"Good afternoon, you must be my 1:00! I'm Elizabeth, but please call me Elle," She says extending her hand. "Have a seat."
"Hi Elle," I chuckle nervously as I shake her hand and take a seat on the modern black leather sofa. "It's so nice to meet you! I'm Jennifer, but please just call me Jen."
"Hi Jen, the pleasure is mine!" she says sitting next to me.
Perhaps she senses my nervousness or maybe it's just part of her normal sales pitch, but she quickly adds, "There is absolutely no need to be nervous, this is a completely safe space. Before I get into the details of what I can do for you, why don't you tell me a little about what brought you here today, and what you are looking for."
"Sure," I say, trying not to sound as nervous as I feel. "Well, I'm newly divorced and my life is very hectic. You know, between work, the kids, and looking for a new place to live, I don't have a lot of personal time. That being said, I'm definitely thrilled to be dating again. I joined one of those online websites, and I really try my best to set aside time to go out at least once a week.
"It's been exciting, meeting new people and doing the whole dating thing again. I've met a few nice guys, and had some fun dates. Lately I've really hit it off with this one guy in particular. We've been spending more and more time together and recently we've become...
'intimate'
.
"The thing is, I feel bad that he doesn't get to see me as often as we would like. He seems very understanding but he's constantly asking me for selfies, (sometimes naughty ones!)" I giggle. "I don't know, I just really feel self conscious about taking pictures with my phone, and its wide angle lens does nothing for my self esteem!" we both laugh.
"Then, just randomly I came across that article about your business in "Time Out New York". I read how women, and men for that matter, come to you to have professional
'erotic'
pictures taken of themselves to give to their significant others as gifts! Perfect I thought! My guy's birthday is in 3 weeks!
"You know, I told myself when I got divorced I would be more adventurous, and
live
life to the fullest!
This is definitely new and daring, and something old Jen would never have done, so here I am! "
"That's wonderful, Jen!" Elle says with a delighted smile. "Well first of all, thank you for taking a chance and coming in. Your boyfriend is a very lucky guy! I definitely believe I can help you out and I'm confident we'll be able to take some wonderful, sexy pictures that you will enjoy sharing with him!
"Rest assured nothing will happen today without your full consent and approval. You will have complete control over the shoot, but I will provide advice and direction as needed. However, please don't feel pressured or obligated to pose as I say. If at anytime you are uncomfortable with something, just let me know and we will stop and move on.
"I want to assure you that this will be a closed shoot, so it will be completely private; just you and me. You don't have to worry about anyone else walking in during your session.
"You will own 100% of all of the images we take and are free to do with them what you will, but I can put together for you a digital or printed presentation of your selected images. I do all the printing in house so your confidentiality will always be maintained. I keep nothing and there will be no copies. Alright? Does that sound fair?" she adds with a smile.
I return her smile and nod, "Yes, I was a little worried about copies of my pictures being out there. That sounds great! Very reassuring."
"OK, now let's discuss what your session can look like. Actually you are free to pose however you want. For example, yesterday I did a shoot with a young woman, who, much like yourself, was here to create a gift for her boyfriend. She posed in a number of sexy outfits, but was very discreet and chose not to reveal any private parts.
"By contrast, a 72 year old grandmother (who had recently lost her husband), came in a couple of weeks ago, because she found the idea of posing for erotic photographs thrilling, and because she wanted to prove to herself that she wasn't to old to look and feel sexy. Well, after relaxing and getting into the spirit of the moment, not only did she end up posing fully nude, but she asked me to take pictures of her masturbating!
"It was honestly a beautiful sight and I felt privileged to shoot that for her.
"In fact I often have couples come in and pose together, asking me to take pictures of them engaged in all manner of love making. As long as I feel their motivations are genuine, I am here to document their experience."
I am speechless and shocked, but also thrilled, and quite honestly, a bit aroused by the idea of posing for this woman. I'm
almost
able to pretend that the tingling I feel in my stomach and vagina is due to nervousness, and not from being turned on.
Evidently my shock must show on my face because Elle starts laughing,. "Jen, don't worry! We are going to start nice and slow, and you will be in full control of how much you show and how you pose. I'm just letting you know that you have the
option
to be as free as you want. If we get in a flow and you feel you want to be, um...
risque
, you don't need to censor yourself."
I giggle again, "Don't worry, I don't think that will be happening!"
An image suddenly flashes across my mind of me naked and frantically masturbating while Elle takes close up pictures of my vagina. I push the thought quickly away but the tingle I was feeling is now definitely centered around my throbbing clitoris.
I ask her if she is ever afraid to photograph people, especially men in sexual situations like that.
She chuckles, "I may not look it, but I'm a third degree black belt in karate, so no, I'm not worried! No one is touching me unless I want them too!
"Besides at least 50% of my clients are woman here on a solo shoot, I'd say 25% are straight couples, 15% are lesbian couples and only 10% are men. I've been doing this for 9 years and only had one male client that actually crossed the line and tried to grope me, and he's lucky I didn't break his arm!" Elle laughs, "To be frank, I get hit on by way more women than men!"
I look at Elle with a new eye. She doesn't strike me as gay (not that it matters of course) but I wonder if she's bi. She is actually very attractive and in amazing shape. Her vintage Led Zeppelin tee shirt is stretched tautly across her ample bosom; her faded jeans look comfortable yet accentuate her round muscular butt. Yeah, I bet she gets hit on all the time.
"Wow! I'm surprised that your clientele is so heavily female based," I say.
"I'm not, actually," Elle responds. "I believe, and I hope this doesn't sound sexist, that women are, by their very nature, much more sensual, and sexual than men. A woman's entire body is an erogenous zone. Every part of a woman can receive or convey sexual pleasure.