Six months ago I had a stroke. If I wasn’t lazy I’d get up and find the medical term for the kind of stroke I had, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is how my life “is” now.
So how is it?
In a word … SCARY.
I sat down here A MONTH AGO to start setting things up to reopen the studio …
Besides the stroke, in the past six months I have managed to give myself a black eye, fall down the basement steps, start the porch on fire and totally nuke my original website and its email.To say it’s been interesting is putting it mildly.
But here’s the deal: I love what I do more than I’m afraid of what I can’t do.
The books are OPEN and we’re taking appointments for June 2021. Read all about how it works and let’s roll, dolls.
Photo sessions are easy to set up. Want to set up your own empowering session? Just email me and we’ll get the ball rolling
I will be offering some pretty special deals so that YOU (or someone you LOVE) can experience the feeling of pushing past your self doubt and see yourself in a whole new light. Deals are LIMITED!
To receive more info, make sure you’ve signed up for my newsletter (fill out your name/email in the pop-up) or email me and join my women-only VIP Facebook group We talk smack and have a lot of fun and everybody in the group gets deals and steals that the public doesn’t.
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Boudoir sessions are easy to set up. Want to set up your own session? Just email me or Facebook PM and we’ll get the ball rolling
2017 was a year of changes for me and for JLReis Photography. I know the people I want to reach and what I want to do with my business, it’s never changed since May 1, 2014, the official opening day of my first studio.
It’s my goal to make just ONE woman see their own, real beauty – just one, EVERY CHANCE I GET. I want to muffle the voices in her head that tells her she’s not beautiful, not worthy, not enough. If I can do that for that ONE woman, I’ll have met my goal.
The stories I’ve heard the past year, the sessions I’ve done, helped me see that women – ALL WOMEN – feel the same, no matter their age, shape or dress size. I know because I’ve felt, and sometimes to continue to feel, the same way.
But … no matter what life we live, no matter where we live, no matter what kind of work we do, whether we’re married or single, twenty years old or eighty, women are fucking forces of nature.
We face the shittiest days of our lives and we manage to get through – and help our loved ones through. We make shit HAPPEN. We are so much more than we allow ourselves to believe.
I am humbled by the stories you’ve shared with me … for you to open up to me and tell me your thought and fears and trust me to keep them means the world to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Happy new year to all of us, I can’t wait to see what we do and become in 2018!
Boudoir/Glamour sessions are easy to set up. Want to set up your own session? Just email me or Facebook PM and we’ll get the ball rolling
Whenever I’m having a crisis of belief in myself (and trust me, that happens a lot), I go back and read through Sue Bryce’s blog.
I discovered Sue about 3-4 years ago, right about the time everybody else did. She burst into the glam/boudoir photography world with a BANG, a goddamn black-eyed phenomenon from “Down Under” with the cutest accent, who became an over night success in the United States.
Of course she’d been working her ass off for twenty years in Australia … so much for overnight successes.
But if I ever had a hero, and idol, she’s it and she’s what keeps me going when I want to quit. I got back and start going through some of her earliest blog entries, before she moved to the states and I find myself being inspired again.
While I love her style, I know I’ll never produce the kind of work she does – and truthfully I don’t want to. I don’t want to “Brycify” my work. That’s HER, it’s not ME. But her drive, her gumption, her force of will – that’s what keeps me going.
Things are tough right now, I’m not gonna lie; anyone who knows me knows I don’t sugar-coat a lot. I make a lot of jokes, but the truth is always there just under the surface.
I’m going into my fourth year of business and I’m finally seeing a change – in myself, in my work, in how potential clients see me. It’s encouraging, but of course, it’s not happening fast enough. I want it all right now. Because we never know what tomorrow is going to bring.
But I feel it there, I feel like this year is gonna be my year. It’s right there and I can touch it.
I haven’t done much since returning from New Orleans – I hadn’t realized how much I missed it and I was in a slump when I got back.
Then there was Christmas and it was wonderful.
I’ve been studying marketing and thinking of different things that I can offer as a boudoir/glamour photographer in the Green Bay area … something to make me stand out and get women interested in having their portrait taken. I’ve got some great ideas.
I was watching one of the entertainment shows and they had interviewed Debbie Reynolds back in the ’90’s, asking how she kept going. I’m paraphrasing here, but she said, “I just got up and kept going. I wanted to lay down and hide and sometimes I did for a day or two, but then I got up and kept going.”
How would you like a sample boudoir photo? Oh, it’s cold outside now, and busier than Santa’s Workshop in all our homes, but after the holidays, my loves, things will change.
I really can’t stay Baby, it’s cold outside. I gotta go away, Baby, it’s cold outside. This evening has been, Been hoping that you’d drop in. So very nice, I’ll hold your hands, they’re just like ice ~ Joseph Gordon Leavitt & Gaga
Things are changing with the new year … it is, and has always been, my goal to photograph women in all their glory, whether dressed or undressed. Being the secret keeping, shy and timid creatures we have been cursed to be (even though we may be loud and obnoxious to the public), we just can’t seem to bring ourselves to have our photos taken. We can justify $200 purses, $150 glitter pocketed jeans and a plethora of other meaningless things that will be gone in a year or so, but we can’t bring ourselves to actually do something for ourselves, that will last forever.
Shame, shame.
If we DO get past the “pasty skin”, fat thigh”, “short hair” excuses, we tell ourselves and our friends that the photos are a gift for our husbands, boyfriends or lovers. But we’re quicker than hell to show those beautiful photos off to OUR friends. All the time reinforcing the idea that the photos were taken for someone else.
Weird, eh?
Have you been thinking about a session but feel scared or even “stupid”? Do you wish you could take just one sample boudoir photo, to get an idea? Do you want to make sure that the full investment is what you’re looking for? Do you want to just give it a taste? I have just the opportunity for you.
Then this is a gift for YOU.
When I first thought of this, I intended it to be for one day; my business mentor suggested that I add it as a regular choice for a while (two weeks), to see how it goes over, so I AM.
I am offering $50 (+tx) sample sessions that will give you a taste of what a normal session would be like. At the end of the hour you will have about 5-10 completed images to choose ONE perfect 8×10 photo from! You will be able to choose your photo before you leave and it will be delivered directly to your home within 5-7 days.
A sample photo session is a perfect way to see if this is for you and what you’re final product is going to be without spending a lot of money.
The 45 minute session includes an in depth discussion as to what YOU want for a full session, $50 off “The Flirt” (reg. $299) or “The Whole Damn Works (reg. $649) and a $50 credit towards any additional print or digital products (pricing at bottom of this page).
Openings starting at 1:30 on the hour. The last session will start at 5:30pm.
Interested in booking your own test boudoir session? Click below:
So it’s Small Business Saturday and you get the rewards!
Always with the fine print!
1. All sales MUST BE BOOKED AND PAID FOR by 11/27. Please don’t email me or Facebook msg me and think you have a session, sadly it can’t work that way.
2. Book and pay by the end of November 27, 2016. There are only 8 spots available in order for me to make the magic in time for Valentines’ Day.
3. You snooze, you lose, I can no longer pass on past sale prices once the special has passed.
4. If you plan to order a gift certificate, they also must be paid for by the end of November 27, 2016 and good only for the TYPE OF session you choose (The Flirt or The Quickie). The CAN be used at any time but cannot be used in conjunction with any other sales, offers or gift certificates.
5. Hair and make-up can be added to The Flirt Session for an additional charge.
6. Must be 21 or older.
There are only eight sessions available, first come, fist serve. Full payment and a signed contract are required to hold your spot.
From the very first minute I knew in the back of my head what y goal in photography would be. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and who I wanted to do it for.
Over the past three year I’ve been all over the map, trying to make everybody but myself happy … those days will come to end before the end of summer.
You can find the next part of this blog on my SBG website, but it still echoes in my head and it’s STILL my aim. This is my year to brig this dream to the forefront. I hope you’ll be with me.
I see the walls women – tall, shirt, thin, curvy – put up between themselves and the rest of the world in regards to their looks. When I raise my camera their heads go down, their hands go up and … something inside me hurts a little because I know exactly how they feel and I want to do anything to make that feeling go AWAY.
I know that everything they hate about themselves is rolling around in their head and they’re trying desperately to figure out a way to hide all the things they hate about their body. They’re remember every insult, real or remembered from childhood, they’re remembering every well-intentioned piece of advice they’ve heard from mothers, grandmothers, friends about how to minimize the width of their waist or their double chin or how they should turn to make their nose less prominent.
[ … ]
I am not the best photographer in the world, but I work EVERY DAY to perfect my skills so that I can make the your photo experience one of joy and happiness. It is my JOB to give you photographs that you can look at in the future and SEE what your loved ones see, see the beauty that you bury beneath all those terrible lies you’ve been told by yourselves and by others. It’s my job to give you MEMORIES, wonderful memories, not only for yourselves but for your loved ones.
Here’s to 2016 – let’s let it be OUR best year yet.
It’s that time of year again and MadBee Photo is booking summer senior sessions. My prices are meant for those whose budget is a little smaller, but who are still looking for a great senior portrait.
I can’t repeat enough how much I would give to have a good photo of my mom and myself.
Mothers and daughters have a connection that spans years, from that first eye contact, to the first day of school to choosing a prom dress, then a wedding dress and beyond.
It can’t be described as a friendship, because a mother can love no one like she loves her daughter; a daughter can trust and admire no one the way she does her mother.
I can’t stress how much YOUR mom or YOUR daughter will treasure a photo of the two of you together.
If you’re looking for a Mother’s day gift that will really mean something, that will be different than flowers, candy or a robe, get your photos taken together.
It’s always hard to decide what to give Mom for Mother’s Day, but trust me, a photo of her and you is the perfect gift.
Give a lasting memory to the special Mom in your life. She’ll love you for it
I have been waiting patiently for this day since October – Happy Opening Day!
I even went down late last night and redid one of my windows to celebrate:
It’s no secret I am a HUGE FAN of the Milwaukee Brewers.
I am also a fan of photography 😉 Gonna be getting my MBP newsletter out today, be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you’ll Be aware of specials and promotions NOT shown on Facebook (like 10% OFF MBP’s upcoming mother/daughter photo-shoot & make-over special)!
Six months ago I had a stroke. If I wasn’t lazy I’d get up and find the medical term for the kind of stroke I had, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is how my life “is” now.
