer to hire models that the pros and we'll get into that later on today but I didn't want to say briefly that this workshop is both for beginners and seasoned pros for the beginners that are just getting started you know I just want to show everybody how alex simple and easy it is I'm really well I kind of feel like I'm a little bit like what's that the wizard behind the curtain or something it's like I really don't do anything that magical special it's released super super easy anyone can do it and I'm just going to cut the learning curve way down this weekend um and for the seasoned pros out there who are watching, I definitely my intention for them is like, I know a lot of people are are stuck there burnt out, they're frustrated they either want to be earning more money think they deserve more money are not booking enough clients or feeling so creatively stale and uninspired or they're just not turning a profit or they're spending too much time in post so there's pros out there just not kind of happy with how things are right now I want to bring it to the next level so we're going to address all of those things and then for everybody pros and newbies alike, I think it's important, and we're going to do that this weekend to take a step back and thoughtfully designed how you want your career to be too often. We just get caught up in the what's, that terrible situation. You know what I'm saying way just get caught up in reacting and responding to requests, and then you have another client. Then you got to do this, and life is busy and you never really go. Oh, you know, this is your career. You could design it however you want, you could do whatever you want, tio dio, and the moment you actually take that and realise it's pretty powerful, and I'm kind of we're going to talk a lot about branding I frickin love branding andi, I think it's the key it's the answer that's. Why I have it up in day one, right off the bat, because a lot of the questions I get asked by photographers can be answered by themselves if they only took this first step and figured out who they are, what's important to them, what's, meaningful and designing their business based around that not what so and so is doing not what most unpopular trendy, what not what they think women want, um, so uh, we'll talk more about that later, but for now, I just want you to know that that's, like my intention for us to take a step back and kind of design are career the way we want it to be. What meaningful to us? Because that's, when you're going to succeed that's truly the foundation of success, so I'm sorry, I'm trying to juggle all these. Oh, yeah, things I've had and, um, let's, okay, so before we get started, I just want to say a lot of people want to know how they can find out more about me on my website, which is krista mula dot com this is my mailing list, and I do weekly tips and, you know, workshop news or, um, stuff like that demos, um I also have something called the pro photographer manifesto I am super lucky girl that I get to work alongside some of the photographers at top of their game really successful photographers, and I love them, and I also love the people that I teach, but I'm so in close contact with both groups that it's very apparent to me. What are the distinguishing characteristics between what makes a successful photographer and what keeps you in the struggling zone so I had created this manifesto? Um I found like the ten habits that were consistently different and here are the winners here are the strugglers um and so that's the pro photographer manifesto I get a lot of e mails about this it's really it it's kind of like if you want me juice down into a lake nugget this is it so you can go on my website at kristen yellow dot com and that's in the upper right on you could just put your name in there and you could either opt in or opt out of the mailings but you still get the free download and then just to answer all the questions right now the on ly workshop I have currently available is this one and paris paris is may first to the fifth that's halfway sold out it's for women only sorry fellas it's really like a women's retreat we geek out big time so that is super fun it's kind of life changing wee girl it up we're going to go get our culture on get are one and cheese on and we're going to do nine models and nine set ups it's going to be awesome we're all staying at the same place um so that's on my web site also and okay so here's what we're gonna talk about this is funny um a lot of people ask me how I got into boudoir photography and they're kind of like some are very surprised at my I started my business in two thousand four it was shooting families and my first quote unquote boudoir photographer was really only two thousand nine but I've been pretty much doing it all my life so this is something I shot in l a at a club very recently and I didn't really think about um I don't know this is I guess it's that typically my style more or less right agreed um and my mom was going storage and found this hysterical polaroid of mine my first camera my first film camera was a cannon and I've been cannon ever since but I also I sold like wrapping paper for the school to earn enough to get this polaroid camera which I loved and I would my girlfriends and I would like dress up or I'd grab my cousin I dressed her up and I we would shoot each other s so I really have been doing this since I was like six years old and I found my mom found this picture it's so embarrassing but I've got a show to people so this was me I think I'm ten here it's ridiculous I guess I thought that was cool I'm rocking like the nikes and you know I don't know I think I rolled up a piece of paper to be sick so that seriously I mean I think if it's a part of you it's a part of you so when did I get started? How did I get here? You know, it's so interesting when you look back at your life and they actually it made sense, you know. So, um, although it's, fairly recent that I got started in boudoir professionally, I've been doing. I've been geeking out a long time.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Christa Meola Day 1.pdf
Christa Meola Day 2.pdf
Christa Meola Day 3.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

This is meant to be a HELPFUL review for those that are wondering if they should purchase this workshop. About 75% of what I took away from this workshop was posing, composition for boudoir and the importance of eye lines and capturing movement. I had two boudoir sessions a week after this workshop and my images significantly improved. I was able to coach my clients through poses better, direct them on where to look for better eye lines, I was more aware of their posture and how to fix it, I think I sounded more professional and felt more confidant with getting awesome poses, stand out expressions and adding movement to my images. I put a fan on my client the way Christa does.. and she is right! The instant I put the fan on my client, her expression changed and you could tell she was really "feeling it". She told me she felt like a real supermodel right after I turned on the fan. If you are looking for inspiration on how to coach women and pose for boudoir then Christa is the girl for you. I think the most worthwhile thing I learned watching this is something that will help me in the years to come... with my brand, my website, my workflow and my business goals. I learned how to "keep it simple" which is Christa's tag line. For example Christa brings a roll of gray background paper and uses gaffer tape to hang it from the wall of the hotel (instead of bringing a 12ft background stand). I know this seems simple but this will change my life! I hate dragging equipment back and forth. There are some negative reviews on here about Christa's technical skills, but I think these people may have missed the whole point. If you provide an awesome product and an awesome experience for your client, they will buy it. And guess what.. your client will never know if you used your camera in auto or manual and they won't care if you used one light instead of two. As someone who has been in business for 3 years doing boudoir exclusively I learned a lot. I see a lot of value in learning from someone who doesn't spend a lot of money on fancy equipment, yet charges her clients over $3,000 for sessions. I'm a huge fan of her keep it simple philosophy and I'm glad Christa is willing to be honest about her workflow and how she best utilizes her time. Your not going to agree with or use everything Christa talks about, you take the parts that you like and are most helpful to you and work them into building a stronger business.

a Creativelive Student
 

AWESOME DEAL on Christa's course. I just sent an email to my husband to tell him thanks for "gifting" me this course. I told him just the ONE CLASS about pricing was worth the full $129 price of the course. And there are over 50 classes?! That is a crazy stupid good deal. You can learn something good from every class you take, every book you read, and just apply the stuff that works for you. There are a lot of people out there who seem to just enjoy giving crappy reviews, and to me it's almost like bullying. How someone could not find $129 worth of value in this course is beyond me. In my opinion this course is worth over a thousand bucks, because it can help you make SO much more money. I hate when I see people whining about things that are not 100 percent perfect, and they get annoyed if the person isn't catering to their exact needs. It's like the Yelper generation, with a disturbing sense of entitlement. I would love to see those people try teaching a class about boudoir and see if they could do any better. It also seems like, the more popular a person gets, the more other people feel the need to tear them down. I'm grateful that Christa even offered this course at ALL. Thanks Christa for all you do to help those of us who really need to know this stuff. You rock.

a Creativelive Student
 

I never thought I would shoot boudoir. I am a shy and private person. I started entertaining the idea when I first saw Christa's work and saw how beautiful and tasteful it can be. I love her lighting and all that she uses from historic painters and sculptors. I watched all three days live and learned a ton. I have a lot of lighting education, but it was nice to freshen up my skills. I loved the posing tips and the three typical situations she uses for one shoot. I loved learning about how she shoots in hotels and also using things like an outdoor situation. I have now shot my first boudoir session and it was a total hit. I am thrilled to show my client her images. This was fantastic! Thank you, Christa!

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES