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

Sammy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Sammy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Growing up as a woman surrounded by mentors and teachers all teaching repression of taboo topics, I accepted at a young age that it was important to create an altered version of myself: dampened, small, quiet (ish), and afraid. While I was still one of the loudest, individualistic, “out-there” girls I knew, I was only being my “truest” self to the point I knew I would be accepted – just weird enough to push boundaries but playing it small enough to make sure I was never unloved.

To put it simply, finding boudoir photography was like finding a part of myself. I have been taking pictures of my friends and cool stuff I liked since I could walk but boudoir photography was different. With my camera, I was learning how to reclaim a very important piece of my needs and interests.

I first started photographing my roommate who humbly offered herself as my very first model. I was way too afraid to ask and wouldn’t have. We did two photoshoots together: one with just her, and later one with her close friend in town. I had just moved to Colorado from a Chicago suburb in 2020.

I fell in love with the way these girls felt during the shoot. I fell in love with the way I felt. Both parties empowered. Both parties excited to celebrate our bodies, faces, sexuality, and personalities that inevitably shone through in each photo.

The boudoir work I do now helps me and my clients tap into the divine feminine. My work goes deeper than photos and s*x. My work feels like therapy – because it is. It’s being sexy because we’re confident and only becoming more confident. It’s posing in the mirror in a way that screams, “I AM BEAUTIFUL.” Me and my clients do this work to create a stronger relationship with ourselves. The goal is to be able to look in the mirror and LOVE who we see looking back.

I believe that if more people, women especially, see themselves in a bright, unapologetic, beautiful light, the world will light up.

“If you want love, love.” And that love starts with us.

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?

I’m Sammy. I’m a girl who loves to smile, kiss my dog, take sweet photos, and enjoy french-fries and hazy IPAs. The music I’m into currently ranges from punk, indie, and psychedelic rock and I LOVE to sing along in my car. I’m seriously extroverted and get my energy from being around cool people, especially the ones I already love. Catch me in a mosh pit or deep in a meaningful conversation – I thrive in both.

I honestly feel like photography found me. It’s always been easy to grab someone’s camera and take 87 photos of one moment. I moved to Colorado in 2020 with money in my savings account and a desire to spend time doing what I love: exploring the mountains, meeting awesome people, and taking pictures of all of it. Since it was in the middle of Covid, I could only really focus on the photography portion – so I built a business that lit me up.

Like many photographers, I loved capturing everything. I still do. But like a moth to light, I couldn’t stop taking photos of and wishing for more boudoir. I couldn’t get enough of the empowerment.

My job now is simple – empowering women through boudoir. There are days when I still look in the mirror and feel disempowered and discouraged. I think it’ll happen for a while. But my goal is to heal my wounds from what I believed I HAD to be and create who I want to be instead. I work every day to continuously step into my own light and shine so, so, so bright.

Everybody who empowers started empowering because they have a deep knowledge of what it feels like to be disempowered. I want the women that follow my work to know that I understand the shame and struggle we are taught to believe is normal. Every day I wake up, I have to consciously choose to love myself as I am while striving to improve. Boudoir is this for me.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Oh man there are so many. I have two I’d like to share because they are the most relevant to my present life. Aka, still learning.

1. Sometimes you have to accept a little bit of unhappiness in the moment so that you can accept greater happiness for your future self. This is the lesson I’m currently learning. What I had to unlearn was the idea that if I wanted to live in the moment and live my best life, I had to really commit and do whatever I wanted all the time. Building a business is pretty hard with this mindset. Honestly everything is pretty hard with this mindset.

This one came from realizing I can literally create the life I desire. My thoughts drive everything I do, and for a while my thoughts were mostly formed from insecurities. I learned that if I can, for example, read for 30 minutes a day, my mind would be calmer, I’d have more control over anxiety spirals, and I could do other hard stuff too. 

2. You deserve to be shamed for celebrating your body.

So, nobody actually said this in these words to me, but I think most women will agree that they’ve felt this. Many women are still currently feeling this. There’s a part of me that still believes this lie. I am unlearning this as every day. I applaud the women who have gotten past this or who never let this belief stalk their mind.

Unlearning this one, like realllllyyyy taking the time to unpack and dismantle this one, started for me because of boudoir photography. I participated in and photographed a boudoir party photoshoot with my girl friends out here in Colorado and I noticed two things: I was more nervous than I thought I’d be and this shit (can I swear in here?) is immensely inspiring and empowering and fun and badass and I want more.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I was 19, I was in a very dark place in my mind. I felt paralyzed with depression and anxiety and couldn’t even muster up one good thing about myself. I slept in for hours when I could and when I did have to get up for work, I subconsciously made sure I looked how I felt.

I leaned on my boyfriend at the time and put all my problems onto him to fix and hold. While I knew it was me who had to fix myself, I prayed that anybody else could take away the pain – at least a little. Even with a great family and a boyfriend who loved me, I hated myself. I wanted to die.

There was a day in particular where I was daydreaming of ending my life, (dramatic, I know), and I asked my mom to help me get a therapist. She did and I never missed an appointment. I later went to a holistic doctor to get more answers about my depression and anxiety. She ran tests and the results showed low, low, low, low, low levels of all my “happy” chemicals. It was relieving to learn there were actual scientific reasons I was suffering so much, especially with how lovely my life had been up to that point.

During therapy, we got into the deep stuff. I cried a lot. I had panic attacks but was too afraid to tell her during. I’d walk out with a pale face and sit in my car until it subsided and I could drive home. Once I went away to college, I’d drive 2 hours back to town to see her and then 2 hours back to school every week. I was dedicated to feeling better despite how hard it was for me.

I have continued therapy every day since. 

Even 2 years ago, I would’ve skipped over this question and chose something else or found a reason to credit somebody else for their resilience and told a story about how it affected me. I would’ve made it look like I was humble instead of what it actually was: fear of shining light on my greatness.

I am resilient in how I take care of myself. And as I keep uncovering new demons in my life, I am committed to living my best life and building the tools to do so.

Contact Info:

• Website: dirtytalkphotography.com
• Instagram: dirtytalkphotography
• Facebook: Dirty Talk Photography
• Other: I am rebranding on February 14 – as of right now, everything says “Peltz Photo.” peltzphoto.com Instagram.com/peltzphoto