Welcome To The BOUDOIR UNIVERSITY
Where we Develop Empathetic & Empowered Photographers Through Education
WHO ARE WE?
The Boudoir University is a collective of photographers & educators who are striving to create change within the photography industry. It was built to house our foundational program called The 7 Pillar Program: The Course For Photographers Who Give A Damn. In an effort to ensure the safety and care of our clients, it is important to learn all of the ways which we may be unintentionally excluding people or causing harm. Therefore, the courses provided through The 7 Pillar Program are designed to provide you with education to fill in your “blind spots” so that you truly can create an amazing and unparalleled experience for your clients!
Over time, it is our vision that The Boudoir University will flourish with additional elective courses from a diverse crew of educators who will provide education for posing, editing, lighting, styling, and working with a variety of different humans and bodies to help you increase your clientele, do right by the clients you have, and give you the tools and confidence you need to truly build your inclusive business!
Thank you for being here for the release of our first program!
our values
We believe that every human deserves the opportunity to have beautiful images to document their story. as such, it is our responsibility as professionals in the boudoir industry to take initiative to show up and confront our biases and blind spots to create a safe, inclusive space and experience where all humans are welcome and treated with respect.
OUR FIRST COURSE, The 7 Pillar Program, is the foundation of OUr mission to creating MORE inclusivity and less harm in the boudoir industry.
It focuses on 7 main pillars of education:
These different pillars are designed to confront blind spots, outdated belief systems, and biases that we all have when it comes to the human experience. In order for us to become more empathetic and thus, more empowering, we need to open ourselves up to understanding experiences from different intersections.
WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?
This course was created for photographers who:
-are afraid of saying the wrong thing
-don’t know what to say so they say nothing
-acknowledge their privilege but don’t know what else to do about it
-want to become more empathetic to other lived experiences
-want to run an inclusive community and make it as safe as possible
We wanted to provide a central resource for you to have the basic understanding of human ethics from 7 different perspectives to help give you the confidence to know what to say and when to say it as well as, what not to say and what not to do. After running a community and being part of many more, I have seen countless times that photographers unintentionally say or do things without considering how it might impact other people/their clients and the unfortunate impact it can have.
WHEN POLLED:
- 98% of people said they would go with a photographer who was educated in the above topics over someone who wasn’t
-82% of people said they have anxiety about inquiring with photographers because of their body shape, size, color, sexual orientation, or gender expression
-97% of people said that if they had undergone a trauma in their life, they would prefer their photographer to be trauma-aware
-70% of people have NOT booked with someone whose worked they loved because they never saw themselves represented on their website/socials
-83% of people said it was VERY IMPORTANT for their photographer to use gender neutral terminology
-98% of people said it was very important that their photographer was actively working to be anti-racist and not just “not actively racist”
-99% of people said it was very important for their boudoir photographer to practice safety and consent (for both the photographer & client)
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
-If you’ve ever had a client that was dissatisfied with their body image and didn’t know how to respond to it
-If you’ve ever had someone tentatively reach out to ask if you “would consider photographing someone like them?”
-If you’ve ever had a client show hesitation when using your furniture
-If you’ve ever not known what to say or do to stand up for your marginalized clients/members of your Facebook group
-If you’ve never considered that not all makeup and hair artists know how to work with Black skin or hair
-If you only use presets that were created and are usually only shown on white folx
-If you are unsure how to be inclusive in your group while still centering the experiences of women
-If you have a studio on a second floor or higher with no elevator access but claim to be inclusive
-If you are working with someone and they suddenly become triggered from past trauma experiences
-If you are giving too much to others and not to yourself
-If you are interested in fusing steamier work with your traditional work but unsure how to approach it
-If you use the phrase “body positive” and only include wardrobe up to a size 3x
-If you have ever touched a client without their consent
-If you still rely heavily on gendered terms and phrases in your info guide, your website, and your group
-If you have potential clients not even consider you because you only feature one body type, size, race, ability, etc. on your website.
Then you may be unintentionally making your studio/space/business less inclusive than you would like.
All of these are just some of the ways photographers might unintentionally cause harm.
This not only affects your mission for inclusivity & diversity, but it can also financially impact your bottom line.
The good news? We have a course for this - well, 7 courses to be exact.
“The Boudoir University has been the most important purchase I've made for my business so far. Being an inclusive photographer has been my goal from day 1 for my business, I came in already having a fair bit of knowledge on these topics but I still learned so much! I found myself having slight shifts in my thinking based on info they presented and challenging some notions I previously had. It also reaffirmed that many of the things I'm already doing are great and helped ease my imposter syndrome! If you are on the fence about taking this course, my advice is do it! If you think you already know it all and won't learn anything, you're wrong! And if the cost seems too high, I urge you to consider how invaluable this knowledge is and how your clients are worth it, as are you!”
- Sara Fierst, Boudoir University Graduate
WHAT’s INCLUDED:
All 7 pillar courses
We have gathered some of the leading educators & activists in the photography industry to provide you with information surrounding some sensitive topics that affect every single human you come in contact with. Through these courses you are going to find your belief systems challenged, hear first hand experiences from people who exist at different intersections of oppression and learn how you can become an ally for equity and equality - because after all, equity is sexy as hell.
A badge & description to put on your website + addition to our directory
Upon completion of your 101 courses you will receive badges along the way, but the one that will really make a difference is the one at the end of Pillar 7 as you will be rewarded with the final badge and description to put on your website. This will allow your clients to understand that you have their back, you are safe to work with, and you will do your best to ensure they have a safe, respectful, empowering, liberating experience!
Access to the boudoir University private facebook group to ask tough questions
Self growth and ethics are not something that will happen overnight, so we have created a facebook group that is designed to provide you a soft spot to land as you uncover different belief systems, ideals, and values that maybe no longer serve or protect you or your clients. Having a space to ask the tough questions without fear of ridicule is super important and we will be there to help you get through it!
PLUS BONUSES!!
As our way to say Thank You for doing the heart work, we are also going to reward you with 50% off any of the elective courses that come down the pipe! We want you to continue to expand your mind, your skills, and your mission to empower as many people as possible!
Ready to learn more? Click the button below to sign up for THE BOUDOIR UNIVERSITY SCHOOL! Once you are in the school, you can check out the 7 pillar program and upcoming courses!
Thank you!
As part of our mission, we wanted to create a platform that would ethically compensate our educators for their time, talent, and emotional labour. Every time your share our platform, take a course, or simply talk about how cool our educators are it helps us to continue to to improve the experience for our clients and create a more inclusive photography industry.
