Door // Asexual Agender Boudoir Session // In the Studio
Door - She/They
Getting to create with Door was beautiful. We talked in depth about how they wanted to be seen and their relationship to their body. I usually don’t push for or recommend having props during sessions, but Door bringing along books seemed more like an extension of themselves, and led to some of my favorite photos.
These sessions are meant to let your soul shine, and this is the perfect example that your photos don’t have to be overly sexual or show tons of skin. I’m here to let you feel amazing, and that journey is completely different for everyone.
“I have a complicated relationship with desire, and my body. I am asexual and agender and often feel entirely separate from my own physical form. Which I generally prefer! But I love Shawnee and her work, and had worked with her before. I found myself wondering what a boudoir shoot would be like, for me. Would I feel uncomfortable and on the spot? Would I feel excruciatingly aware of my own body or happily apart from it? And what would the results be like, to see myself through the intimate lens of Shawnee’s camera?
I messaged her with these thoughts, and asked her if she thought a boudoir shoot would work for me? Her response was an excited, resounding, YES.
When the day arrived, I hadn’t slept the night before. I was nervous but hopeful. I had sent Shawnee a series of inspirational images, which I thought were probably incomprehensible (one of them was of a 16th Century portrait of a woman whose ruff had been edited to cover half her face) but which Shawnee was excited by. In the studio, her excitement was infectious. I had been intrigued by the lingerie in the client closet beforehand, but in trying pieces on I found they didn’t feel right at all. What did feel right, however, were the ROBES. Shawnee encouraged me to go nuts and I did, sweeping around in acres of silky fabric and feeling safe and dramatic and fun while the specifics of my physical form were comfortably obscured.
Shawnee had encouraged me to bring books, and having props to play with and distract myself with, was exactly what I needed. And the results were perfect—I am, after all, a librarian.
It was overall a fun, loving experience. It wasn’t a sensual experience, but it did leave me feeling a curious sort of desirability about my own body, which is unusual for me. It carried me like a cloud for the rest of the day.”
