When Calgary celebrates our western heritage with the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, cowgirls show up in cowboy hats, jean jackets, and ridin’ boots. Some even have spurs.
I’m not sure you can call these boudoir photo sessions.
But they do.
There are the girls, women, who ride, rope ‘n race. They are unbridled and wild.
Then there are cowgirls by spirit, hidden until Stampede time. They show up as the same.
I will share some of their stories in a bit.
The Calgary Stampede has a catchphrase: *We’re Greatest Together.*
That works for us.
Here are a few stories about times when the cowgirl spirit entwined with our Inner Spirit.
Many of the 5,250 women I have photographed over 46 years carry that spirit.
I appreciate that the cowgirl is the symbol of freedom, confidence, resilience, and adventure.
To quote Calamity Jane:
“I figure if a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one.”
Clients tell me their Inner Spirit Photography experience guided them to their first bold chapters of their own legends.
Why they come may seem varied, but themes do emerge.
Something inside seems to call women here. Their full understanding of why they wanted the experience came after the session. Then, what it added to their lives was clear.
Some started out wanting sexy photographs of themselves.
Others were marking milestones.
There were those closing difficult chapters or celebrating the beginning of better ones.
But when looking closer, they discovered a cowgirl spirit was nudging them to start their bold legends.
Catlin, A Bad Lariat, and A Good Friend
Catlin stood facing the camera with a fierce and sexy look on her face. She wore only her boots, a weathered cowboy hat, an open vest, with a lariat in her hand.
Her support friend Tracy sat watching from the couch, fidgeting.
Suddenly she left the couch, striding into the set, reaching for the lariat.
“I can’t stand it! It’s wrapped wrong. You look amazing, but I can’t leave this.”
Tracy was a champion roper; the wrongly coiled rope was a detail she had to fix.
Within seconds she had the lariat properly coiled and placed back into Catlin’s hands.
Then she shot me a look that was a little *sorry* and a lot *what was I supposed to do?*
Catlin burst out laughing.
A few moments later, her fierce, sexy look was back.
Tracy sat back down, satisfied. This was exactly why she had come—to help make things perfect for her bestie.
Hayloft Mayhem: What Would Their Partners Say?
Serina was lying back on the stack of straw bales. Loose straw scattered across the wooden floor, saddles and tack hanging nearby.
She had started with a full, stylish western outfit. With growing confidence in her purpose, the outfit gradually disappeared.
Now all she had was a jean jacket draped over her shoulders. More for protection from the coarse straw strands’ ends than need.
Her legs looked long and elegant, which she loved since she was short. Her mommy tummy was hidden. She looked up to me on the ladder with a slyly wicked grin and sparkling eyes.
Carol, her lifelong friend and frequent partner in crime, was looking at the previews.
“Wow. Can you make me look like that?” she asked, looking up at me too.
“Sure he can,” Serina replied for me, “Get in here, girl!”
Moments later, Carol was standing in the set, nude as Serina, a white shirt over her shoulders, looking to me for direction.
I had her lie down on the straw-covered floor, with her legs going up, looking as long as slender as Serina’s. Being short too, she adored that.
Now I must admit, I was surprised for a moment.
I had expected Serina to dress up to match Carol.
Instead, Carol dressed down to match Serina.
As I climbed the ladder for the perfect camera angle, I heard them giggling about their respective partners seeing them like this.
They agreed it would be fun to watch the reactions.
Straw Stays Around . . . Forever
The straw bales in the set have a downside.
I build the hayloft with seven bales of golden straw. One is broken apart; the loose straw is scattered across the floor and used to fill gaps between bales.
The loose straw seems to have a life of its own.
I swear they hide in corners and floor cracks, emerge randomly months later.
Tiny reminders of mischievous cowgirl adventures long after the session is over.
Donna and Her Red Cowgirl Hat
You might say this was not Donna’s first rodeo.
This was her seventh session with me.
(See what I did there? Not first rodeo. Not first session. Clever right? )
Donna loved red.
The boldness of it.
The confidence of it.
The joy of it.
How sexy it made her feel.
She never lost the strong accent of her homeland, yet if ever there was a cowgirl in spirit, it was Donna.
She put on her Daisy Duke shorts, bright red boots, a brilliant red hat, and, of course, her fun-loving spirit.
This portrait was for her wall; she wanted images more suggestive than revealing.
She had fun coming close to revealing it all, implying and teasing in each shot.
We even filmed some slow-motion video of her quick-drawing a prop revolver while wearing a bandana across her face.
I swear you could still see her grin through her eyes.
Donna also took great delight in posing, as she called it, “bare-assed,” in the same antique western tub that, we were told, Clint Eastwood used during the filming of Unforgiven.
Unsuspecting Men . . .
I have told you about sessions where girlfriends come along for encouragement, support, or simply to share the adventure.
Sometimes they bring their husbands.
The husbands love it! They get to watch their wives being photographed.
What they rarely suspect is that their wives have plans.
And those crafty plans have always worked.
Bill never saw it coming.
Even when Jennie packed his guitar, his cowboy boots, his favourite belt, and his well-worn hat, he still didn’t suspect anything.
Either he wasn’t paying attention, or she was incredibly smooth.
She started by charming him to lean against the wall, in the shadows, shirtless. He got to look at her while she posed nude in the western tub.
Then somehow—he still claims not to know exactly how it happened—Bill ended up nude in the tub.
He leaned back wearing only his boots and hat while strategically holding his guitar, with a huge, I can’t believe this” grin
Jennie took his place leaning on the wall with a satisfied grin. This was the shot she had planned for
Her plan had worked perfectly.
A Harley Is A Horse Too
Nysastra brought a rather large prop into the studio.
Her sleek blue Harley-Davidson.
Her steel and chrome horse.
She loved the open road and the big bike rumbling beneath her.
She shared her love of feeling the wind on her skin and hair.
She would happily ride nude, she said, except for one problem.
The bugs.
A Harley is a long motorcycle.
We had to double the size of the western set to fit it in. It was so worth the extra effort
Back home, she stored her bike in the barn.
It looked just as comfortable in our “barn”.
I loved how the image captured her story.
Her finished image was 40 inches long and hangs above the couch.
The Cowgirl Spirit Lives in Boudoir Photography
Boudoir photography—and even the bolder nude portrait—can be a place where the cowgirl spirit shines.
She is sassy.
Brassy.
Bold.
Adventurous.
A little mischievous.
After photographing more than 5,250 women, I have learned that the cowgirl spirit has very little to do with horses, hats, or boots.
It is about freedom.
Confidence.
Adventure.
A little mischief.
And the willingness to become the legend of your own story.
