Capturing Confidence & Elegance Through Boudoir Photography with Evgenia Ribinik

Episode Summary:

In this insightful episode, we are joined by Evgenia, a passionate boudoir photographer and owner of Evgenia Ribinik Studios. Who also happens to be my amazing wife and a business partner. She delves into the transformative power of boudoir photography, viewing it as a celebration of self-love and empowerment. Evgenia also shares her personal experiences of managing work-life balance and the joys of being an independent individual. Don't miss out on her valuable tips for those interested in considering a boudoir session. Tune in for an insider's look into the art of boudoir photography, the balance of personal and professional life, and the importance of creating a day rather than just living it.

Links Mentioned:
Evgenia Ribinik Studios Website

Contact Details:
Instagram: @evgeniaribinikstudios

Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share "Champagne and Chandeliers" with your friends and colleagues. Stay updated on all our latest episodes, interviews, and insights by subscribing on your favorite podcast platform.

To view Julian Ribinik's stunning wedding photography portfolio, visit our website at http://www.julianribinikstudios.com. Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram @julianribinikstudios for the latest updates, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and beautiful wedding inspiration.

Transcript

  Hello and welcome to another episode of Champagne and Chandlers. And today we have a very special guest.  I'm over excited today. We have my wife Junior talking about her oi photography business and how she got there. So I don't think. I ever heard a Buddha photographer on a podcast and I never heard my wife on a podcast, especially not talking to myself.

So it's going to be very interesting and maybe dangerous experience for me. So welcome, , Eugenia, or as we call it . 

Hi Julian. It would not be dangerous unless you need to strip for me and start, bud our session. 

I think we're going to skip this for the People Today 

Podcast. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity and I wonder which number I'm going to be in your podcast play list, , I'm very excited about this.

This is literally my second ever podcast. So I'm very excited to chat, to answer any questions, to chat about the industry in general. So thank you. 

And I think most people who come to you, they come because they did a lot of research and they know a lot about you. You are not just a typical Bud photographer, but for our rights and for our listeners.

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey in the photography industry, how you got here, why you're doing this? How did it all happen? 

Sure. So you actually brought me to a wedding. Oh no. I did together one of the first ones on my list, even though I've been Doing photography before, but professionally for weddings.

It was one of the newer weddings on my part. And one of the brides wanted to do a boudoir session, actually not even a boudoir session, just a few pictures for her husband to be before she gets into a wedding dress. And obviously, Somebody by the name of Julie Binning said I can't do that, so you have to do that.

I had no idea how to pose a person in ura. It's a totally different ballgame altogether. It's totally different ball.

Look what I did. I know. So I did that. She liked the pictures, not my strongest work. But after I did that session, I started thinking about it and obviously Blue R has been around for a long time.

I'm not the one who created the genre. But I love , our wedding approach to images, which is dark, candid lots of black and white, lots of moody pictures I wanted to translate into and portraiture work. So I got my best friend and I told her to undress for me and do some pictures and post for me, and she said, sure, you always need one friend like that.

That's all you need in life. I did that session and for a long time I've been doing sessions at fa, like whenever the brides came to us. And you would educate them that this is something that I offer. I would do those sessions. I started doing sessions, literally renting spaces in the city renting hotel rooms missing a lot of family time at home.

I remember those days. Yep. And then at some point you actually told me, babe, you're amazing. You need to do this. And you like you as a professional as not you, but us as professionals and as artists, we never believe we're good enough. So sometimes you do need that little push.

That's how my studio. Work started happening. I found a gorgeous studio. My studio is an industry city in Brooklyn, easily accessible from all different points. People come to me from as close as Brooklyn and as far as California, I had clients flying from Dubai to visit New York and they looked me up and they wanted to do a session and they loved my work.

Love my space. Our kids love coming there.  This year is my fifth year anniversary of my studio space.  I can't believe it's been five years. It's literally when I would tell you that I would never want to shoot in the studio. I would never want to have the same backdrop. And you were telling me that, come on, it's the same backdrop for you, but it's not the same backdrop for your clients.

And a year ago, whoever was very good to me in terms of. Me keeping my studio, keeping my space only being closed for two month. My clients all came back and I was able to reschedule everyone. So I'm very thankful and grateful for that. I'm now in the larger space and it's literally been two years.

I think in April, which is insane.  And now I do aside from boudoir, which is the main part of my photography genre, I do bridal boudoir, of course I do couple sessions, which is boudoir and portraiture. I do a lot more portraiture now in this space cause I do have the space for that.

I do maternity, which I love. And a lot of our current clients who get married  with us, they come back to me for their maternity sessions. And now my newest adventure is generations sessions, which are I think I'm talking to my Jo and tell me if I need to. No I think you're 

doing great and actually our listeners would love to know what you are doing and I think the modern merrier because when people hear Boudan photographer away in photographer, they typically wouldn't think that maybe we can do something else.

And when they hear portraiture, they. Maybe on the same website, they will not go and find the other things that we do. And this is why we hear so much that after couple of years, maybe after a wedding, we hear that people, oh, I wish I knew you do bou photography as well, because I went to someone else and  it wasn't an amazing experience.

And now that I know your stomach, I wish I could. Do this , before my own wedding, and then they come to you, but it's not a wedding present anymore. 

And your Honor, I shouldn't stop you from that. First of all, there is never a rule that you only need to do it once.

Sometimes doing it more than once actually proves the point that it's an amazing experience. And first year anniversary for weddings is actual paper. So what an amazing gift to give your loved one, your partner. Either a gorgeous Al album or individual Prince. And honestly, I always tell my clients it's a gift for themselves.

Whatever they get for their partner is like icing on the cake because it's a very empowering experience. We as women are very critical of ourselves. I'm the same way You take pictures of me and I'm like, yes, no, maybe, yes. And you are a photographer. So it's, really like when, my clients look at pictures, when they see their images after the session, they're like, oh my God, that's not me.

And I usually have to say I didn't Photoshop somebody else's body on their face, so it is you. And the, most important reason why I do this is aside from the fact that I love creating beautiful images I feel like. Every woman is beautiful and my whole business is actually structured about empowering women, how amazing and strong they are, how we go through crazy things in life and still come out maybe a little dusty, but still amazing on the other end.

And basically showing women how other people see them, how our partners see us, how our parents see us, how our kids see us. So that's, what matters most. And if client decides to weather 40 image album, good for me. But the most I amazing part from this is to walk away from the session, no matter if it's with me or somebody else.

Seeing how other people see you and seeing how amazing you are and beautiful and keeping that feeling for many years. And if that feeling shades, you should come back for another session. I can 

resonate because you'd show me the feedback that you get from your clients almost on a daily basis, and those very long messages that are so full of emotion.

 For the person who is doing it with you because there's way more than pictures about this. There's way more than just having something pretty or something memorable.

Can you reflect  on this experience of. You are working with people like maybe less about photography, about what kind of emotional law do you get, and I also know that you work with very unique people who are coming from very different  ages of life

 you had a lot of cancer patients. You had ladies who didn't have. Limbs. And while  outside world looks at least , like it's, pictures and maybe it's beautiful women, this is not what those women see so  let's maybe reflect a little bit on the emotional side of it and who do you work with really?

Sure, So first of all, l we tell people it's not about just pretty pictures. Pretty pictures will be a great thing to get. And I would say that pretty much any photography can create some pretty pictures. It's not what my studio is about. It's not what my brand is about and my goal and my journey at this point of my career, people come to me.

Because when they look at my images and they literally wrote me those emails that they keep coming back to them. I'm not the cheapest photographer in New York and New York is responsible together, but I'm definitely not the cheapest photographer. They do come back to me because they appreciate the value that I give people.

My experience and when they look at pictures, there is just, it tells the story. It tells the story. Even if not everything shows  it's, so much more than just taking my camera and snapping, couple of pictures.

I had a client who was expecting a baby. She was a single mom. She grew up in a very wealthy environment. Her parents were working a lot and felt that in order to compensate for them not being in a kid's life, they would throw money at that kid for all different reasons. So she grew up knowing.

No words like, no. And unfortunately when you are a teenager, that also comes with problems like getting into drugs, drinking. So she actually lost her boyfriend because he ad and he fell asleep and never woke up. She went through couple suicide attempts and basically when she sent me her initial email to me was that I always hated the way I looked.

I went through bulimia, I went through eating disorders. I almost end my life a few times, but now I am so grateful that I'm pregnant and I'm actually bringing child to this world. So I actually want to Capture myself the way I am, and that's maybe would be the first time that I ever loved looking at myself at images.

So that story really shook me up because I do have two kids and I definitely want them to grow up as strong as possible. But basically It's, just mind bogging what people, what women, and I'm sure it's not only women, it's men as well, what people go through and how many insecurities they have in life and how a to total stranger can show them how amazing they are and what it means to to be that person.

I've had clients, actually have a client on Monday who is my repeat client, who is coming back after. Fighting another cancer, and she is coming back after double mastectomy to capture her body the way it is and how she is not even 40 years old, a young girl with three kids who is who had to deal with so much in her life.

So it's, again, to summarize this, is so much than just pretty pictures. It's a story that I tell PE that I. Tell about my clients through my work, and hopefully that's how they view they art and appreciate it. And they're actually very, they're absolutely amazing in writing. Reviews. My reviews are literally like, I sit there and read them and I'm like, oh my God, is it me?

They're talking about? But they're absolutely stellar. That's my huge thank you to them for. Being able to put it into words. I'm horrible with words. I cannot write for the life of me. That's why I hide fine camera. That's a lie. They're absolutely amazing. 

No, I think you're absolutely amazing what, how you work with clients and I've I've been at some sessions which were not full on BDO and how you talk to people.

I've been to many sessions where you were teaching and Master classes and one-on-one lessons to other photographers. And I think what you are doing with guiding your client is insane. And the same goes into when you're teaching someone to take photographs. I, cannot do it. I don't know how to do this.

And at least I don't feel like I can. And what you're doing is something on a totally different 

level. Tell me about us never believing in, in what we do. Not believing in what we do. We believe in what we do, but now we believing that we're good enough. 

 You can make. Anyone comfortable in front of the camera?

 What is your process? How do you do this? Because we shoot weddings and we get a lot of couples when on the initial call that we do, most of people say  we feel very awkward in front of the camera. We are very uncomfortable in front of the camera. We are worried about looking weird or funny or something that we don't want to, and we go through the wall process of explaining.

And while we are very good with that during the wedding, it's an emotional rollercoaster to even get there and start the session. And then here you are working with women who have almost nothing or nothing on them and making them comfortable and writing  you those reviews saying that they felt so great and saw means in so empowered, it's inconceivable.

So how do you do this? How do you achieve that level of comfort? How do you make. Ladies of completely different people have different views about themselves. Most very, self-conscious, and here you are breaking all their insecurities and making them feel like a queen. How do you do this?

What's your secret? Because and, honestly, I don't know myself, right? So I'm, very interested how to do this.  

you're not saying the truth. You know how to pose people. It's, it is definitely a different ballgame. And actually doing a lot of Buddo and al work actually escalated my level of expertise in doing portraiture for weddings.

And as we know now during weddings, if we do come together to weddings, you'll love for me to take the initiative to pose people. You're the best of that. Feels very, natural to me. And I know, I might be short on words, but I know what most wooden cameras if I can explain to people, which I do explain now a lot.

Like I, in my head, I know how it should look good and actually having a semi naked person in front of me. Taught me how to speak properly on how to guide people the right way, because you can't just go and start touching the person and putting her in different poses. It, looks very, it feels very awkward.

It feels very inappropriate. So it did help me definitely to get my posing game on point. It also, I did a lot of boudoir work, Julian, so it's it's in the beginning it was tough and it was rough. And obviously my work . Wasn't as great as now. And I'm not saying my work is amazing.

I'm a person working on progressing and getting better every time. But honestly doing it for a long time definitely helps. Being the creative person also helps because when I see a person for me it's a beautiful person that I need to create amazing pictures with. I'm not looking at, oh my God like my left side looks different from my right side.

Or my thighs are too wide or my waist is not Small enough or large enough. I don't have all those insecurity of that person in my head, so it's, easy for me. For me, it's just a beautiful person that I need to create. Artwork with. So that definitely helps. In the beginning it's awkward, especially with couple sessions cause you have the third person, me following them with cameras, so it looks like paparazzi.

But we laugh a lot.  I shoot very fast and that sounds dangerous, but like I pictures very fast. It helps a person because the, if the person is not a professional model, it's very awkward to be posing for an hour, and that's usually how long my sessions are. I shoot fast and I give a lot of direction.

All they need to do is follow direction. And people usually after the first couple of pictures, they're like, oh, I just need to look right. I just need to look left. I just need to put my hand here. And that's, doable. I can follow direction. I'm an attorney by trade, so I know how to follow direction.

I know how to listen to the person. So once they learn that this is all they need to do, it becomes very natural and they really get into posing and they, love the experience and usually when they live my studio, they're like, oh my God, I'm ready to conquer the world.  It just comes with practice, honestly.

And Keeping your mind open, keeping your creative juices flowing, that's all you need. It's not magic science for sure.  It looks 

like it is. You told so much and I wouldn't be able to go and do this, right? And speaking of that, 

you come with me to the studio, I can start, you're kicking me out.

So, by the way as a lady, as a girl, what do you think are benefits of. Having your pictures done with someone who is female and not a male for that purpose, what are the benefits of that? 

I don't think there are benefits. It's, a personal preference because we, as I said, with women are very insecure of ourselves.

So just like majority of women would prefer to go to female gyn. It's the same thing. I know lots of talents in this industry. Not so much in New York for some reason, but like the West Coast, Canada, I know an amazing boudoir photographer and you know him as well in London. They do gorgeous work.

I am always inspired seeing their work online, so I would say it's just a personal preference. I don't think that I can pose. People better than a male. And to tell you the truth, Julian, if you do it long enough, you'll be able to do an amazing work doing that. But definitely feeling more comfortable in front of another female  it's one of the privileges and maybe advantages that I have in this industry just because women just prefer to be with another female because they feel that they understand them better, I can understand their insecurities  but I wouldn't even say that.

A man might even, and I'm, again, I'm not going into like sexual things or anything like that, but a man might see another woman totally different than I would. I don't think there is any Any advantage to that, but I definitely do get, majority of my clients do tell me that I'm so happy you are a female because we can we can be on the same page.

What it means. I'm not sure, but I guess we are. 

I, think you also just touched something very important. You said Americans can see a woman or a person different than me in like in photography. It's so important. It. Someone might think like it's a person with a camera, but it's incorrect. And this is why we are so blessed.

We have clients who come into us for our work, and those clients understand that it's not enough to be a person with a camera who takes pictures. It's actually what we see through the camera, how we see things that meet us, translate those things. Onto paper, if you will, or onto film or onto Matrix.

But in the end, this is what stands you apart from others because the way youth see things and the way you create your work. Because everyone can actually take a camera, 

obviously, but at, the same time, if you look at it from a different perspective, as if you look the way you look, that you are well-built, that you work out daily, does it give you an advantage in creating better images?

Now, you might be a person with three legs and  limping, but if you know how, like what beautiful. Should look like or what beautiful looks like, you'll create it with no bigger effort than being you. A different perspective from. Seeing like when, you pointed that the male would see female differently, just like when you look at the pictures that I show you of me and you say, oh my God, this is beautiful.

This is beautiful. And I'm like, ah, I don't know. Maybe this one is okay, maybe this one. So it's a different it's, how you look at things versus how I look at things. But luckily for me, I was pretty. On point. I would say 99% of the time with my clients, when I create something, they do resonate with that and they say, oh my God this is not me.

I've never seen myself like that. I had a client who started crying, looking at the pictures and I'm like, oh no, this is my first client who is gonna be hating her pictures. And she's no, my mom, she she had, she was a Jewish girl. She had this. Certain Jewish profile like facial features.

And she said, my mom always said that my nose look amazing. And I always hated that. And that's why I never take pictures like sideways. I always take pictures looking in the camera. And you just proved her point that I do look amazing at pictures. I'm like, oh my God, it only took her 20 years to believe a mom.

But yeah,  unfortunately, or fortunately, photography is a very subjective. Craft or art. So what looks good to you might not be what looks good to me, but we're very lucky in weddings and in my genre that people come to us at this point for our vision of things, of how we capture people's emotions, people's personalities.

So  I'm very happy to be on the same spectrum with clients who love our work because I love what I create. I love what I do, and we love doing weddings and  that's the most common thing that we hear on wedding side and on portraiture side, that they say, we came across your work and it stands out.

It's amazing. It's so beautiful. It's so different. It's so candid. So yeah. 

Who would you say is your typical client? Who do you work a lot with and how do they find you? 

I would say at this point, majority come through Google website. Instagram as well. Ideal client or typical client?

Hard to say. I would I, can tell you like how much of which genre I do a lot of bridal boudoir, which is because it's, again, it's that dual or double plate gift idea that it's a gift for her and it's also a gift for her partner. At the same time, you'll never  been in the best shape of your life cause you're getting ready for the wedding.

So you definitely wanna commemorate that and celebrate you. And so I would say bright bir is very popular. Maternity boudoir or maternity portrait is very popular because it's also, it's such an empowering feeling that you're bringing another human being to this world that you definitely should celebrate it.

You definitely should create some memories out of it. Couples boudoir is a very unique experience. We. Nowadays in 21st century, you can purchase pretty much anything. Nothing is surprising anymore. So creating experiences is something that's people love. That's why people love to go on vacations.

That's why people love to go to theater. They have an experience, they can talk about it. And with my photography, they get to keep their art so they can look at those images. And it's, a fun very unique experience for sure. And it's something that will create an amazing bond and chemistry in your relationship.

So I would say if you haven't done it, you should look it up. It's a very cool and fun experience. Julian and I did one when we were in Vegas for  for my workshop. So it's always nice to be on the other side of camera and see, oh my God, it wasn't easy for me. I shouldn't eat any breakfast cause it's gonna show me pictures.

No, it wouldn't. But it was fun. It was so cool. And it was those images And then obviously regular bir, which is like individual bir is amazing. And definitely something each woman should go through and experience at least once in their lifetime. And now my newest creation, cause I can never stop, is offering generation images, as I said, and like my mantra and my.

Reason to do all this is to celebrate women and celebrate how amazing they are. So my generation sessions I don't know, those cutesy Central Park sessions,  it's amazing and people do that and we never, have enough professional pictures with the US and kids, but I feel like celebrating women, moms, grandmothers, and creating those generational pictures are it's so amazing because 20 years from now, our kids will look at the pictures that are stored in our phones.

We don't have them printed. And say, oh my God, mom, I don't even remember how. Our grandma looked like, or I don't remember you when you were like 30, 35, 40. So creating those memories and printing them, printing your art. Don't store it in your phone. It's just print it, keep it, have it somewhere. Look at those images.

Cause that's what we have that's how memories are built on. You don't remember anything that's stored in your phone unless you look at something in that's in front of you.. That's my story. 

You're so right. I'm recording this just slightly before the Mother's day, and I think that resonates with me a lot.

I don't have a lot of my pictures as a child or as a, growing up with my mother, so I can definitely resonate with that. This is so important. So guys, if you listen to this don't, neglect just, do that. It's beautiful experience and I think you will cherish those images forever. We have several brides and clients who did this with Eugenia and they have amazing memories now.

 What is the actual process to have a session with you? How does someone need to. Go about this, if you can walk us through a little 

bit. Absolutely. The process is very similar for all different session types, so it's not really. About like how you would go about each session, but the typical process, people reach out to me either via website or through Instagram, or I have a lot of referrals because I've, again, I've been doing it for some time.

People have friends and then friends see the pictures like, oh my God, I need to do this. Typically people reach out to me. I send them my brochure with some initial information, product options studio information. We work on a date. I'm currently booking out my late fall, winter 2023.

2024. So it's, don't ever sit on that and wait, because you think you're gonna lose five more pounds. Book your session now, then you'll have a goal. If that's what if, that's what your goal is, obviously you don't need to lose anything or gain anything because with my. Expertise, I'll be able to pose you and put you in the most flattering poses.

So once they know which day they would like to have it done on, and more importantly, if you do it as a gift to someone, you wanna make sure that you keep it in mind because the. Time for editing and looking at the images and printing the final product, which also takes time. So basically, I would suggest the whole process is about six to eight weeks.

For example, if you're getting married in November, you wanna make sure that your session is in August, beginning of September. So give us plenty of time to have the final product in. And then once we book the session, I send my. Student information, I send the guide on how to get ready for the session because obviously it's for many people, it's never done this before, experience.

So people are really lost and they don't know what to do. Part of the. Experience that you get with me is getting all the information so you are not in case 22, that you don't know what you're doing and you don't know what to bring. I do have an amazing pod, our closet, so if you don't have anyone draw it shouldn't stop you from going through this experience.

And I would say this is exactly the type of session where, unless is more so if you don't have a lot, that's also shouldn't stop you. Cause there are sheets, there are different things that we can play with in the studio. So definitely Don't go crazy shopping or go crazy shopping it's, a good excuse also to go and buy some cool stuff.

And then once the session comes on the day of the session, you do have an option of choosing my makeup artist, who is amazing. She does makeup and hair. So you can get gland right in my studio. I always recommend that and 90% of my clients love that option because you don't have to go anywhere else to, get it done.

You can just do everything in the studio. That's when we chat. Obviously, based on this podcast, you can see I talk a lot.  I answer any questions.  I show all the products, all the different options that the person can get, and then we have the fun shoot. And then after the session, roughly seven to 10 days after the session, we get to look at all the images that we created.

We choose your favorites, and then that's when I'll be putting it in the printed format. So if it's an album or it's like a package with corresponding digitals, that's when  I'll be working on that. And once I receive your product, I'll ship it to you, or you can come back to the studio to pick it up and yeah, and that's how the process is.

So it's pretty straightforward. I did talk about it much longer than the process is but the good thing is that. I'm able to offer my knowledge and experience in this. So it's definitely an investment. It's, a luxury experience it's not just like some headshots. It's definitely an elevated and luxury experience, but I do give you all the ammunition for you 

to creating the most powerful images with information that I provide with my gorgeous studio. My house doesn't look like that. My, my studio is literally absolutely amazing. It looks like Paris meets New York and it's so, cool. And I definitely. Love seeing inspiration from my clients.

But honestly, 90% of my clients just send me my work. And they're like, we love this. We love that. And basically, whatever you created, we love. So we, don't need to show you anything else. And that's not for me to recreate the images for me to just see what you love in boudoir and do you wanna do some peaceful news or do you want to do some tapo pictures or do you wanna are you only comfortable with ette and it's, like an amazing project that they get to work on for the next couple of months.

So it's definitely something that they'll remember for a long time. 

 Very true. Your studio is so unique and you invested so much in that. That I don't think I, I've seen more beautiful space aside, of course, historic venues where we shoot weddings. But for a studio it's a very unique experience.

It's ever changing. You always invest in new setups, new backgrounds new furniture.  I know that you had several clients saying you should be doing events there because this is how beautiful it is. Are you planning to move on that? Are you planning to start doing events? 

I would say never. So it's definitely in my draft on my on my computer with 500 different tabs open. it's definitely something I was thinking about. But I'm a perfectionist, so whatever project I work on, I make sure that it's. 150%. Hopefully, if not 2023, maybe 2024.

I think it would be a very unique and cool space to do bachelorette parties or girlfriend's parties or girlfriend's birthday parties. We definitely can offer. Affordable opportunities, we can offer different experiences and of course a little bit of bubbly that never Yes, in a way people can do some pictures.

I was also thinking to maybe if it's a bachelorette party, to celebrate the bride and do like a mini session for her you, will have an option of maybe adding makeup parties so she can get everyone glammed up. So definitely opportunities are endless. It's all about me just being one person trying to work on all those different projects.

But I would say more yes than no. 

So guys, stay tuned and maybe sooner rather than later.

 I constantly see you working. You're always on a new project. You're always editing, you shooting. How from your end do you balance your work with boudoir and our weddings and how do these two areas of your profession complement each other? And but also how do you balance your work life balance?

We have two kids. If anyone didn't know, 

how well do I balance it? 

Not for me to say, 

oh, I dunno how we manage. I work late, You go to sleep and I, stay up working, but you wake up much shoulder than me, so I do get my beauty sleep for sure. I just over the last couple of years I realized that I.

Life is sometimes too short for doing everything that you want in life. And our kids are only small for so long and , I can't even believe, like all the one is my height at this point. So they're literally gonna be with us for the next, I don't know, five, six years, and then they'll be off to college and off to other adventures.

So for me, being present in their life is very important. To be present in your life is also important. So I try to annoy you as much as I can. But I'm, as I said, I'm , I'm a perfectionist. I always make sure that my customer service is top-notch. People trust me with this experience and they trust me investing into my work.

So I definitely wanna make sure that I over-deliver or deliver 150%. Doing. Home stuff. And like family stuff is important, but I always make sure that my workload is also done and taken care of and I never make people wait. People are actually surprised how fast I deliver stuff.

We do take less weddings right now just because we can only do so much and we do wanna make sure that our kids see us on weekends. So our wedding photography part is very, I would say very selective in terms of which weddings we take , and which venues we work with.

 Our wedding clients has been amazing, and you cannot complain about amazing reviews that you got from our clients. We are lucky. We definitely appreciate, they definitely appreciate us and we have tons of referrals because if one person gets married, usually in the same group of friends, everybody else gets married.

We do have weddings where we come in and they're like, oh my God, Julian, we haven't seen you in six months. And they know us and they will make sure that we, that's true us 500 times and they make sure that we have  whatever we need. Our clients treat us as family and we really appreciate that.

And we appreciate the referrals.  It's much easier when The sales part of our job is done by our clients because they're like, oh my god, Julian did our wedding and he was so amazing and created amazing portraits. We don't need to do anything.  The job is already done for us.

We're sold. So balancing, I don't know if I'm doing a great job balancing my life, but definitely trying to do that and hopefully that counts. . Spending enough time with the family is important. Friends, very important. We don't have a lot of friends, but the ones that we have are amazing.

So we definitely make sure that we get together at least every couple of weeks. And I love doing girls nights in the city with my, close friends close girls and just, yeah, just making sure that life is fulfilled with different activities and different experiences and God forbid we miss Starbucks in a way to drive with girls.

So it's a part of life. 

Thank you so much for sharing this and I can say that. Many times I've been asked, how is it , you are married, you live with your wife, you work with your wife, she works with you. Doesn't she hate you? How are you still alive?

 I, want to say that it's been magical journey because we are doing so well together, whatever we do, and I'm blessed that I'm able to. Spend my days with you when, you are actually home. And it doesn't matter if it's work or not work. We're always most of the time on one page. And I've been blessed that I can go and actually work and do what I love together with the person I love cuz I don't think that most people can have that.

Possibility, luxury, luck, whatever. And to me, it's a huge blessing. I know that I can't even call it work because I'm spending the workday with, the person I love the most. And it is just another variation of us spending time together. Absolutely 

It's I, cannot agree more.

And I would say that, When Covid happened and people were frustrated and annoyed being with their partner at home, we definitely gave it Kickstart back in 2013 when we started working together. So it's been like 10 years literally. And I feel 2011, 2011. That's crazy. Yeah. But I think being.

Independent individuals as, personalities for both of us was very helpful. We don't depend on each other. We are doing enough work on our own to kinda not be in each other's faces, like 24 7. And honestly,  whenever my clients would tell me or my friends would tell me, oh my God it's been too much.

I can't spend any more time at home. Or I need some me time and stuff like that. I never had that desire. Like, whenever I need my me time, I go to the city, walk the streets, get myself lunch , I guess we have we, perfected that balance of being in each other's faces and not hating each other.

But I definitely I love that we have an opportunity to lead our life, not live our life only. And the love that, that our life doesn't control what we do. That it's, a lot of work having couple of businesses. But it's definitely, something that you wake up at night oh my God, I have 500 things to do tomorrow.

And you cannot fall back asleep. And you, found yourself in those situations many, times. But it's also an amazing, opportunity that we have that  we can create our day, we can create our week. If, our kids are off school on Friday, we can actually take them to the city.

I don't need to call my boss and say, you know what I'm not showing up to work today. And honestly, of course it's, easier to get a paycheck every two weeks, but I absolutely love what I do and. The more of it I can do, the better it is. And so yeah, so I think it's we, are very blessed and it's, a lot of work.

It's not we're not lucky. It's not luck. They, that gave us this opportunity. It's a lot of hard work and a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of frustration sometimes when what we think would work doesn't work and then we need to change it once again. But yeah, but it's also give us like such amazing opportunities to do things that we wanna 

do.

A lot of good memories coming up 

and a lot of memories to be created. 

Yes, for sure. To those who are interested in potential boudoir session , what would be couple of tips that you can give to someone who is just considering it, being interested, getting intrigued.

What are the things that a person needs to know or do or maybe things that they should know to prepare themselves? 

First of all, don't wait on that. Don't overthink it. It's something that, as I said, someone should do at least one once in their lifetime. Of course, do your research,  as I said, photography is a very subjective art, so what looks good to you might not look good to me.

Definitely do your research. Find the photographer that  resonates with your taste, with your view of art or photography. Because as I said, anybody can probably snap a pretty picture, but does that picture speak to you? So definitely do your research. Find a couple of photographers that work for your style.

Don't be limited that if you are in Manhattan and the photographers in Queens and you're gonna say, oh my God, I'm not gonna travel to Queens. I'm just going to try to find someone on the island. Don't do that. It's just if you go to a doctor who is gonna, I don't know give you transplant, you're not gonna stay local within five miles to make sure that the doctor is easy to get to.

You wanna find the person that will, do 150% on what you need him to do or her. And after that, make sure that The professional is responsive that they not only deliver before , like if they don't deliver before the session, they will probably not deliver after the session either. Do basic research and most importantly just make sure that the images that you see online speak to you and resonate with you.

And that's it. Cause there are some quite, few talents out there. So do your research. I think this is 

perfect. Thank you so much for taking from your very, limited time to speak with me. 

It, is definitely my pleasure and. The podcast name is Champagne and Chandeliers. And that prompts me to ask every single person who gets on the podcast, what is their favorite drink of choice. 

You pretty much speak my language cause I have chandeliers in my studio and I love champagne.

 I don't always drink champagne, but I love Prosecco Sparkling Wine or kava. Those are definitely my preferred drinks of choice and. You, got them for me many times. So for sure. Yeah. So cheers. 

Cheers. And thank you so much. It's been amazing. If anyone wants to look at your work, find out what you do, what is the best way for them to find you on the internet?



To get in touch, just like your name, Julian, it would be nic studios.com. That would be my website. You can always find me on Instagram as well. And that's Yugen Studios, one word or just Google and it'll come up. I'm pretty high up there on the Google search. The first, so email, would be probably the, best way to get in touch with me.

 And of course, as usual, we will put all the details in the show notes so you guys can easily just hit on the link  thank you so much for being here, and thank you to everyone who listen.

We'll hear you guys next time. Have a great day. Bye. Cheers.