Nude African American woman bathed in sunset daylight with her hands to her face

The Experience

So… what’s it like?

We know you’re curious about the Bull City Boudoir photography experience, so this page walks you through the joyful, unique, creative way we celebrate you step-by-step.

Included in every Bull City Boudoir creative experience

Creative Consultation

At least 10 Instant Photos

Two-Hour Photo Session

Personalized Image Reveal

Pose and Styling Guidance

Secure Private Proof Gallery

Getting started

Booking your photo session

We make booking your Bull City Boudoir photography session quick and easy. Follow the link below, select your experience, and choose a day and time that works best for you. That’s it! You’re on your way to experiencing the best boudoir photography in Durham.

Pre-Booking Consultation

Are you boudoir curious? We offer free, zero-obligation pre-booking meetings to share how we work, set expectations, and ensure that Bull City Boudoir is the right fit for your intimate image needs.

Session Fees

Once you’ve selected the perfect date and time for your session, our appointment system will take you directly to our Square-powered customer portal. Your session fee ensures your date and time are reserved but does not include images. We also offer options to ensure our boudoir photography experiences are affordable and accessible to everyone.

Session Agreement

Once your session reservation is confirmed, keep your eyes open for an email from us with a link to your Session Agreement. Once complete, the hard part is over and you’re ready for the fun stuff.

Nude African woman bathed in orange light with her hands to her face
Why Our Work Looks Different

Creative Consultation

After booking your session, we’ll schedule a creative consultation between you and our photographer, Dan. The Bull City Boudoir experience diverges from typical boudoir photography during this session. Dan will discuss with you what you’re looking for from the photography session, go over possible locations, listen to any specific ideas that you might have, and start to elicit inspirations from you.

Our creative sessions are focused on celebrating you, so we want to understand what inspires you—not just for the photo session but for you as a person. We will ask you to provide a few things that shed light on who you are. Besides photographs and paintings, past clients have provided music, poetry, movie clips, and even fabric swatches—all things that sparked their imagination.

We’ll also discuss styling, provide tips, and share some of our stories to help put you at ease.

The MAIN Event

The Photo Session

This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for – your Bull City Boudoir photo session is happening! Your photographer will guide you through the entire photo shoot, helping you pose and capturing the most amazing angles that highlight how incredible you are. Be prepared to be sore from all the smiles, toe-tingling excitement, and joyful laughter.

Pose Guidance

You’ll probably be a little nervous at first—it’s normal and totally fine. Rest assured, we have strategies to put you at ease, tame those butterflies, and get you well on your way to having fun.

Moving at Your Pace

A typical creative session lasts about two hours, with up to three outfit changes. Trust us—the time flies by. Some of our optional add-ons, like a second location or intimate filmmaking, add time, so we build in breaks (which make for the perfect time to take a peek at the photos).

Instant Gratification

When the excitement of the session winds down, you won’t leave empty-handed. We’ll provide you with at least 10 instant photos from the session to keep and tide you over until your big reveal.

Our Favorite Part

The Reveal

After your photo session, we will reach out to set up an online viewing and ordering session in person or via video chat.

This is when you get to see the incredible images of you from your session. This is our favorite part of the experience — the joy, the smiles, the exclamations of happiness, and even — sometimes —tears of catharsis are why we love to create with clients.

At this point, we will discuss how you want to receive your photos: archival albums, exhibition prints, digital keepsakes, and even hand-crafted unique artwork. We will also provide you with access to a secure, private proof gallery to review your images at your leisure.

The waiting is the hardest part

Delivery

Once you’ve chosen your images and formats, you’ll have your incredible images in your hands in a matter of days to weeks. Because we all love instant gratification, we can ship most items directly to your home.

Satisfy your curiosity: pull back the curtain.

Optional Creative Session Extras

Customize your Bull City Boudoir experience to best suit your needs and desires. Mouse over for more information.

Hair and Makeup

On-site hair and makeup

Have a personal stylist on-site for touch-ups or transformations.

Additional Time and Locations

Extra Time & Space

Extend the fun and creativity, or take the show on the road (with extra time built-in).

Film Photography

Traditional Film

Capture your session on 35mm and/or medium format film.

Intimate Filmmaking

Moving Pictures

Some memories are bigger than a single frame. Add 30 minutes of professional filmmaking.

Handmade Photographic Products

Customize your Bull City Boudoir experience to best suit your needs and desires. Mouseover for more information.

Photo Books and Albums

Custom Photo Books

Unique personalized albums handcrafted with your choice of images.

Custom Puzzles

Custom Wooden Puzzles

A whimsical gift made just for you.

Archival Gallery Prints

Exhibition Quality Prints

Archival-quality fine art prints ranging from 4×6″ to over 30×40″

Digital Photo Vaults

USB Drive with Photos

Secure and discreet with your choice of images.

Handmade Cyanotypes

Cyanotypes

Handmade alternative process images. No two are alike.

Keepsake Digital Album

Digital Photo Player

An amazing way to display your photos a in a video player form

Frequently Asked Questions

Where will we hold our boudoir photography session?

Our ideal location is usually your home. If your home doesn’t have a lot of natural light or isn’t the most picturesque backdrop for whatever reason, we do have pre-selected locations around Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and throughout North Carolina that we can offer clients.

Alternatively, we recommend picking out an Airbnb space. It’s amazing how many well-decorated and beautiful spaces you can find. Bonus: you can have a little getaway for yourself once the photo session is over. Sometimes, it’s hard to find the right apartment/house, so you can also check sites Peerspace and VRBO.

Before booking a space, feel free to ask our opinion. We usually can tell you if it will be an ideal space or not. Be sure to ask for photos of the space to make sure it’s the aesthetic you’re going for.

I’m transgendered, genderqueer, nonbinary, or otherwise not cisgender; will you photograph me?

Of course! Members of the LGBTQIA+ community are welcomed at Bull City Boudoir with open arms. We want our photographs to reflect who you are and who you aspire to be.

Do you photograph men, couples, or non-binary relationships?

Yes, we photograph men and also intimate couple’s/groups. So long as you are over the age of 18, we are happy to celebrate who you are via our work.

What should I wear? Do I have to be nude? Can I keep my clothes on?

The clothes you pick can depend on your comfort level and vision for the session. We tell our clients to plan clothes based on a ‘special Saturday / lazy Sunday’ routine, which usually includes underwear, t-shirts, and jeans. On the must-have list, we usually put multiple colors of the following: lingerie, underwear, t-shirts, and jeans.

Above all else: wear the clothes you feel most comfortable in. If you feel comfortable the photos will show that.

As for nudity, consent is paramount. The session can begin with you wearing underwear/lingerie but it doesn’t necessarily have to end this way.

What can I do to make my experience great and to make it easy to have a fantastic boudoir photography session?

Hydrate and get plenty of rest before your session day. Leave your inhibitions at the door, come in the right frame of mind, feel confident, revel in who you are, and be prepared to have fun and celebrate yourself.

I have concerns about my figure or skin problems, what can be done to make my areas of worry look better?

Nobody and no body is perfect, but everbody and every body is beautiful..

We can assure you that whatever is worrying you is ‘normal’ and is something we’ve encountered and conquered with our skill sets. Our photographer is an accomplished retoucher. He can address almost anything that could distract from your image.

Though we want you to celebrate who you are and feel confident in your own skin, when asked, we will gladly retouch photos for our clients — with their guidance and with the level of care and consideration that we would expect with our own photos. We will never make you look fake or plastic, and we will never make you look like someone else.

We aim to make you look and feel your very best, and we take the time to do that in your photos. If you have a particular concern, please let us know the day of your scheduled session, so that we can address it practically, in-camera, with light, makeup, wardrobe, posing, etc, if possible.

I want to be photographed but I don’t want other people to see them. Can that be arranged?

Absolutely! We value your privacy. Your proofs will be delivered in a secure, private gallery, to which only you have access.

Furthermore, no matter how much we love your images, we will not display your photos in our portfolio or other promotional materials without your explicit, written consent.

I want to do something sexy – and I mean really sexy – during my boudoir photography session. Is that ok?

As you can probably imagine, we’ve seen a lot of things in the course of more than a quarter century making artistic nude and erotic artwork. If you have an idea, please share it with us.

So long as whatever happens in front of our cameras is consensual, ethical, and safe, we’ll probably be comfortable with it (and if we’re not, we will politely demure and promise not to yuck your yum).

Our only absolute limit is that our staff will not “participate” in your sessions aside from our photography and creative duties.

My friend and I want to book photo sessions and come at the same time, is that possible?

Yes, we can accommodate more than one person at a time, up to groups of 6. The maximum number of ‘looks’ we can do in a day is 6 (for the group) without help. The more people that come together, the longer the process takes, but as long as you have the time to do it, it can be a lot of fun to photograph with friends.

If you plan to book sessions together, please make a note of your friends’ names on the booking form. Of course, everyone pays for their own package and must pay a separate deposit when the session is booked.

For larger groups (3, or more) we will only photograph single looks, as hair and make-up preparation takes the most time. If you have a larger group, we do have multiple freelance hair and make-up artists with whom we work and who can be hired for the day. This does add additional expense. (Generally, $250 per H/MUA and $100 per assistant.)

Do you offer payment plans?

We understand that the cost of a high-quality, conscientious, respectful, professional, and — above all else— enjoyable boudoir photography experience isn’t an impulse purchase for most people. To make our services and the creative results as accessible as possible Bull City Boudoir offers both installment payment plans and sliding scale pricing.

Installment plans let you break your photo session fees into smaller, affordable payments. We accept automatic interest-free installments via Afterpay through Square, or we can build a custom payment plan to meet your circumstances.

Sliding scale fees are variable prices for products and services based on a customer’s ability to pay. Fees are reduced for those who have lower incomes or less disposable income, regardless of income.

Please contact us to learn more.

I paid for a photo session and had to cancel. Can you refund my session fee?

Life happens — we get it. Session fees and deposits are not refundable, but you can apply them to a future photo session.

(If you do need to cancel or reschedule, we do ask for 24 hours’ notice, if possible, else we may ask for a new session fee when you rebook.)

What sort of paperwork/documentation is involved in a photo session?

As you can imagine, our photography sessions are creative and fun experiences, but there is a little bit of paperwork that’s all about keeping you, your images, and us safe.

When you book your session, we will provide you with a digital contract that explains your rights, protections, and expectations. We also will provide you with a terms of use statement so that you know exactly what you can do with your fantastic boudoir images after the session (it boils down to: you can’t sell them independently because of U.S. Copyright protections).

On the day of your session, we will ask you to fill out our 2257 form — a requirement under 18 U.S. Code § 2257 to ensure that the images are made with your consent and that you are an adult of legal age, along with photographing you holding a government-issued photo I.D. — these records are stored securely independently of your photos.

Finally, we will provide you a single-page printed photo permission form that you’ll hold onto; if you decide to let us showcase any of your beautiful photos, that form gives your consent for our promotional use.

Do you make videos?

We do, indeed, offer intimate and erotic filmmaking services. Our lead artist has a post-graduate filmmaking degree from a top school, has directed and edited commercial, documentary, and artistic motion pictures… and he’s even edited professional adult films for award-winning performers and studios. Please contact us so we can help you realize your vision.

Do you travel?

Yes!

We are based in Durham, North Carolina, but work regularly across the Carolinas (in places such as Asheville, Beaufort (NC and SC), Cary, Charleston, Charlotte, Florence, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh, and Wilmington) and Southern Virginia.

We are also globe trotters and have been all across the U.S. and to Argentina, Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Italy, Hungary, Mexico, and the UK in the past three years.

If you’d like us to come to your corner of the globe, please contact us.

Do you photograph products for websites or advertisements?

Absolutely! Our photographer Dan’s first professional gig was photographing product photography at a leading N.C. catalog retailer with an international presence. Please contact us with details for your project for a quote.

I’m building a modeling portfolio, would you be willing to photograph me TFP or TFCD?

Our photographer Dan only works Time For Print/CD (TFP/CD) with a limited number of collaborators of his choosing. Feel free to contact us — there’s no harm in asking.

I’m a professional performer / artist and would love to work with you, but don’t need albums. Do you offer special rates?

Yes! Please contact us and we can discuss our special rates.

I have other questions that aren’t answered here. How do I reach you?

Use the contact us link — we’d love to hear from you.