Born in Cape Town but lived in Somerset West and Stellenbosch until leaving to do my national service in the SAAF as a mission controller (in fact, I spent some time at Mariepskop in 1984 doing a radar conversion course before being deployed to the border in SWA/Namibia).

Moved back to Stellenbosch after my national service and met Ilse in a pub in 1989.

In 1995 we left Stellenbosch and moved to Tanda Tula as the assistant management couple. When we left Tanda Tula in 1997, we agreed that this is where our hearts were, and we’d come back and settle down here. It took 20 years to return, but in 2017 we finally came back and built our house in HWE.

My life in photography started in Grade 3 in 1973 when we had to choose an extramural activity to keep us out of mischief. I was 9 – I had no idea what I wanted to do. Hell, I didn’t even know what “extramural” meant! So my parents bought me a plastic Kodak camera and said “Try photography.”. And that was it, the bug bit and bit hard! 51 years later I’m still passionate about it.

I often get asked if I’m a wildlife photographer. Sadly, the answer is not professionally. It’s one of my favourite genres, but it doesn’t make money, so it’s relegated to a hobby.

So, how do I make an income as a professional photographer? Commercial photography and boudoir photography. The commercial side is currently where most of the money comes in at the moment, but the boudoir side is fast catching up. Who would have thought so in Hoedspruit.

So the elephant in the room is “why boudoir”?

2 reasons – boudoir came about as a result of the fashion work I was doing. The spin off was that this put me in touch with models who needed portfolios. And because many of the models wanted lingerie shots in their portfolios, it was a natural progression.

The 2^nd reason (and more importantly) is that you don’t need to be a brain surgeon to realise the effect that mainstream and social media pressurises people, predominantly girls, to look a certain way otherwise they aren’t considered beautiful.

The models you work with on fashion shoots are living on diets of nicotine, coffee and Coke (both types) to stay thin! You see the pressure mothers put on 11, 12, 13, 14-year-old girls to lose weight, have breast implants, lip filler, Botox, vaginal and anal bleaching (maybe leave the bleaching bit out!). Mothers do it to their kids! It’s sick!!! I’ve seen the fallout and it’s not pretty – the eating disorders, the addictions, the body cutting, the meltdowns, psychiatric hospitals, the attempted and successful, suicides.

But it also spills over to the general public – if you don’t look like the latest cover girl on Vogue, Cosmo or Femme, then you’re not beautiful. What many people fail to realise is the amount of Photoshopping that goes into making the “perfect” cover page woman. And this results in people being unhappy with themselves.

My mission is to make women and girls realise that they don’t have to look like supermodels to be beautiful. I want them to embrace their unique qualities – their clear, flawless skin, the shine in their eyes, the skew nose that nobody else has, their smile that pulls up on one side of their mouth, everything that is uniquely you.

This is where my boudoir photography comes in.

I want to capture the TRUE beauty that I see in women. I want them to look at the final images and say to themselves “I’m not Cindy Crawford, but I AM DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS!”

I want the women to come and do a photo shoot for themselves, not for a partner/husband/boyfriend/significant other (but, hey, if hubby likes what he sees, that’s a bonus!).

But why boudoir? Why lingerie?

First off – there is NO rule saying boudoir images MUST incorporate lingerie or nudity. The genre is named after a “boudoir” which is a woman’s bedroom or small private room where she can relax and do her own thing and be at peace with herself. If that means sitting reading a book wearing fluffy pyjamas, so be it. Or wearing a tatty old jersey. Or some lacy lingerie. Or butt-naked for that matter. It’s her space for her to do as she pleases, dressed as she pleases.

Having said that, boudoir photography typically features lingerie or implied nudes, but how naked you get is entirely up to you! Everybody’s comfort levels are different.

A boudoir photo shoot is empowering: body, mind, and soul. It reminds you that, even though in your hectic everyday life you may not always feel sexy and beautiful, you are actually a showstopper.

So now that someone has TOLD you that you are beautiful and sexy, why not go and spoil yourself with some frilly lingerie and then let me visually prove to you that you are just that!

On a final note. Boudoir photography is more than just suggestive photos. This type of photography celebrates sensuality, intimacy, and self-confidence – so it’s not just about physically stripping down, it’s also about celebrating yourself and your body, and stripping away rules and expectations about what women “should” look like or what women “should” do. Women give of themselves, and love so selflessly that they forget to take a minute to appreciate themselves.

My work is not about me taking photos of you. It is about me visually showing you your true worth.

 

 

For more info, follow me on:

IG: @boudoirbybrent.za

FB: @boudoirbybrent

Web: https://boudoirbybrent.co.za/

Phone: 083 655 6972