We were lucky to catch up with Michael Spatola recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

The photos I create with my clients are all in realistic surroundings. I strive to create images that don’t look out of place. I mean, Boudoir literally means “Bedroom.” So Boudoir really should be photographed in real rooms, with real furniture. It should’t look like a studio (just my opinion)

A trend I’ve seen in recent years is new Boudoir photographers popping up all over the place. This honestly doesn’t bother me so much as an established studio (over 32 years!). But, what does get under my skin a little is that they all seem to be carbon copies of each other. Zero originality. I feel I could go to 10 different Boudoir Photographer’s websites, and wouldn’t be able to tell one from another. The abundance of Facebook groups for my genre of photography is ever-growing. So many new studios are members of these groups, literally, copying every set and pose from one another. Even the wording on their websites is copied from someone else. Originality is not something I see often. Keeping my work looking real, and focusing on the client experience, is something I strive for.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Well, my Name is Michael Spatola and I am a photographer specializing in Boudoir Photography of women, My main goals for a session is to help the client be more comfortable and relaxed, and to help them realize their personal potential. Everyone should be able to FEEL beautiful, not just look pretty for the camera, but to look strong and confident, yet still very sexy.

We take a good bit of time to discover what each client’s tastes are, and what they’re looking to get out of the sessions. Also, personality plays such a huge part in this process. You may find the greatest photographer in the world, but if your personality clashes with theirs, your images will simply NOT be as good as they could be. We honestly don’t photograph every woman that contacts us. If I feel that our personalities don’t mesh, I may recommend they shoot with someone else. I want them to have the best experience possible. By doing it this way, I have a 100% success rate in pleasing my clients.

The prep materials our clients receive are so helpful. We have a full prep and lingerie guide that you’ll receive as soon as you book your session. The info is super helpful, and will make getting ready for an experience like this, a breeze,

Makeup plays a big part in our sessions too, and is always complimentary. You should simply look like yourself, but on your best day! Our artists work with you to create the look you want to see in your photographs. Often we’ll do multiple looks too! Starting off with very clean beauty, and progressing to more dramatic. But we’ll make sure the look is to your satisfaction. Our makeup artist stays for the entire session for touch-ups, but also to act as, sort of a personal assistant for you. It’s great to know that they will maintain your look throughout the session, and even help with things like attaching garters and such.

There are so many things that we do just a little differently that add up to an amazing, empowering experience, up to, and including, a 100% money-back guarantee.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Reputation is built one client at a time. Yes, it’s slower that way. But, by making sure each client gets individualized attention, making them feel like they’re you’re only client, and making sure they look and feel their best, you’ll build that ‘one client at a time’ that will champion your business. Of course, getting a written testimonial that can be included in future marketing, helps tremendously in providing social proof to potential new clients.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My audience is purposely not huge on social media such as Instagram. I absolutely weed out folks that shouldn’t be following me and I protect my female clients from an element where unwanted attention in the form of rude comments can happen if you don’t keep the good followers, and remove the bad. I feel it’s way better to have a few thousand good followers that are your target market, than 100,000 that may be there to just just look at pretty photos of women, or just might be looking for a date (ick!!).

Although it takes time every day, I remove and block all fake accounts, or accounts that feel “wrong”- if you do this, you know what I’m saying. And if you don’t you may end up with a hacked account.

Posting often enough to keep your followers engaged is always a great thing. Although, I’m not one that wants to create reels all the time. Instagram used to be an amazing photo sharing app. But in recent times, they only seem to care about competing in the short-form video content against Tiktok. Still, I feel being on Instagram is better than not being on there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lifestyleboudoir.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifestyle_boudoir
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lifestyleboudoir
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LifestylBoudoir
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LifestyleBoudoir
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/lifestyle-boudoir-san-fernando-valley

Image Credits
All images ©2023 Michael Spatola / Lifestyle Boudoir