Henna-artist Cora's Bohemian Boudoir Session

One of the things that I love about working in Minneapolis is collaborating and working with our multi-talented community of creative people. Cora is a henna artist, she’d worked with a number of clients getting hennaed before boudoir sessions and it sparked her interest.

So she joined me for one of the first sessions in the new studio.

Cora’s work centers around empowering her clients to celebrate their body as an art form. Every day she honors other’s bodies and wanted to embrace this boudoir session as a way to honor her own.

While she fully believed that every body deserves to be loved, she found herself a bit nervous being on camera in lingerie.

I was so inspired that she wanted to put herself outside of her comfort zone for something she believed in so strongly- that everyone deserves to be able to celebrate their own body.

As an artist working for herself, Cora often works lots of hours, on call at many different locations, some weeks are long. She wanted to channel the cozy, confident vibe of her life at home: her calm, relaxed, happy place.

Lindsay of the SM Hair and Makeup Collective helped Cora with a lovely, super-authentic look; giving her hair relaxed waves and making sure not to cover Cora’s beautiful freckles.

Before the session, Cora painted her hands with intricate henna artwork and the lacy details so perfectly enhance and compliment her outfit choices.

There is so much of Cora in these images. Her artwork, her personal style. True to form her favorite images are the ones where she’s smiling. “I look most like myself,” she said.

After the session Cora shared this lovely thought with me:

“I can honestly say I have never been so happy to have you as my photographer. I booked a boudoir session for a multitude of reasons and I learned a few incredible things. I won’t go into it all, but I will say that I have never been more in love with my body and the stories it tells- I felt at home in my skin. You captured all of the best moments and used your intuition and skill to highlight my personality with natural beauty and lighting- truly special!”

Cora, thank you thank you for sharing your art and trusting me to help you celebrate and love your body!