Handsome

Has No Limits

Not your age, size, or fitness level, or whatever you’ve quietly decided disqualifies you from being handsome. All bodies are celebrated here!

Male Boudoir Photography Services in Chicago, Illinois

What Actually Happens

The part nobody explains, which is the part everybody's nervous about.

We talk before anything is booked

1

A call, no pressure. What you want out of it, what you're not comfortable with, and where your line is. We set that line together, and I don't cross it.

We plan your shoot

2

We finalize a date and location. Once we understand who you are and what you are looking for, we begin planning your session (clothing, props, etc.).

“What do I do with my hands?”

3

Where your hands go. Which way to turn. Which outfit to put on. You will never be standing there wondering what you're supposed to be doing — that's my job, not yours. Your job is to relax, have fun, and enjoy!

Feeling confident and sexy

4

This Session is built for you to take the time to love yourself. I occasionally show the back of my camera during a session, and each time the client starts to question whether that is them and is sitting on cloud 9 about how they look and see themselves.

About John

A man with glasses and a beard, wearing a black T-shirt that says "Handsome Has No Limits" and leather suspenders, smiling.

I'm a photographer in Chicago, originally from Detroit, and male boudoir is where I found my creative home.

I first came across male boudoir after seeing a photograph that made me rethink what boudoir photography could look like for men. It felt confident and intimate without feeling overly posed or performative, and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

So I started shooting it.

The more I photographed, the more I realized I really loved this kind of work. Boudoir isn't just about the body. It's about how someone sees themselves, how they're willing to be seen, and those small moments when the person in front of the camera starts to see something in themselves they hadn't noticed before.

Eventually, I got in front of the camera myself.

That session changed how I thought about boudoir, and more importantly, how I thought about myself.

I've spent a lot of my life feeling uneasy in my own body, and I'm still working on that. I don't think that's a story with a tidy ending. But I think it's given me a different perspective behind the camera. I know what it feels like to wonder whether you're photogenic enough, attractive enough, or simply comfortable enough to be photographed this way.

That's a big part of what keeps me interested in this work.

I'm drawn to photographs that feel like the person in them — not overly polished, not trying to turn someone into a version of themselves they don't recognize, but images that make you stop for a second and think, yeah, that's me.

That's what I want to make.

Little Facts

Where I'm from

Grew up in Metro Detroit and relocated to Chicago in 2024

Outside of this

While this would be amazing as a full-time career, I do have a day job in People analytics (aka, data-nerdy HR). If I am not at a computer or camera, you’ll find me running or biking the lakeshore trails, playing Kickball on Sundays, finding new food adventures, and spending time with family and friends.

First camera

An Olympus point-and-shoot (FE-290 with 7.1 megapixels!). Saved up my hard-earned cash as a middle schooler for a digital camera. Though I am sure my parents were happy because it meant I wasn’t buying disposable cameras anymore.

On the speakers

During your session, the music is up to you! My speakers play a wide variety of things. Right now you’ll hear some EDM, Top 40, Throwbacks (probably singing along), Show Tunes (also singing along), Soundtrack, and modern classical (currently obsessed with Ludovico Einaudi).

Bad at

Reminding myself to take a moment and laugh, relax, and not take things seriously

Best part of the job

The moment when the client first starts to see themselves differently, as sexy and confident.

A man taking a selfie outdoors near a body of water, with a Chicago skyline featuring tall skyscrapers in the background, wearing a beige cap, colorful sunglasses, a light turquoise Reebok tank top, and wireless earbuds.
A man with a beard and sunglasses taking a selfie in an alleyway between two brick buildings, wearing a green T-shirt with a Stonewall Kickball logo and a beige backpack.
A man wearing glasses and a dark t-shirt with white text, and a navy blue hat with brown piping, standing inside a building with beige walls and shelves in the background.
A bald man with dark skin, partially dressed, wrapped in a satin black bed sheet and underwear, sitting in a room with framed artwork on the wall behind him.
Black and white photo of a smiling man wearing white Calvin Klein underwear, standing against a plain wall.
Bald man with a beard wearing a white shirt, leaning forward, with his arms crossed in a dimly lit room.
A person with short hair is doing yoga or stretching on a sofa in front of a large window with black frames, curtains on the sides, and an exposed brick wall in an indoor setting.
A shirtless man with short hair standing in front of an elevator, looking out of the window.
A young man with short hair and a beard sitting in the driver’s seat of a vintage black car, looking out the window with a serious expression, with a blurred outdoor background.
A man lying in bed on his back, holding his smartphone with both hands, in a room with large windows and sheer curtains, black and white photo.
A shirtless man with tattoos on his left arm and a beard, sitting on a bed in a dimly lit room, looking at the camera.
A man with a beard, short hair, and earrings, wearing a red and black harness and black shorts with red trim, sitting outdoors near a wooden fence and green trees.
A man with curly hair, glasses, and a beard, wearing an open checkered shirt revealing his chest and stomach, standing outdoors during dusk or evening with a dark, slightly cloudy sky and trees in the background.
A person standing outdoors by a body of water, wrapped in a rainbow pride flag, wearing a black cap backwards, black shorts, and a black top, smiling and looking at the camera.
Two shirtless men are standing close together by a body of water during sunset, with their eyes closed and foreheads touching.
A person with a beard and mustache lying in a bath filled with milk and orange and red rose petals.
A shirtless man with a beard and short dark hair leaning against a textured green wall, with green lighting creating a moody atmosphere.
A man sitting on a windowsill, looking out the window, in black and white. He is wearing a dark shirt and white underwear with one knee drawn up and hands holding it.

Reasons to Book a Session

  • Think like an album as a wedding gift for your soon partner to be. Or sharing the time together in a session as a Valentine’s day experience.

  • Lost weight? Gained Muscle? Completed other personal fitness milestones (Running, CrossFit, Hyrox, Triathlon, etc. and want to celebrate the body that has carried you through that journey.

  • Death to your 20’s vibe? Crossing a milestone like 40 or 50? Or just any age /birthday, for that matter. All birthdays deserve a celebration, and what better way is there to celebrate than by thanking yourself?

  • Boudoir allows people to connect (or reconnect) with themselves in ways they may not have known before. Recently found a new identity (coming out, discovering kink spaces, recently separated, and now single, etc).

  • Boudoir is an experience that is intended to allow people to see themselves in a different light then how they seem to be. This can be extremely powerful for someone dealing with previous trauma and are looking to feel self love and see themselves for the first time in quite some time.

  • Life is full of whimsy and sometimes you need to remind yourself how handsome you truly are with something fun!

Your Investment Cost

Your session investment is broken into two parts

My session cost

$250. 00

Most sessions are 2.5 hours long, at $100 per hour. This gives us time to explore, be deliberate, take breaks if needed (boudoir posing isn’t natural), and not feel rushed overall.

Location Cost

Varies

Since I don't own a studio, I typically rent studio space or use hotels and Airbnbs. This is an additional cost on top of my session time cost. This varies based on location and duration. Studio costs could be around $200. There are other ways to make this portion cheaper; hotel points to use? Consider using a hotel for your session to reduce the location cost by using your travel points.

I don’t do photo packages

Many photographers give you ten or fifteen images and keep the rest. I don't work that way. Every picture in your gallery from your session is yours.

Here's why. After my own session, I skipped past a few photos I didn't like. A few years later I looked at them again, and they were able to be appreciated much more and with much kinder eyes. The photos hadn't changed. I had.

If I'd had to pick fifteen that day, I'd have picked wrong. You should get to decide how you feel about these pictures in five years, not in the first ten minutes.

Also includes

  • Open communication to plan and prep from inquiry to delivery of your gallery

  • Clothing guidance ahead of the shoot

  • 2.5 hours of fully directed attention

  • A safe, private gallery of your images

  • A person to hype you up for 2.5 hours

Your Boudoir Questions, Answered

  • No. There is no boudoir body. I've photographed men who are lean, soft, stocky, muscular, plus-size, 25 and 65. The camera isn't waiting for you to earn this.

  • Absolutely not. We agree on your comfort level before the session, and that's the boundary for the day. Plenty of sessions never go past a shirt and jeans. Others go further. Both are boudoir. it is whatever makes you feel the most confident and sexy.

  • That's my job. I direct posture, hands, chin, breathing, and light. You don't need to arrive knowing anything, and men who've never been photographed often shoot the best because they're not performing.

  • It happens; it's a normal physical response, and it isn't a problem. If you don't want it in your images, we can take a short break and pick back up. You are not the first person this has happened to.

  • Yes. Nothing is posted, shown, or shared without your explicit written permission, and permission is opt-in rather than assumed. Many of my favorite sessions have never been published.

  • They can come along, join the session, and be photographed with you (Couples sessions are a ton of fun!) Some men want an audience of one; others want no audience. Say which one on the call.
    **My only caveat for anyone hanging out and not part of the shoot: please be a hype person for my client, but do so in a way that respects the space I am trying to create and work in. Loud, obnoxious all the time, and second-guessing my work as an outsider will not be tolerated, and you will be gently asked to step outside for the remainder of the session.