Beautifully naked you

Beauty shines inside & out

Lights! Camera! And you step onto the set in front of Rachel Stephens’ camera, into the fantasy you’ve always dreamed of. Your hair and makeup are perfect, done by a professional stylist. You are flawless, desirable, sexy, gorgeous. Naked.

 This is no dream. This is Rachel Stephens Photography, the art / photography of Rachel Stephens who for 3 years has been working professionally at making women of all ages, shapes, and sizes desirable and sexy in “boudoir” photography. The women photographed are no different than you. They are housewives, doctors, parents, grandparents, sized 16 to 6, Aged 21 to 61, but they all have one thing in common. “They have the innate need to feel sexy and beautiful,” says Rachel Stephens. “Despite the fashion and beauty industries spoon-feeding us their products with sexy images of half naked or naked women, there is a social stigma that we fear if we ourselves embrace our sexuality. As women, we wear many hats from wife to mother to career to friend to homemaker to taxi service to endless tasks that need doing and at the end of the day, who has the time or energy to shed it all and just be a woman, sensual and gorgeous?"

Subjects bring their own props

Some pose for photographs in sexy lingerie, or wrapped in bed sheets, or in seductive clothing, or in nothing at all. These are “Siren” sessions. Some have professional photographs taken of themselves, perhaps for business purposes, gifts, or for portfolios; these are “Digital Portrait” sessions. “Industry standard retouching sessions” and professional hair & makeup styling are included with each package, so that you look like you just stepped out of a high quality magazine. All photographs are done with dignity and respect, an art form. There is nothing nasty or x – rated in these photographs, and the subject’s inner beauty shines through in every shot. Some of the women pose for photos to be given as gifts; others have always wanted to have a beautiful one-of-a-kind photograph of themselves. 

Packages are reasonably priced

Self-taught artist Rachel Stephens describes the metamorphosis she sees in her subjects. “When we begin, they are a bundle of nerves and when we finish, they are relaxed, laughing, having fun, holding their heads higher and wishing they could stay longer!” Rachel will show the women their photographs, during shooting, and, “I always hear ‘is that me? Who is that!’ followed by girlish laughter and often times a few tears.” When her subjects leave, Rachel sees the women feel better about themselves than when they came in, “and they earned it. It is no small task to strip down, literally, to your most vulnerable self and allow yourself to be photographed. I don’t take that lightly and am very humbled by each woman who gives me her trust in this way. I strive to give them the gift of their true beauty and I hope that they allow those feelings to stay with them.” Rachel has a natural rapport with women, an innate nurturing instinct she utilizes in each shoot, creating a comfort zone for each personalized session. 

The rapport, or “sisterhood” as Rachel refers to it, is a lifetime achievement she herself has acquired. Growing up with obesity, she had stared at photos of women in magazines and, like so many women, agonized why she was not ‘perfect’ like these women. This loss of self-value had followed her into adulthood. Rachel’s lack of esteem led to a violent marriage. Eventually she found the strength to escape the union, only to fall into another abusive situation. “I was living the corporate dream,” she explains. “Single mom, perfect job, great money, perfect life, I could do anything. Superwoman! But I was secretly so unhappy” to the point of depression.