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I am so excited to announce that the January Boudoir Marathon in Atlantic City is finally here! These have become very well known with BLP and I look forward to planning them every year! Having these twice is a year is really fun because I get to plan a winter and summer one in totally different hotels. Each year we get so many women coming out to get photos taken for their boyfriends, husbands, partners, and even for themselves! In July, I even got them done!!

Last year we booked the a Penthouse Suite at the Chelsea in Atlantic City and the House of Blues Suite in the Showboat Hotel & Casino.

Both locations were high end and pure luxe! They are amazing! This year we looked around and decided to stay in Atlantic City! In January we will be going to the Golden Nugget in a 1 bedroom Suite. This means great things, and I will tell you why. Privacy is HUGE for me, and I want everyone to feel comfortable doing this. This suite has a living room and a private bedroom with sliding doors. So while all of the ladies are getting their hair and makeup done, munching on delicious snacks, and listing to fab music, the shooting area will be private! It’s great because you don’t have to feel pressured to do anything in front of anyone, and you can focus on getting amazing pictures taken!

Here is what the suite looks like! I am so excited and cannot wait to photograph all of you lovely ladies at the Boudoir Marathon in Atlantic City!

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**Hotel photos are from the Golden Nugget website.

In addition to this amazing room…

you will also be getting hair and makeup done by one of the top in the wedding industry, Mia Crivaro! I had the pleasure of meeting her at my cousins wedding, she is a total sweetheart! You can check out her work here, she’s FABULOUS! creationsbymia.com

If you aren’t sure if you want to book and need to see a sample, please email me and we can discus everything. For protection and privacy reason, I will not share any photos online that reveal faces, unless the client is totally okay with it. I will however show you my photos! I had a great time, and my hubby loves them! Here are some photos of me and one of my besties! (And she is responsible for our lovely makeup! Her name is the lovely Miss Kiara Upsher)

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I am accepting 10 bookings for this Boudoir Marathon. With each booking a Peal Iguana Wallet Folio is included. A folio is a wonderful way to display your photos. Below is an image for you to see exactly what you will get!

bokeh love photography, pearl iguana folio, with every boudoir marathon, 10 available

**Images from distributor website.

January 2015 Boudoir Marathon in Atlantic City Details:

When: January 13, 2015

Where: The Golden Nugget Hotel & Spa, Spa Tower, 1 Bedroom Suite (I will be emailing everyone upon checkin with the room number)

Time: Checkin to the hotel is at 4:00. The first appointment is at 4:30, Everyone is encouraged to come 1 hour before their appointment to ensure that we are running on time!

Hair & Makeup: Your hair and makeup is all done! SO EXCITING! All shoots will be in the private bedroom (with sliding doors), the bathroom (bathtub with bubbles), or in the living room if you don’t mind other ladies laughing, dancing, and singing to music! If you want to do the bathtub with the bubbles, please bring bathing suit bottoms, and a towel! Shooting will last 30 minutes, and as promised you will get 10 digital files. (But for those of you know KNOW ME, you KNOW you will be getting more than that)

Frequently asked questions & other details:

What should I bring?: A robe for getting ready, 2-3 outfits (a black bra and panties is a must) Think FUN, SEXY, and FEEL GOOD! Props definitely! Boyfriends, fiance’s, girlfriends, husbands, etc. What do they like/do? Examples: Football jersey, dirt bike helmet, fire fighter pants, work shirt, tie, police hat/shirt, guitar, etc. If you would like some ideas on what to wear to your session, click here!

Can I bring someone?: Yes! You sure can! I’ve had Mom’s, sisters, BFF’s! We just ask that men and children stay home. This is a ladies only event, and not appropriate for men and children.

What will this cost? What is the Investment?: $375 includes hair, makeup, the suite, digitals, AND a Pearl Iguana Folio with two wallets of your choice. And of course munchies!

Do you sell Albums?: Albums will be on display for purchase. Custom albums are also available. Also everyone will receive a price sheet of available products with order deadlines guaranteed to be delivered by Valentines Day!

Legalities:

Terms & Conditions: The only images that will be shown publicly are images that do not include faces. Images that do show faces need to sign an additional contract stating that you agree to have images publish publicly. $100 non-refundable retainer is due upon booking to reserve your session, and the rest is due 1 week before shoot date (January 6th). All images will be delivered online via a password protected client access website in both color and b&w.

Boudoir

December 9, 2014

BLP Boudoir Marathon in Atlantic City

boudoir photographer, january boudoir marathon, bokeh love photography

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My husband is pretty amazing. He doesn’t know much about my camera; actually he know’s NOTHING at all! He does operate my SnapBooth for weddings, however everything is already setup by me ahead of time and ready to go. He just stands there, to make sure nothing goes wrong , operates the touchscreen and he gets to talk to people all night long! It’s a great gig for him and he LOVES doing it. As far as my camera, he’s clueless. I own the D4, and its a fabulous camera. But if you’ve never shot on something like that before, well, it can be pretty intimidating! So, I basically gave him a mini mentoring session. I taught him a little bit about exposure, aperture, and ISO. I also explained what to focus on and why, and what the focus boxes look like, where to stand to make your subject look good (and feel good when they see their photos) and also about light! What to avoid and what to fall in love with!

He had a great time, and I honestly couldn’t believe how beautiful his photos came out. I mean, I wasn’t surprised, because I explained everything to him. For me though, getting in front of the camera is very scary. I take pictures of people ALL THE TIME, it’s what I do and I love it! But we all have these self images of ourselves that no one sees but us. The mirror is our own enemy. I see my self in the worst ways and I shouldnt. I’m a normal female though, and we all think this way. After seeing these photos, I realized I shouldn’t.

What I see when I look at these photos, is a professional photographer, a mother, a daughter, a granddaughter, and ever-changing girl who is getting older and wiser, a wife, a friend, and an all around positive person. I don’t see the person in the mirror thinking negative things. I don’t see the girl who can’t find anything to wear, and I don’t see anyone would I wouldn’t want to be. I love who I am, who I have become, and who I am going to be. I am proud, confident, and cannot wait to get more photos taken of me. It’s a mood booster AND a game changer.

I am so happy that my husband had fun doing this, and I hope he would like to do it again. I had a blast explaining to him why to do certain things and why not to do others. He’s such a good sport, and I love him so much for being so interested in what I enjoy doing. He is such a great support system. I am so happy I married him. What a good choice! So here they are, the images he took of me! I am very proud of them!

XOXO,
Lauren
Bokeh Love Photography

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He also took two of our baby, and I just have to post these! She is such a ham!

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May 6, 2014

Mini Mentor Sesh with my Husband | Personal | Bokeh Love Photography | Galloway Professional Photographer

Personal

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January 5th was the last day I took photos with my camera, of my family before our lives went south. It was cold out on that January Day. it was a Sunday, and we decided to get our hair cut, as a family. As we got ready to leave, we made a pathway through the mounds of Christmas toys that were covering the living room. We were all still very much in the Christmas Spirit. Still excited that Santa came, and our Elf on the Shelf, Sparkle Shirley was right. Santa would come if we were all on our best behavior!

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We all set out with snow boots on, and chatted in the car about all of the new bow’s we will get to wear when we cut our hair. (Not the hubbs of course, he’ll take the more masculine route). Our oldest Daughter told us she wanted short hair. I was sad, nervous, depressed. It was a HUGE change, and I didn’t know how to handle it. She was set. She wanted short hair. Her hair was gorgeous. It was down to my butt, had baby curls on the ends. I remember her running up and down our hallway, on the wood floor. She would clomp like an adult and the curls would just bounce. To this day, I can close my eyes and remember her learning to walk down that hallway. Crawling for the first time. I remember her and I sitting in that hallway, eating goldfish and laughing. That hallway was such a short hallway, but gosh it had the BEST memories. As we set out to get our hair cut, it was 1:38pm. It was right around the time that our youngest daughter would nap. Today though, she didn’t want to nap. She was all too excited. She was just getting a trim, but it was her very first hair cut as well. It would be an exciting day for all of us, the last weekend where our lives were normal.

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When we got to where we were going, our big girl didn’t know what to expect. It was her first time getting her haircut, her beautiful long, gorgeous hair. She held her daddy’s hand the entire time. After she was done, she was the happiest little girl ever – Dancing around and swooshing her hair from side to side. She had a grin from ear to ear! “Thank you Mommy! Thank you Daddy!” How could we be upset? This is what she wanted, and she was happy. That is all we ever wanted for our babies, to see them smile, and to see them be overjoyed with happiness. Today was a good day. A day I will cherish forever; the last weekend of normalcy. Our little baby girl was brave. She held a teacup in her hand and didn’t flinch once. Where did she get her bravery? I thought long and hard and hoped it was from me. I was so proud of her on this day.

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As we drove home, there were tired eyes, big smiles that ended up being the soft whispers of little snores, echoing from the backseat. Today was fantastic. Today was perfection. I loved today, and wished everyday could be so sweet. This was the last weekend we were normal. This was the last weekend in Galloway, at our home.

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Monday came, and then Tuesday; they were normal days. Normal days where I got up for work, and drove an hour away to a great job. Normal work schedules where I took my lunch break and sat in the car thinking about my family, and missing them. Monday was like every other Monday. I got up so early, I didn’t get to see my kids except for waking them up way too early, dropping them off at my parents or his parents. Picking them up and putting them right to bed. Tuesday was different. Tuesday changed everything. That Tuesday was a Tuesday I wish never happened. I wish I could erase it, and I wish it were not in our history. On that Tuesday, I was relaxing in my car. Thinking of my family as usual, relaxing before I had to go back to work, when my phone rang. A friend of mine who normally does not call me, called me. When I answered the phone, it was total disbelief. That phone call, made my heart stop. She told me my house, my home, where my husband and children and pet bunny were… was on fire. It wasn’t the phone call you want to receive. I was an hour away from my family; an hour away from being able to do anything. I was no help at all. When I finally got there, to our home, my family was safe. THANK GOD. My family was safe. I later found out we lost our beautiful bunny- our daughters’ beautiful bunny. There was nothing they could do. I didn’t have anything. It was the coldest day of the year, and all we had were the clothes on our backs, and the shoes on our feet; And, each other; All of my photo equipment, all of our memories, our wall art from our wedding, our daughters’ artwork, our memories; Everything, gone in just a few seconds, on the coldest day of the year.

It was a mess. It is still a mess. However, we had insurance, both homeowners insurance AND business insurance. Without those things, we would be lost. I was able to replace ALL of my equipment, and my business is going strong without interruption. Our house is still there, burnt and full of one day of bad memories. Everything is ruined and I cry thinking about everything we lost. We will demolish, we will rebuild, and we will be stronger than before. We are still here, and we are positive that things will work out in the end. I know they will, and my husband knows they will. Now, I can proudly say I am a full time photographer, and I am so happy that I get to stay home with my family, I can be there for my children when they need me, and I can focus on my passion. For those of you who know me, you know that I have been dealt with a very unlucky hand, but, that cannot and will not stop me from climbing higher. I can do this, and I will do this, because failing just is not an option.

My advice to any photographers or homeowners out there is to get insurance. It is so important. So so important, to protect what you own, to protect your things, no matter how much you think you don’t have “anything”, you do, you definitely do.

I am going to be keeping a regular blog update on our new home; it’s process from building it to finish. When it is all done, I will be doing our new home reveal! I am very excited about this, and I am going to think of it as our personal project! I hope you all enjoy, and tune in! Until then, have a great night and remember – what doesn’t kill us – makes us stronger!

XOXO,
Lauren
Bokeh Love Photography

Personal

May 3, 2014

OUR LIFE, INTERUPTED| PERSONAL | BOKEH LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY | GALLOWAY PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER

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