After Hours in the Studio: A Collaborative Photoshoot Experiment

At the end of a long day photographing clients at the glamour boudoir studio, three of us (Hannah, Rachel and I)  decided to stay behind and create something purely for ourselves.

We work as a small team specialising in boudoir and glamour portraits. Our days are spent holding space for women as they move through vulnerability and self-doubt. We stay emotionally present, listening to their stories, helping them feel at ease in front of the camera. It is deeply meaningful work, but it also carries emotional weight. By the end of the day, that can feel mentally exhausting.

 This session was our chance to set some of that down. Taking turns behind and in front of the camera, we treated the shoot like a creative playground.  We attached fabric directly to lights to diffuse and create texture, moved lights into unfamiliar positions, pushing them into higher, steeper angles to sculpt in more dramatic ways, added smoke effects for ethereal ambience.

Colour gel lighting became a central tool. We stacked blue, neon and golden hues to cast saturated tones and strong silhouettes, some setups leaned into graphic shadows, while others softened into dreamy washes of tinted light.

There was no pressure to produce anything commercial or client ready, there was no brief. Just curiosity and collaboration.

Sessions like this feel restorative. I am relearning that creativity doesn’t always need a purpose, sometimes it just needs space and generous people who make that space feel inspiring.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this inspirational.

Jessica Truscott - Faestock.