[00:00:06] Speaker A: This is the EMG podcast spotlight interview with your host, Mike Salpall.
Are you familiar with the world of Boudoir photography? Coming from the French for a women's dressing room, Boudoir is a professional photography style that is intimate, sensual, and as you'll soon learn, empowering Boudoir inspires the intimacy of this genre. In this spotlight interview, I sit down with EMG brand partner Anya Day. The owner of Anya photo photography and Anya's studio specializes in this vastly expanding world of Boudoir. She is, as talented as you'll soon hear, graceful. She is passionate about her craft and is driven by the empowerment her clients experience going through the process. We chat about her life journey beginning humbly in Russia, all the way to the convergence of her artistry, passion and business that led to what I consider to be her calling. This interview is very enlightening to any EMG bride interested in exploring this creative photography and serves to dispel any misconceptions or hesitations one might feel when pondering, taking the leap. So sit back, relax and enjoy this thoughtful conversation with Mrs. Anya Day.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am sitting here with the lovely, the usually very calm Miss Anya day. Anya, how are you?
[00:01:42] Speaker B: I am excellent. Thank you so much for having me here.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Of course. Our pleasure. So Anya is one of our vendor partners specializing in boudoir photography. Boudoir. I had a long time to try to learn how to say that word.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Boudoir.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: Am I saying it wrong?
[00:01:59] Speaker B: No, I think you're saying it right.
Well, I'm just kind of smooth saying it.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: Boudoir.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Boudoir.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Boudoir. Very good.
So, as I often do, I'll ask you in a sound bite who you are. But before we get to any of that, I'm going to jump right into the topic here, because when we sit down and we talk with our video partner or our cigar roller, it's a bit more straightforward. And I think with Boudoir, there's always this kind of feeling that I've seen in people, and then I've watched you just sort of peel back the layers and put people at ease. So my first question is, why do people find this so empowering?
[00:02:42] Speaker B: That is an excellent question. So the reason I think it's because, well, people, specifically women, those are our clients. They find it empowering because they're looking to feel good in their skin. As women, we tend to kind of overanalyze ourselves. We question our bodies, the image that we're supposed to look a certain way. And during a boudoir shoot, you kind of find your true beauty. You may not think like, oh, maybe, oh, I could never be sexy. But during a boudoir shoot, we kind of talk you through it, explain everything and show you how to be sexy, show you how to be confident. And when you see the result, that's what makes you feel empowered. So many of our clients, after they see their photos, they're like, oh, my God, I can't believe that's me. I can't believe I can actually look this beautiful. People say, I've never looked this beautiful ever in my entire life. So it just gives them a sense of, well, they're learning worth.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: They're learning that they had a gear that maybe they didn't know about. Right. They've unlocked something about their personality. Perhaps I should have started with, how do you define it? If I said to you, like, what is boudoir? Because the first time I met you, I was like, you a be what?
How do you actually define what it is?
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Well, there is a way that I define it for our style of boudoir photography. It's an elegant, just like you guys.
Elegant, timeless, beautiful, sensual, intimate experience through photography specifically for a female.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Got it. That's a perfect way of putting it. So now let me go back. Who are you? The person in a soundbite.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. Who am I? Well, I am a boudoir photographer. I am this woman from Russia who came here as a little girl. I'm also a mother of two beautiful girls. I am a ball full of fun energy. And I call myself the joyful goddess.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: The joyful goddess. Wow. That is quite the sound bite. I love that. Talk to me a little bit about Russia. I know that you were Russian. I don't know that I knew that you were born in Russia.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: So how old were you when you emigrated? And kind of. What's that story?
[00:05:07] Speaker B: So the story, I was twelve years old and I moved here from Moscow.
Why?
So my parents are divorced, my mom remarried, and we basically moved here to start a better life. And at the time, maybe I wasn't quite sure why it was happening, but I'm so grateful it happened because I think the opportunities in America are so much better specifically for female empowerment and just this type of photography. And just being a woman in this country, I have a lot more freedom than I would have back in Russia at the time.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: Were you scared?
[00:05:45] Speaker B: I was terrified I didn't speak English.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: And you're not exactly at the youngest age where language comes. You weren't five or something. You were twelve.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: But thankfully language did come easy for me. I think it took maybe about a year to learn it. I used to watch I love Lucy.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: And that's how you learn English?
[00:06:03] Speaker B: That's how I learned English. At one point I was watching an episode and I finally started to understand the jokes. I'm like, oh, I think I'm getting know. I, I guess language came easy and I just went with your.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Was your mom's her second marriage? What was the tie to not only America but New Jersey? Or was it truly we just like we're picking up and we're going.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: It was kind of like his family moved out here however many years ago.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: So he had family in the area?
[00:06:35] Speaker B: Yeah, he already had family here. So we were basically reuniting with the family and that was our ticket in.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: So do you still have, I imagine you still have family, plenty of family in Russia, right?
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Do you visit, do you go back?
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Yes.
Well, I'm not going to Russia, not anytime soon. My dad still lives there. I also have a half sister, but she's currently in Germany and I'm actually going in a week and a half. I'm going to visit her in Germany and my dad is meeting us there.
That's how we kind of get to see each other. We meet in Europe.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: Yeah. That's cool. We just meet in Europe. I meet my parents in like Hackensack.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: But that's convenient.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
So you move here at twelve, right? You are put into school, which I'm sure could not have been an easy endeavor.
How did that experience shape sort of your creativity? Or were you always creative as a kid? Or was it something learned through isolation? Or how did that come to be?
[00:07:35] Speaker B: So I was always a creative kid. My sister was the brains and I was the creative one.
And I was always doodling drawing. And I took a couple of drawing classes. I put together a portfolio through high school and then submitted it to some colleges. I went to Mason Grove School of Art at the Rutgers University for Fine Arts. And through there I found photography, concentrated in photography and then have a degree in photography. But the love for photography came from, I would say, my dad as a kid growing up in Russia, he had this camera and it was a film camera. He would develop the negatives and the prints in our bathroom, tiny little bathroom, he'd block out all the windows. We'd have the red light on and develop the pictures. And I used to just watch him and it was just like magic putting the paper in, all the different chemicals and I thought it was just so much fun. So when I was in college, I'm like, I want to try that. And that was it. Forget painting, drawing, photography was it for me.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah. That's kind of a lost art, right?
[00:08:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Have you ever dabbled with that since?
[00:08:48] Speaker B: Unfortunately not. It just takes forever. Too many chemicals. I've always wanted to try it again. It's just like, you need space.
It's a whole thing.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Right? So you're in school, so you knew, obviously from an early age that you wanted to pursue creativity or art as a career. Did you see yourself, like, where did 17 year old anya say? All right, ten years from now, this is where I'm going to be in art or something?
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I had no idea. And funnily enough, joke on all of us fine art students. Our dean, the person who was giving us the speech at our graduation, he's like, well, good luck. You're never going to make any money as artists.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: That's the message you want to give?
[00:09:31] Speaker B: And I'm like, well, you could have said something before we picked this degree.
So I was terrified. I didn't really have any kind of photography job going into it. We were just doing.
A waitress for many years, had all different types of jobs. But I did do a couple of photography gigs here and there just for fun, for friends.
And then in 2008, when the market crashed, I lost my job. I was working at an art gallery back then.
Doing what? As an administrative assistant. Okay, so nothing too artsy, but it was still in the field. And then my husband, boyfriend at the time, he's like, okay, time to do something with your degree, right? And I did. I applied to a wedding company and they hired me for photography as a weding photographer as a starter. And that's how I started, built my portfolio, got enough clients to kind of go on my own. And when I had enough, I went full time. And then I shot weddings for ten years.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Yeah, we were talking about that recently. We had lunch and you were saying, like, you looked back on some of your work and you're like, oh, I was pretty good at this.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: I think I was pretty good.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: What was your experience like? Did you enjoy working for another company? I'm sure there were. And by the way, as is ever the case with the world of EMG expansion, our construction team, I don't know if it's coming through the mics or not. They're like, drilling in the background. We did not know that was going to happen, so I apologize.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: That's fine.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: I'm sure you learned a lot about like, oh, this is stuff practices in this business that I really like. These are things that I dislike. Did you take anything from that experience, whether knowingly or not at the time, and kind of incorporate it into your own business today?
[00:11:20] Speaker B: So I think I was with them only for about a year or so. Until I went on my own, I really didn't know squat about business. As an artist, you really don't know. So I'm self taught. You just kind of figure it out as you go. Constantly learning, going to workshops, seminars, trade shows, talking to other photographers, like, oh, what are you doing? What class are you taking? Where can I learn? So I didn't really learn from them. It was really mostly through trade shows and taking classes and things like that.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: Got it. So when you go off on your own, though, it's still in the world of wedding photography.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I went on my own in weding photography full time. And besides wedings, I used to do families, maternity, newborn babies, like everything under the roof. And I don't know what year, maybe year three, four. I stumbled upon boudoir.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Yeah, how did you find that exactly?
[00:12:16] Speaker B: I'm trying to remember specifically, but I think it was like some kind of class that I saw, and it was by Krista Maiola, and she was a boudoir photographer. And I'm like, oh, this is interesting. I can add this as an add on service for my bridal clients, because a lot of women would like to do a boudoir shoot for their fiance or husband to be for the wedding day as a gift. And so I started adding it as an add on service for my bridal clients. And then they started telling their friends about it, and then non bridal clients showed, you know, starting this out in New Jersey, I was a little bit nervous for some reason, I thought it wouldn't really pick up.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: Boy, were you wrong about that.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: I was wrong, yeah. And then this women empowerment movement started to happen, and I just realized how important this is for women to experience their beauty, to feel good in their skin, and I just fell in love with it.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Yeah. So I was going to say you were very lucky in that you had found a passion that was probably outweighing the wedding stuff. And also there was a market for it. So it was kind of like a great intersection.
Was it a slow transition of like, hey, just my boudoir stuff is picking up as wedding stuff is coming down, or was it a purposeful shift?
[00:13:35] Speaker B: It was a very purposeful shift. So this was just about six years ago, and I am about eight months pregnant with my second daughter, and I've already taken the borough class with Kristen. She's coached me for other business things, how to grow my borough business. And she happened to call me, and she's like, you know what? I'm offering another class.
It's basically like a mentorship to take your boudoir business to the next level. Is that something that you might be interested in? And I'm sitting there, pregnant belly, trying to make this decision, and I kind of started to get a feeling that I really didn't want to do weddings anymore because wedings are on weekends, and I'm missing all the fun things with my kids and my family, and it's very draining physically on my body, and there's a lot of stress and things like that. I kind of lost the love for weddings, right? But I really gained a huge love for boudoir photography because it's flexible hours. I'm in my own studio. It's during the week. I could be home for dinner. And then I'm like, okay, I'm going to do this. And I made the decision that I am no longer doing weddings and that I am only going to focus on boudoir. And it was really hard to make that decision because wedings was my first baby.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: And all of a sudden, I'm just letting it go. So I kind of said to myself, you know what? Maybe I'll just kind of keep weddings. If they pay me, like, $10,000 for a wedding, maybe I will only do it then.
And of course, I got booked for a $10,000 wedding, and I still wasn't happy. And I'm like, wow, okay, that's a sign I'm not happy. And then Covid hit, and that wedding got pushed to 2021, and when she called me, she's like, oh, are you available? We need to reschedule our weding. I didn't even look at the calendar. I'm like, of course I'm available. I'm like, this is the only wedding I'm doing. She didn't know it, but it doesn't matter. I'm like, this is my last wedding. I'm doing. I'm available. And when it was time for the weding, it was on mother's day.
So it was literally like, yes, done with weddings. I'm not doing them anymore. So that's kind of how that transition happened, right?
[00:15:47] Speaker A: And so I hadn't realized this, but when you and I met or when our companies met, I should say you had only really just been in boudoir for. Had to be less than a year.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: So because I started doing boudoir earlier on as an add on for my wedding clients, I've been doing boudoir for about eight years.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I meant full time, not full.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: Time, but yeah, I think full, full time without the weddings. Yeah, probably as fate would have it.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: So we are very selective, obviously, with our vendor partners, and you were one of the first, if not the first, when this idea came to us. Like, we should offer vendors to our clients that have a similar ethic, a similar aesthetic, similar process. And so it is a very selective process. However, how you and I met was so bizarre. Right? We went to a trade show.
We had only owned EMG for a couple of months at that point. You were in your first full year of doing this.
We went to this trade show where people from all over attend, and we just happened to pull into the same parking garage.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: It was raining.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: It was raining, like a few blocks away. I didn't know you, you didn't know me. And I think I had an umbrella or something. Right? And it was just like we walked to this trade show together, and then our booths were right next to each other and we kind of talked throughout the day only to find out that we were only ten minutes away. Like, our operations were only ten minutes away. And when I saw your work, it was like, oh, this is a no brainer. It's so funny because every time that we've done something like this where I've forced you to go on camera or sit here for a podcast, you get jittery. But there is something very calming about you. So not in those moments, but I understand why clients feel very at ease with working with you, but the actual quality of the work is stellar. It was incredible. And I think five or six years ago, that was the first time I had ever heard of Boudoir. But it was not as commonly accessible or known about, I think, as it is now. I see a lot of photographers in our industry who are also adding that to their wedding vertical, and it's more common. But I still haven't seen any work that's as good as yours.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: So my question is, how would you describe your style?
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Well, I think when we did the sound bite, it is a little bit about my style. I try to keep it elegant, simple, in a beautiful way, timeless.
No fuss about the extra stuff. My focus is on the woman. My whole goal is to just bring out her essence. My focus is on making her feel good. The experience for herself to just have fun and enjoy it. It's really not even so much about the photos, although it is. That is the product that I am.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: More about, the experience.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: It is the experience that is my number one goal, is for her to feel good, for her to come out, be like, wow, I did that. I can't believe I did that. And for her to have this memory, if she looks back at it ten years from now, oh, my God, that was me. That was my youth, my beauty. And it comes like a stepping stone for her to move forward with confidence. And if she ever forgets she has those photos to look like, yeah, that's me. I got this. Even on a low day.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think, with no disrespect, I'm going to say some words that maybe I'm not couching this correctly, but I think if just your casual person had never seen it before and they come across it, there is a certain risque nature of the photos. And so because of that, I think in the field of boudoir, there's a fine line between tasteful and cringy. Right.
From what I've seen, when I ask about your style or your work, I've never seen anything that crosses over to the cringy side or, that's not really nice. It's all very classy and elevated and elegant. And that, coupled with the idea of this experience, is what made you a natural partner with EMG, because that's really what we try to do, too. Right? It's all about, like, yeah, the end product is a DJ, a band, or whatever, but it's really about the experience that you have of immersing yourself in this time period as being an EMG bride or going to you for boudoir. So if our clients are listening and they're considering this, what should they be thinking about? I mean, you've given them a lot already about, like, okay, it's about empowerment and learning things, but I've watched personally and professionally people that are, like, hard nose on this, including my wife, right? Like, I am not doing this. And then you jedi mind trick them, but they come out of the experience exactly as you said. So what would you say to the person that's sitting there going like, I'm sure the work is lovely, but I could never do this myself.
[00:20:46] Speaker B: Right? So a lot of women, I would say, actually, most women come to me saying, oh, I don't know if I can do this. I may want to, but I'm not sure.
And a lot of women are afraid that it has to involve full nudity, or it has to be a certain way, or they're afraid that they don't know how to pose, or they're afraid that someone else is going to see it that's not supposed to see it. These are all, like, the misconceptions of boudoir, that it's going to be raunchy.
So what we do, it's done in a very tasteful way without crossing a line. It doesn't have to be shared with anyone except for you and your special someone.
You don't have to worry about posing because we take care of that for you. I consider myself an expert at posing women, and I've never met anyone that I wasn't able to make look good or feel good. And if they're worried about, like, well, why would I ever want this? Well, your clients specifically are brides. This is a perfect opportunity to give him that special something that maybe is unexpected. Maybe it's a little bit out of your comfort zone. And a lot of brides that come to me, they come to me as, like, okay, maybe I want to give it as a gift, but then they realize it's a gift for themselves because they just come out of it more confident, more beautiful. I remember there was this one bride, after her photo shoot, she had, like, a bridal shower or something that she went to, and she comes to me and she's like, oh, my gosh, Anya. I was at my bridal shower, and when they were taking pictures, I was doing this and this, and I remember the chin, and I remember how to breathe, and I felt so good and confident, and I knew exactly what I was doing. And thank you so much.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: Life skills.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: Life skills, literally, like, how to look good in front of a camera, because we're always taking pictures. And if you feel confident that you can look good without worrying about it, that's huge.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: My team here. Johnny, can we pull up Anya's website on the wall? I want to look at a couple of different things here. So my question. And we can pull up the work maybe if you want to use it or not. But how much? Because I've been in your studio, and I was amazed because I was well versed in your work prior to ever coming to your studio. And I couldn't believe all of these photos were in this. Like, it's not tiny, but I would look at it and go, okay, there's one wall, there's a sheet and a couch. And you create this portfolio of just, like, vastness. So how much of a client's personality inspires your creativity or what you bring out. And if we go to the gallery here, you can answer that question if you want to use some of these specifically. But how do you let the client's personality influence the end result?
[00:23:39] Speaker B: Yes, of course. So just like I mentioned before, I don't like the stuff, the fluff. And, yes, I have, like, a couch, a chair, a white wall, a dark wall. I don't want a lot of stuff. I want it to be about the woman. Right. And in terms of personality, I always talk to my clients prior to the session. We have a very deep conversation about who she is or who she may want to try to be, if there's anything that she's unsure about. But maybe we can try. And if it works, it works, and I always make it work.
Or maybe what's her husband into? Maybe there is a special surprise, like, if the guy's into football, maybe wear a sports football jersey or something like that. I like to include those things, but really, for someone who's super shy and very conservative, there's still a way to do a boudoir shoot without all the lingerie.
She's actually, I think, wearing this one specifically wearing a bathing suit. It's just like, a one piece black bathing suit. She's really not showing much, but it's sexy. It's beautiful. It's timeless. It's gorgeous, all those things.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: Well, and I think creatively, right. Like, the use of lighting here is just, like, so well done that it brings her features, that personality through. In this photo, what does the process look like? So, okay, I'm interested in doing this, which I think I would look hilarious doing this.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: We tried.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: We did try. I do remember.
So somebody reaches out to you, what's the process?
[00:25:14] Speaker B: The process. So they reach out to me. We schedule a phone call or a zoom meeting where we kind of go through why she's doing it. And if she just says, oh, it's a gift for my husband, I always ask more questions. I'm always trying to dig a little deeper.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Is that the wrong answer?
[00:25:30] Speaker B: No, it's not.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: It's not the wrong answer, but there's more to it. And that's why I'm asking more questions and digging deeper and maybe putting more ideas into her head of why it could be more important than just a gift for him.
[00:25:45] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:46] Speaker B: I'm trying to make her understand why it's a gift for herself, because it's a discovery of your own personality, Persona. And then we talk about outfits and if she has no idea, like, oh, I'm a bride, I'm just starting out, I have no idea, I will give her ideas. We usually do about five different outfits. And, well, if you're a bride, definitely do a bridal look. If you're going to do a bridal look, then do a black look. A black one could be something really sexy, something that you've never tried before, but go for it. Why the heck not? Then we'll do maybe, like a fun color one, whether it's a red or a blue or whatever looks good on your skin tone. And then I say, let's do some non lingerie pieces. That could be a sweater, white button down shirt, or it could be that football jersey or whatever, whether it's themed or not, just something other than lingerie.
Because it's nice to have some photos of yourself that you can actually not be ashamed of posting because, like you said, some of the photos are more risque and maybe the person is more conservative, but they still want to show those pictures to people because they're so proud of them. So, like, a sweater photo could be nice.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: Right. And so that part of the process. Right. Your conversation is kind of essential to the relationship, I think, in both putting people at ease and for you to kind of know what their end goal is. Right. And so once that happens, then what?
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Well, we schedule the shoot, and I make my clients create a Pinterest board, just like all the brides love to do. They create their wedding pinterest board. So I tell them to create a boudoir Pinterest board with ideas on poses, hair, makeup, outfits, things like that, just so she can kind of start to get a sense of what she really wants to do, because it's not about what I want her to look like. I want to understand what her vision is. And I'm not saying that I'm going to copy these photos that she but inspirationally, inspiration. Just so we get a vibe and we have another call just to kind of go over last minute details before her shoot, just to make sure she's ready. She has all her outfits, she has her jewelry, shoes ready. And I give her some last minute tips, like make sure you do body scrub, moisturize, things like that. Don't forget to drink water. Stay hydrated, get a good night's sleep. Do not skip breakfast. That is very important because you need energy for the day.
I think we start around 10:00 a.m. We'll finish around two.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: So it's a long process, and so they come in. I know they have their hair and makeup done.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: That's included all with it. Hair, makeup is included.
A glass of champagne so you could sit back and relax. Our stylists, they always stay through the entire session. So we do touch ups. So we may start off with a lighter, more natural look, and then maybe as we go, maybe add a fun lip color or more drama to the eyes. So you really get to experience what it's like to be a supermodel for a day, because you're really just there to have fun. And you have all these people kind of, like, making sure you look beautiful and perfect throughout the entire time.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: Yeah, that's incredible. And then the end result. Right. Then they get to kind of look through the work and select favorites and do what they will with them, right?
[00:29:10] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Prints or digital?
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Yeah, specifically for weddings. Our bridal clients, well, actually, I would say even 99% of our clients, they choose an album. So for a bridal client, it's great, because the album is the gift for the groom. And depending on what package they pick, it could be an album with digitals or with a bigger canvas.
So there is a process of looking through the photos and picking out their favorite photos. And there's one thing I want to add. So I don't know if this differentiates me or not. I feel like it does when we are looking at the photos.
I don't allow negative self talk during that process, because women, as I mentioned, are self critical. And it's so easy to say, oh, no, my butt's too big. Or like, oh, gosh, my face. And this one, I don't allow that.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: All right. No. And there is a reason for that. When a woman says something like that, I take a minute. I'm like, hey, let's take a minute. Give yourself grace. Let's only say if you either love it or you like it, you don't need to tell me why you don't like it. Keep that for yourself in the mirror, because you do that every day anyway. But for the next ten minutes, let's just focus on the positive. And I think that's also part of the experience, because that is just another way of boosting her confidence. And if there is a photo, and there's usually a lot that I strongly feel about during the preview and ordering session, I will tell her about it. I'm like, I love this. Because, XYZ, you look confident, or you look really beautiful here, or you're really shining with your smile here, and it just gives them a different perspective of looking at their own photos and like, oh, yeah, you're right. Maybe I do look good here, right?
[00:31:04] Speaker A: Let me ask you this. Do you prescribe to your own medicine? And the reason why I asked that question is I know that you recently had a milestone birthday where you yourself were the subject in a boudoir shoot. And I know this because you posted it publicly.
Was the experience reenlightening for you, going through it like as the client, not as the photographer? And did you keep your thoughts positive, and what was that like for you personally?
[00:31:31] Speaker B: Yeah. So 100%. I'm glad you brought that up. So I recently turned 40, and I wanted to do a photo shoot for myself, so I hired a boudoir photographer, and going into it, I was a little bit nervous. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to work out. I'm not going to eat. I'm going to eat salad. For, like, a month I worked out, but I didn't get to where I wanted to get. And I'm like, well, I guess I'll just take my own medicine and go into it with confidence, or maybe not with confidence, but knowing that I'll come out of it with gained confidence again because I need to practice what I preach. So I just went in with an open heart, open mind, and she photographed me. And seeing the result, I'm like, it is beautiful. And whatever the imperfections are there, that they're fine and I accept them for what they are. And I also know that just give it a couple of years and look to look back at it, it's going to look even better because my first boudoir session ever, I did when I was 31. So that was nine years ago, and I had a very similar experience. I was really nervous. I didn't know what to expect then. And coming out of it, I loved the outcome. But there were a couple of photos that I wanted to criticize my body. And I went to my photographer, I'm like, can you edit that out? And she's like, no. I'm like, what do you mean, no? She's like, it's beautiful. Don't touch it. Just give yourself some time. I promise you, you're going to love it. And here I am looking back at those pictures, and I'm like, oh, my God. She was so right. So I take that to heart, and I make sure to teach that lesson to my clients as well.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: Do you think that's something that you'll do moving forward periodically to kind of remind yourself what it's like to be.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: On the other side of the lens 100%.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: Right. I would assume that that's important to the craft.
[00:33:25] Speaker B: Absolutely.
Just to experience what it's like to be on the other side. Well, you do feel nervous, and those nerves, I'm like, okay, now I know what my client feels like, and there's self doubt. We all experience that.
I feel like no matter how high or how far you go, there's always self doubt. And although I teach these lessons to my clients, there are low days. There are days where I may not look like the way I look, but then I just kind of go back to that experience of that session, be like, you know what? I do look good. I am confident. I am going to step forward in a positive energy and bring this positivity into the world and bring my happy goddess energy. Right.
It's also fun. It is such a fun experience. You just get dressed up, get your hair and makeup done, and look great. It's so much fun.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: I have a very deep question, and I'm going to have to give it some context. Okay, so I have a brother, right? I grew up in a house of boys. I also grew up in a family of very strong women. And so over the last ten years, call it with the horrific public, the metoo stuff and all of that, I was kind of naive and ignorant to just how poorly the treatment of women are because that didn't fly in my house. But because of that, I never really stopped to think about the plight. Right. Or the stuff. And when I sit down with someone like you, who clearly, even at the top of this interview, really purposely thinks about sort of, like, women's empowerment and what that experience of going through life as a woman is, I'm going to ask you, how do you empower your girls, your daughters? And I'm asking you that as a soon to be father of a daughter.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: Congratulations.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:35:26] Speaker B: Yes. That is a really great question. It is one of my number one goals for my girls, for them to grow up and be confident in themselves and specifically in their bodies. I unfortunately did not grow up like that. I grew up, my older sister, she's very thin, and she's been thin her entire life. Like abs, flat stomach. Not my case.
I have a little bit more shape. I've always had a little belly. My parents would always maybe not necessarily make fun of me, but they would poke at my belly or say certain things or don't eat that cookie. And growing up with the magazines and the tv and just kind of not accepting myself for who I am and thinking that I'm not enough and that I have to be someone else. And through my work, I've discovered how to accept myself. So now, as they're growing up, I make sure I don't do that. Do that specifically. So my little one, literally, my girls are kind of like me and my sister. My older one is stick thin and tall. And my little one, not that she's chubby, but she's got a little bit more shape to her.
But my little one loves my squishy belly. She freaking loves it. She'll come up to me and she's done this ever since she was a baby. She would just smoosh her face in there and she'll come up to me, she'll play, like, playdoh with my belly. And she's like, mom, why is your belly so squishy? And the first time she did it, I was like, oh, God. Oh, no. But then I'm like, she's my baby. I'm going to let her. She grew up in there. This is technically hers, or for a while. And I kind of let go of it, and I still let her do it. And if she ever comes up to me, I just let her. And she says, why do you have a squishy belt? I'm like, well, you live there. This is my body. This is how I am, and it's perfectly fine. So that's just my little so far. That's how we talk about these things.
Acceptance. It's normal. I don't hide from them. And if they ever ask me any questions, I just try to explain it the best I can.
[00:37:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Unfortunately, my kid will have to do that with my belly because my wife is also very stick thin.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: But that's okay. But there's just conversations that you can have with them, right?
[00:37:57] Speaker A: Yeah. It's a daunting task, right? It's to think about now, like, I'm responsible for a girl to be woman in this world. It's like it's brought on a whole new host of anxieties. I've never had fear, which is great, which is wonderful. Well, you've said it all. A russian girl learning language from I love Lucy. Coming here and really taking sort of your experience in life and then applying it to a craft, into a business.
It's a convergence of luck, hard work, and I just think that you are made for what you're doing.
[00:38:33] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:38:34] Speaker A: Which is amazing. I can't let you get out of here, though, without going through a little session I like to call quick questions.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: Are you ready to play? Yes.
[00:38:40] Speaker A: Now, the caveat here is you got to be quick. Can't think. All right, quick. Ready?
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: What is your favorite color?
Can't think. Pink. What is your favorite food?
[00:38:51] Speaker B: Sushi.
[00:38:52] Speaker A: Who do you text the most?
[00:38:55] Speaker B: My husband.
[00:38:56] Speaker A: Favorite. Number?
[00:38:57] Speaker B: Nine.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: What's your go to pastime?
[00:39:01] Speaker B: Netflix.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: Okay. The crown. We were just talking about that. Who is your hero?
[00:39:08] Speaker B: My mom.
[00:39:09] Speaker A: Love that.
What is your favorite body part?
[00:39:14] Speaker B: My legs.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: All right. What is your favorite type of weather?
[00:39:17] Speaker B: Weather. Springtime.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Vanilla or chocolate?
[00:39:20] Speaker B: Chocolate.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: And if you were booking your wedding today, who would you book on?
[00:39:23] Speaker B: You? EMG.
[00:39:24] Speaker A: Exactly. Thank you so much. For those watching in the Facebook group, we're going to hang on here just for a quick second. For those listening on the podcast, where can people find you and what should they do?
[00:39:34] Speaker B: If they're interested in learning more, our website is anyafoto.com. That is A-N-Y-A-F-O-T-O. Our instagram is Anya photo boudoir. I'm not going to spell that.
[00:39:49] Speaker A: I don't know that I can spell that.
[00:39:50] Speaker B: It's B-O-U-D-O-I-R-I didn't go to grammar school, so, you know.
So yeah, that's where you can find us.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: Excellent. Thank you, Anya, so much. We really appreciate it.
[00:40:00] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:40:02] Speaker A: You can find
[email protected] or on Instagram at elegant music group.
