Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and boudoir photos make the perfect gift for your special someone. If you don’t have a special someone, they are also a great way to celebrate how beautiful you are!

For $300 + GST, this new boudoir package includes:

• Boudoir portrait session (one hour)
• Custom designed photo presentation box
• Favorite 10 mounted images (5×7″) of your choice
• 10% off additional print orders 30 days after proofs posted

The photos can be taken at your house or at another location of your choosing. All orders must be placed by Thursday, January 26th to be ready by Valentine’s Day, with photo sessions completed by Saturday, January 21st.

To book your session, contact me at info@tanyaplonka.com or 403-892-3540.

Cassandra was fabulous to work with (and not just because she owns a ton of zebra print, though that definitely helps sway my opinion!). Her extensive clothing collection made it difficult to narrow down a wardrobe, but once we did she was such a natural in front of the camera and looks stunning. The gorgeous artwork in her bedroom was the perfect backdrop, though I had to make use of her kitchen floor since it matched her piercing blue eyes so well.

You can find more info on boudoir sessions here.

Disclaimer: The following photos do not contain full nudity but are probably still NSFW.

With Starsha’s help, I’m here to school you on my boudoir sessions! :)

Boudoir sessions are an empowering way to feel good about your body and about who you are. Embrace your beauty! These sessions are for women of any shape, size, or age.

Don’t worry about being shy. We start with more clothing until you get a little more comfortable, and most women feel natural (and even like a model!) ten minutes into the session. Starsha was specifically recruited for the blog, but boudoir sessions are ones I do not publicly post. For most women, they are a very personal thing – whether for a significant other or just for yourself! You get to view your photos in a password protected gallery that is only visible by people with whom you share it. The boudoir photos you see in my website gallery are all carefully selected so as to not be too personal or revealing, and then permission is sought from the subject. Nothing will be in public eye without you first giving the okay. If you are totally thrilled and brave, let me know and I’d love to post your photos for other people to see!

Where do we do them? In your own home! This is where you feel most comfortable, and I can get the most natural, relaxed look from you in this kind of environment. Besides that, your home usually totally reflects who you are and that’s something to be embraced. These bright yellow walls? These photos were all done in Starsha’s little bedroom – which is so amazing, bright, colorful, and happy :)

I have taken dreadfully long to post these! I wanted to give them proper attention, but constantly could never find enough time. Last spring, Beth shaved her head for a cancer fundraiser and wanted to do a few fun photo shoots while she was bald. We decided we needed to do body painting! Sarah volunteered her painting skills; normally she does face painting, so this was a bit of a stretch for her!

During Beth’s three hour makeup session, I freaked out a little at the pouring rain that wouldn’t stop, but luckily the last few drops fell as we drove to our location. I thought I found somewhere private enough, but for some reason everyone decided to go for nature walks in the rain that day, so we constantly either hid Beth in the vegetation, or paused to answer very curious questions from the people passing by.

As usual, Beth was an awesome model and her rock climbing skills really came in handy in her portrayal of what we decided was the “Beth Monster” (I would have fallen out of the trees if I tried to pose like her). Also, thank you to Sarah for the amazing painting job!

Model: Beth
Makeup Artist: Sarah Christensen

NSFW due to [painted] nipples

Behind the scenes:

Last Saturday Lethbridge was graced by the Kabuki Guns Burlesque (KGB) dancers from Calgary who put on a stellar show at Henotic. I was excited to see this as my only burlesque encounters up to that point had been seeing Big John Bates and the Voodoo Dollz, but I knew there was a whole other world of burlesque out there I had yet to experience!

Just after the girls arrived in Lethbridge, they took some time for an awesome photoshoot with myself, Michael (for a brief while before family matters called), and the lovely Starsha who assisted with lighting (and she has a fantastic eye for detail, so she doubled as our stylist!). We started with the girls’ solo outfits, and I loved their fun costumes. Every costume totally reflected each girl’s personality… and I was especially thrilled when Princess Leia walked out…

[No nudity follows, but burlesque costumes may not be the most "safe for work" ;)]

We wrapped up the shoot with some group shots on the restaurant level, but I don’t think the people dining seemed to mind :)

One of the cool things about the old Firehall are the jail cells that are still downstairs. The space is used as an artist studio, but we were able to sneak down for a bit and lock the girls up.

Later that night, Dirty Girl Social Club out of Calgary opened up the show.

The crowd responded wonderfully to the KGB girls, so I hope they come back to perform for us again!

Finally, I can show a little more than my Hotel Arts teaser from a week ago!

We started the shoot by doing some promo photos for the Hotel’s lounge, Raw Bar, and then took to the gorgeous lobby areas to do fashion photography. The hotel was also gracious enough to lend us a room, so we had a chance to do boudoir work as well. I would have loved a two day shoot out of this as I ran out of time and was only able to extensively work with one of the models… At least it leaves more ideas for the next time!

There’s no full nudity in the photos, but if you’ll get in trouble looking at girls in corsets or barely covered in showers except for steam on the windows when you’re at work, make sure you only check these out when you’re in private!

I’d also like to point out I love doing boudoir work, so if you are interested, please contact me! I’ve been doing it for a while, but only recently with models, so I haven’t been able to show it off before these last few shoots!

Elaina was totally channeling Marilyn, but unfortunately I didn’t have much time to work with her – we are definitely planning another shoot in the future.

While Michael shot in the women’s bathroom, I took the urinals! Us girls can justify it since my assistant for the day, Torin, was there :)

Miyuki Divine is also a burlesque dancer, and she had a ton of fabulous outfits.

I don’t know if this one counts as “fabulous” but it makes me quite happy! We couldn’t stop laughing during this part of the shoot.

I love Rydell’s versatile look… I didn’t recognize her from her photos when I first met her. She is one classy chameleon :)

Model LaceyLux had a corset done in body paint by makeup artist Kada Issa, who did an amazing job. The other photographers got photos of Lacey in the makeup, and I got photos of removing the makeup!

Conveniently placed steam is great.