While going through an old file cabinet, 34-year-old Sarah Wickness came across the boudoir photos she paid $850 last year to have professionally done, and continue to serve no purpose in her life.
“I have no idea what to do with these,” says Wickness, thumbing through the various sepia-tone glossies. “What was I thinking?”
The seven photos, featuring Sarah in various states of undress – draped in pearls, reclining on a vintage sofa, standing in a soft beam of morning light while wearing very expensive underwear – have languished in storage, waiting for a purpose.
“I guess I did it for myself,” says Wickness, paging through the photos. “I wanted to feel sexy.”
She adds, “Plus there was a Groupon.”
When she brought the photos home last year, her boyfriend, Brian, was initially intrigued – the exact reaction promised by the photo studio, Timeless Fantasies. But over the course of the next two weeks, his excitement turned to confusion, then ambivalence.
“First of all, I don’t think those photos are for me,” said Brian. “And it’s not that I don’t like them. They’re sexy. But I don’t know, I guess they’re a little weird. I mean, where did those pearls come from? Who wears pearls? I don’t know. It all kinda reminds me of Titanic.”
“It seems like a shame to have them tucked away,” says Sarah. “But what if I put them up and then my parents come over? Is there a box for this kind of thing?”
The $850 boudoir photography package included hair, makeup, a three-hour photo shoot, and a post-shoot consultation, where the photographer went through the photos with Sarah to help her pick out the best ones.
“That was also sort of weird,” said Sarah.
For now, the photos will go back into storage.
“Maybe there will be a place for them in the new bathroom,” says Wickness. “Maybe behind the toilet.”
