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Boudoir Photos Make Comeback as Red Hot Gift Idea

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ABC News' Tracey Marx reports:

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and most women are expecting flowers, chocolate and jewels from their loved ones.

But what if you want to give your significant other something a little on the racy side?

Boudoir photography is an art Hollywood beauties have used for centuries to bring their sexy back, sitting for portraits as a celebration of the female form.

Now women not on the big screen or walking the red carpet can still feel like they're hot enough to land on the pages of glossy magazines like Maxim and FHM.

"I saw how popular Maxim magazine is, and FHM and, even, Playboy, and how gorgeous women want to feel," Jennifer Rozenbaum told " Good Morning America."  "I would look at those magazines too and say, 'I want to look like that.  I want to feel like that.'"

Rozenbaum, a former stay-at-home mom, opened her own boudoir photo studio, Jenerations Boudoir,  in New York City.

The average price of  a boudoir photo session at the studio begins at $1,500.

"Seeing how you look is empowering and just celebrating womanhood," Rozenbaum said.  "There is nothing to be ashamed of to want to look beautiful and feel beautiful and to show off your body."

A boudoir photo session is not the kind of photo shoot where you sit down and just have shots taken.  Clients are pampered with hair and makeup and wardrobe choices, just like a real photo shoot to make you feel like a sultry supermodel.

"It's literally so much fun," Lisa Hastings, a 30-year-old client of Rozenbaum's said.  "I'm giving the album to my husband. I think it's just something that is great to do, for him to see me in that kind of light."













The photography is a trend women are embracing.  From New York to Missouri, Wisconsin, Colorado, Texas and Oregon, boudoir is big.

"I would say that maybe about 40 percent of the brides I'm currently working with are now booking boudoir sessions this year," Janelle Brooke, owner of Janelle Brooke Photography in Northport, New York, told "GMA."

"I think it's a trend that is not going to go away," she said.  "It ignites confidence in women.  It celebrates the beauty of women and the romance in the relationship."

Valerie Mazarowski turned to Brooke to photograph her engagement session, her wedding and the day after her wedding nearly two years ago.

The thirty-one-year-old then wanted something intimate, beautiful and sexy to last a lifetime and to represent a different time in her life, so she again turned to Brooke for her boudoir photo session.















"Having that personalized relationship with these brides is really also the driving force," Brooke said of the photos' popularity.  "It is such an intimate shoot that you want to have that closeness, that trust with the person who is taking such intimate photos of you."

The gift of a boudoir photo can be given not just for Valentine's Day but for a wedding, or even a birthday, photographers like Rozenbaum and Brooke say.

And the women in front of the cameras say a boudoir photo session was also a great gift for themselves.

"That was so much fun," Mazarowski said of her shoot with Brooke.  "I enjoyed every second of it."

"At this point in my life I've really found great confidence that I've never had before," she said.  "I kind of want to freeze this moment in my life so that 30 or 40 years down the line I can look back at it and say, 'Oh my God, I was a good looking girl. And my kids can say, "Wow, my mom was really hot!'"

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79 comments

  • Disappointed  •  3 months ago
    In my marriage ... this would somehow backfire on me. "YOU DON'T THINK I'M SEXY ENOUGH WITHOUT THESE PHOTOS!!!!" (crap ...)
  • TheRedParrot  •  2 months ago
    God bless make up, it makes girls gorgeous!
  • John Doe  •  Wichita, Kansas  •  3 months ago
    "Wow, my mom was really hot"

    What kind of Oedipus nonsense is this...
  • VoiceofReason  •  3 months ago
    I am in a loving committed relationship (we are in our 40s) and I think at this age there is a lot of playfulness just in good fun between lovers. I am going to have one of these pictures done soon, something tasteful where less is more, or where there is a hidden innuendo that only my lover would recognize in the photo. I do agree that these pics are more vanity shoots for us girls than true gifts for our man because I know my man would much rather see me slip into bed naked than have a photo in a drawer! Life is short, live, love, and have fun, be happy. If you have the confidence to do this then celebrate your beauty and your man gets credit too because when a woman is loved she is radiant. Thanks, guys!
  • Niopes  •  Los Angeles, California  •  3 months ago
    Love it! So proud of Jen!!!
  • Makojuice  •  3 months ago
    RAWR!
  • Cat  •  3 months ago
    Army wives reignited this trend due to the wars that have separated us from our husbands for the last decade. Way to catch on, mainstream.
  • Paul  •  3 months ago
    Nothing says love like a penthouse spread :)
  • Dee  •  Jackson, Mississippi  •  3 months ago
    Absolutely stunning work! Thank you for shining a positive light on this great industry!
  • andy  •  Boston, Massachusetts  •  3 months ago
    ENOUGH with the STUPID video ADVERTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • merlin s  •  Atlanta, Georgia  •  3 months ago
    all i can say is GEORGE from sienfeld, lol
  • Eric  •  Atlanta, Georgia  •  3 months ago
    Sounds like a great idea for women who look like supermodels. For everyone else, well, I suspect it makes Valentine's Day about as risky as walking into a mine field.
    • beautiful oak 3 months ago
      I had photos like these taken a few years ago and I do NOT look like a supermodel, nor do any of these women. A good photographer can do things you never imagined possible using light, angles, clothes, positions, etc.
  • Bob  •  3 months ago
    p.t. barnum was right.
  • Legal Citizen  •  Houston, Texas  •  3 months ago
    Did that in 92 and now the ex has them. Lord knows what he's done with them now.
  • brini  •  3 months ago
    if they took my photos, i would be the one getting paid
  • Richard  •  Mt Hamilton, California  •  3 months ago
    SORRY THIS VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE! WOW! Do I have to get that on every #$%$ video on Yahoo??? Yesterday I went 12 for 12: SORRY my #$%$ pull the article if the video is no longer available!! Yahoo - PLEASE STOP SUCKING!!!!
  • Mr. Natural  •  Spokane, Washington  •  3 months ago
    What a load...Love...and exploding cigar that we willingly smoke...
  • daystar  •  3 months ago
    These were popular in the 80s, in the right place, these are great.The internet is the wrong place, in the privacy of the bedroom is the right place.
    • Jeff 3 months ago
      The internet is the right place, so we all can enjoy..
    • daystar 3 months ago
      Jeff, how about your wife putting hers on all social networks and You Tube and see how you like it.
  • Natalia  •  Louisville, Kentucky  •  3 months ago
    Jennifer is an amazing photographer and her work is stunning!! I was able to have pictures done with her while on a recent trip to NYC and they were extremely tasteful and my husband LOVED them! it was also a great boost for my body image and something I will surely do again in the future!! :)
    • Dee 3 months ago
      She does amazing work.. I have had a few friends got to her for photos
    • Dee 3 months ago
      go*
    • Chris 3 months ago
      I would like to see how tasteful they are. lol
  • Dave  •  Seattle, Washington  •  3 months ago
    That's great, it really is. I just hope there are options that don't cost enough to feed a village for a week just to make someone feel good about themselves. Sorry ladies, you might be feeling just a 'little' insecure about yourselves if you have to spend 1,500 dollars. That's just sad when a man can't make his queen feel that way all the time - for free.