Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chelsea McGowan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chelsea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

In 2021, I knew something had to change. After shooting weddings for 11 years, I was just kind of done having no weekends. I felt myself outgrowing the genre… having less and less in common with my clients. I still love weddings (and I’m still shooting several this year), but it was time for me to move on in my focus. I’ve been shooting boudoir since 2008, and since a rebrand, my SKINbyMcG business has been half my income for over 6 years now. But still, deciding to make boudoir portraiture my main focus is SCARY.
So far, my clientele have really rewarded the decision. I’m still making some tweaks, and fighting some social media monsters to get my name out there, but I’m hitting the marks I wanted to for my first year.
It was scary to jump, but to this point, it’s been a great decision!

Chelsea, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I first got into photography through journalism, as I worked as a reporter for several newspapers and a magazine in my “previous life”. I always think of my photography as a story, even if it’s just a portrait session. Every collection builds and ebbs and flows and has a resolution. I think it’s one of the ways my work stands apart. Another important thing is that I am entirely client-focused. Even if my client has booked a session to serve as a gift for someone, I’m still all about HER (or him, that happens too). I think the sexiest thing in the world is confidence, and if you make decisions that make YOUR heart sing, that’s the secret to a perfect session.
My business has been built on word-of-mouth, and I’m endlessly proud of that. Knowing that SKINbyMcG continues to grow year after year because our clients talk about their sessions is a major win.
Because you can give someone incredible pictures, but that’s only half the job. The experience should be fun and empowering and inspiring. If you don’t want to do it again, I didn’t do my job right.
Luckily, I have a couple dozen “every year” clients who will absolutely talk up their SKIN addiction :)

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I started shooting boudoir, my strategy was to identify what my client DIDN’T like about their body, and hide/minimize that. It didn’t take me long to realize that by focusing on their least favorite parts, my clients had the completely wrong mindset coming into their sessions. I’m confident in knowing how to photograph all shapes and sizes of bodies in flattering ways. Don’t tell me what you hate. Tell me what you LOVE about you…. that’s where the focus should be. And if you don’t love anything about your body, don’t worry, you will by the time you leave,

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

The best thing I’ve done for client recruitment and retention is start a private/hidden Facebook group for clients. Having that space has built a community of SKIN clients (past, present, and future) that cheer each other on. Clients can show off their photos in a safe place and have a couple hundred people giving them that all-important “OMG GIRL YOU LOOK AMAZING”. That boost in confidence, that confirmation that you did the damn thing…. that’s worth everything.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.skinbymcg.com
• Instagram: @skin_by_mcg

Image Credits
SKINbyMcG