My Reason: A guy in boudoir

Occasionally I get asked why am I a boudoir photographer...

It's not so surprising to find out I had a life before becoming a boudoir photographer. I had actually originally intended on being a rock star; did the whole move out to LA thing too! And then we decided to start a family. My wife and I moved back to Minnesota to be closer to our families and I picked up a job working for a battered women's shelter.

Overnight Shelter Advocate, awful hours but incredibly rewarding job. As a crime victims advocate, my job was to be there for victims as they were going through turmoil. As an overnight advocate, my job was to man the office in the battered women's shelter.  From 11pm to 7am I would sit in an office in the middle of the shelter and watch the video monitors that watched the parking lot, I would ensure the shelter refrigerator was stocked, I would do paperwork. 

But the most rewarding part of the experience was once I gained the trust of the women in the shelter, they began to pop in regularly. I had a comfy couch and a gentle demeanor. They would sit for hours, talking through their horror stories; most couldn't sleep anyway. They got to talk to a kind man who really did care for them. 

I took that energy and I enrolled in Relationship Coaching courses where I learned about the failings in our communication within relationships. The missed moments couples could have but don't. And it's just so damn sad. 

Leaving that much pain and suffering behind, we moved to Chicago and I still feel the impact of those women's stories on my life... on my heart. In their memory, I want to help empower women to find strength in who they are. NOT to mean pick up a masculine character, unless that's YOUR character; then rock it! But to find strength in who they are! We are all made special, for one purpose or another. It's in finding that purpose we find meaning. This is mine.