#78: Client WIN with Amber DeSantis: Winning with Boudoir Photography

Summary

Win With Paid Ads™ Podcast Episode #78: Client WIN with Amber DeSantis – Winning with Boudoir Photography

Release Date: July 24, 2025

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Introduction to Amber DeSantis and Her Journey

In Episode #78 of the Win With Paid Ads™ Podcast, host Ashley Brock welcomes Amber DeSantis, a dedicated boudoir photographer based in Atlanta. Amber shares her inspiring transition from a 24-year career as a high school teacher specializing in art, video, and photography to pursuing photography full-time in 2019.

Amber DeSantis: “I just felt like I really wanted to pursue photography full time. So it was a little scary, you know, walking away from that...” (01:12)

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Challenges with Advertising and Discovery of Ashley Brock

Amber recounts the initial success she had with online ads, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, around two years prior to the podcast, her ads ceased to perform effectively, leading her to seek solutions.

Amber DeSantis: “Then about two years ago, none of my ads were working anymore. And no matter what I did, nothing was working.” (01:56)

Her search led her to Ashley Brock through a friend's recommendation and attendance at one of Ashley's summits. Impressed by Ashley's expertise and personal approach, Amber decided to invest in Ashley's advertising strategies.

Amber DeSantis: “I learned so much about you and what you do, and you just really impressed me...” (02:54)

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Mastering Paid Ads: From Struggles to Success

Amber discusses the transformation she experienced after engaging with Ashley's paid ads program. Initially hesitant, she recognized the necessity of mastering advertising to sustain and grow her business. Through Ashley's guidance, Amber gained clarity and became proficient in managing ads, transitioning from ineffective strategies to becoming an ads expert herself.

Amber DeSantis: “I gained, you know, so much clarity, and I feel like an ads expert now.” (03:27)

Ashley Brock: “You have to put in the work and the effort and the little bit of the pain to see the payoff.” (07:25)

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Achieving Five-Figure Months and Consistent Lead Generation

Since implementing the strategies learned from Ashley, Amber has experienced significant business growth. She now enjoys five-figure months and is consistently booked out two months in advance. Her daily leads have surged, transforming her business landscape from months of stagnation to a thriving client pipeline.

Amber DeSantis: “I've been booking clients in and have had five figure months every month, which is Great.” (08:32)

Amber DeSantis: “This is attributed to my ads.” (10:22)

One of her notable successes includes the implementation of retargeting ads on Facebook, which have proven highly effective. Additionally, Amber has been leveraging video view lookalike audiences, expanding her advertising horizons further.

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Effective Communication and Automation in Client Engagement

Amber highlights the importance of maintaining communication with potential clients through automated workflows. By sending personalized text messages to leads who have shown interest but haven't booked a call, she has increased engagement and fostered stronger connections.

Amber DeSantis: “I have an automation, a workflow setup where people will get a text message from me.” (10:37)

Amber DeSantis: “People are responding more to communication from me.” (10:22)

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Overcoming Advertising Challenges and Optimizing Campaigns

Despite significant successes, Amber shares some challenges, such as receiving inappropriate inquiries when attempting to utilize direct messages (DMs) for her business. She and Ashley discuss the importance of precise targeting to ensure ads reach the intended demographic.

Amber DeSantis: “I tried it. It just doesn't work for my business. I get, for some reason, I just get people that are men, inappropriate.” (12:35)

Ashley Brock: “We need to look at your settings after this call because you shouldn't be getting men for those.” (12:51)

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Scaling What Works and Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Ashley emphasizes the importance of scaling successful advertising campaigns rather than constantly seeking new avenues. She advises focusing investments on what already yields positive results to maximize profitability and return on investment.

Ashley Brock: “The biggest thing and the biggest mistake that I feel like people make is when something's going well, just not spending more on that thing.” (14:45)

Ashley Brock: “What if you had one that drove 95% of the revenue? ... Let's just lean into that.” (14:50)

Amber concurs, noting the substantial traffic she continues to receive from her optimized Google Ads campaigns.

Amber DeSantis: “I'm definitely getting a lot of traffic from Google.” (15:32)

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Creating Visually Compelling Ads: Tips from a Photographer

Given Amber's expertise in photography, she provides valuable insights into creating effective visual advertisements. Key tips include:

1. Lighting: Essential for high-quality visuals.

   Amber DeSantis: “Honestly lighting is really important.” (16:43)

2. Professional Photography: Hiring a professional can elevate ad quality, though great content can also be achieved with a smartphone.

3. Negative Space: Utilizing blank or solid-colored backgrounds to make text and images stand out.

   Amber DeSantis: “Negative space is just that blank, open space behind you.” (17:32)

4. Organization: Maintaining organized folders and clearly naming photo files to streamline the ad creation process.

   Amber DeSantis: “Set up folders to make it easy for you ... name your photos what you want them to show up.” (18:09)

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The Emotional Impact of Boudoir Photography

Amber delves into the profound emotional experiences of her clients during boudoir sessions. She emphasizes creating a safe and empowering environment where clients can embrace their vulnerability and rediscover their self-worth.

Amber DeSantis: “A lot of times there's tears involved because I think as women, we put so much pressure on ourselves...” (22:36)

Amber DeSantis: “A boudoir session is really more about the experience and the transformation that women go through...” (22:52)

Ashley shares her personal experiences with boudoir photography, highlighting the lasting emotional significance and the empowerment it brings to clients.

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Closing Remarks and Contact Information

Ashley concludes the episode by acknowledging Amber's warmth and expertise, encouraging listeners to connect with her for their boudoir photography needs.

Amber DeSantis: “They can follow me on Instagram. Amber DeSantis Photographer or same website.” (24:52)

Ashley also promotes the Win with Paid Ads challenge for listeners eager to replicate Amber's success with their advertising strategies.

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Key Takeaways

1. Persistence in Advertising: Overcoming initial setbacks with ads can lead to substantial business growth.
2. Importance of Clarity and Expertise: Gaining a deep understanding of advertising platforms is crucial for success.
3. Effective Communication: Automated workflows and personalized messages can significantly enhance client engagement.
4. Visual Quality Matters: High-quality, well-organized visuals are essential for compelling advertisements.
5. Emotional Connection: Creating a safe and empowering environment fosters meaningful client experiences, especially in fields like boudoir photography.
6. Scaling What Works: Focus investments on successful campaigns to maximize returns rather than continuously experimenting with new strategies.

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For more insights and to join the Win with Paid Ads challenge, visit ashleybrock.com/challenge.

Transcript

[Ashley Brock]

Welcome to the Win with Paid Ads podcast for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and really anyone who has anything you want more people to find. Whether you're starting from ground zero or scaling an eight figure business, you are exactly who this podcast was created for. Because you being the best kept secret helps no one. Right? You may be the best at what you do, but if you aren't the best at advertising what you do, then you're leaving money on the table. That's why in every episode, I'll show you how you can use paid ads to hit your goals 10 times sooner. It's time you finally learn how to win with paid ads. You or someone on your team can do this. I'll show you how to score and be known by more. Let's get started. Today on the podcast, you're going to get to meet someone so special. Her name is Amber Desantis and she is a photographer here in the Atlanta area. So welcome to the podcast.

[Amber Desantis]

Thank you for having me.

[Ashley Brock]

So tell everybody, what type of photography do you do? I want a little bit of history.

[Amber Desantis]

Okay.

[Ashley Brock]

About the business and you.

[Amber Desantis]

Sure. So I am a boudoir photographer and a lot of people don't know this, but I actually used to be a high school teacher and so I taught high school for I think, 24 years.

[Ashley Brock]

Wow.

[Amber Desantis]

Art and video and photography was. Was what I taught. So lovely. Left teaching in 2019. I just felt like I really wanted to pursue. Pursue photography full time. So it was a little scary, you know, walking away from that. Sure thing as far as income and health insurance and all the things you don't think about as an entrepreneur that you need to provide for yourself. But it's been awesome. And when I first started out, everything was easy. Even though we had Covid, you know, right after it seemed like ads were. I put up an ad. Everything was working good. And then about two years ago, none of my ads were working anymore.

[Ashley Brock]

Whoa.

[Amber Desantis]

And no matter what I did, nothing was working. And I actually, I came across you as from mad. No. So here's what happened. So I have a friend who's been following you forever, and she bought a ticket to your summit and she couldn't go. And she said, hey, I think you might be interested in this. So just purely providence, I got this ticket. And so I showed up and I was like, wow, this girl knows what she's talking about. And I knew you were going to be selling an offer. I didn't know anything about you or what it was going to be like. So I learned so much about you and what you do, and you just really impressed me with how you knew everybody's name, who was in your mastermind, the little tidbits that you shared, you know, while you were on stage. So I went home, and I was like, I've got to do this.

[Ashley Brock]

Wow.

[Amber Desantis]

And that. That's kind of how it got started. And then I saw your ads.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah, of course. You saw them everywhere, man. That's so interesting. You know, I. When I. When I reflect back at the summit, like, I feel like I should have taught more, but I'm so glad that even still, you were like, hey, I feel like this ads thing, you're open to it, especially because of the experience you'd had with ads not working as recently. Like, was there a little bit of hesitation?

[Amber Desantis]

There was, but I knew I had to do something because I know that ads can work, and I just didn't have an understanding of why mine weren't working anymore.

[Ashley Brock]

Right.

[Amber Desantis]

And I gained, you know, so much clarity, and I feel like an ads expert now. Like, I could help my friends, you know, if they wanted me to.

[Ashley Brock]

Yes.

[Amber Desantis]

I don't know, you know, like, exactly what I was doing wrong in the past, but I know how to do it right now.

[Ashley Brock]

I say this example all the time, but it's like, I can't unbake the cake. Like, someone will be like, why is this cake sour? I'm like, I don't know what they put in it, but I know how you can start fresh.

[Amber Desantis]

Yes.

[Ashley Brock]

You know, and you can audit and look at it and be like, oh, well, the frosting has mold on it. Obviously. That's why it tastes terrible. Like, there's some stuff of it you can audit and see what's wrong, but there's some of it. Like, you don't know what was done and why it was done. So that's really nice that you're like, hey, now you know how to start from fresh and do it well.

[Amber Desantis]

Yes. And Google Ads I was totally doing wrong. I didn't.

[Ashley Brock]

I mean, not yes for you. Yes. Because I feel like people are like, no, I already did Google. It didn't work. I'm like, and you didn't do it the right way. So that's actually helpful.

[Amber Desantis]

Oh, unbelievable. I mean, I knew keywords that were supposed to have keywords, but I didn't know you were supposed to bid on keywords.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah. People don't know.

[Amber Desantis]

Throwing money away for nothing.

[Ashley Brock]

They don't know. Well, the way that Google prompts you to set up a campaign, it's like, anyone with a brain, like, we can read it. We can be like, yes. Oh, let me. I can do Google Ads. But then you don't know the context on why something's not working. And so it's just all those details. It's like someone coming up to you and being like, I can be a photographer. They have no idea what camera to buy. They have no clue about angles. They have no clue about editing. Yes. They can learn. And, and, like, if you think about, like, how long does it take for someone to get good at anything? If it's like this big, it's like, okay, that's how long it takes to get good at anything. If you do it on your own. And then it's like. Or you find someone that's already done that, and then it takes you this. Because they just tell you everything. And I feel like that's what you did because, like, it's been six months, and you're, you're, you, like, feel like you're an ADS expert because you've had.

[Amber Desantis]

But I'm so happy.

[Ashley Brock]

But I feel like you've just, like, done the training. You showed up to every call. You asked the questions like, you know what? I bet it's a teacher in you.

[Amber Desantis]

It might be. I, I, I felt like the way that you teach it, the. You're very multimodal, and I appreciated it so much. So you, you have good language, so you're. It's easy to understand what you're saying if you draw pictures.

[Ashley Brock]

Yes.

[Amber Desantis]

And that, to me, I was like, made your marker board, you know, like, that just made the difference for me. And, and I think you speak very slowly. You're very calm on the calls. You are very kind, and you ask questions. And so it just makes it. You just feel like you're talking to somebody that you know, and that, that is a friend who is taking the time to actually understand what your problem is.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah.

[Amber Desantis]

And then walking you through that. And I've been in other, you know, ads classes. Nothing like this, where you get the, the hand holding that you need.

[Ashley Brock]

I'm so glad. And I will say I, I know you're calling it hand holding, and there definitely is support, but you actually, in my opinion, did not need hand holding. Like, you all, you really, like, you held your own hand. You were an adult. And I'm saying this because, Amber, some people, they literally are like, no, I'm. I'm seven. I need you to hold my hand every step. But, like, you were like, hey, I will do it. I'm Gonna ask some questions, obviously, but, like, you would just go do it. Like, you watch the training. You did it. Like, I. So I just. I think there's a difference between support and handholding. And it's probably because in the last week, I feel like there's some times where people are a little resistant to actually doing the work, which, like, you don't. You don't want to sit and watch videos, but you did want all these leads for your business. You know, it's like we. I don't. I absolutely, like, I absolutely do not want to go work out downstairs later. I will, because I like feeling fabulous. I don't want to do the work. I just want the payoff.

[Amber Desantis]

You do have to put in the work and the effort and the little bit of the pain to see the payoff.

[Ashley Brock]

You do.

[Amber Desantis]

Yeah.

[Ashley Brock]

It is painful to say no to a piece of cake when it's the third piece. But, like, if you do it, you do it. But, like, you're glad that you did it after, you know, so I'm really proud of you. So tell. Tell us a little bit. I want to hear. I like to talk about the good and the more challenging sides of ads, just because I feel like that's normal with anything. So what do you feel like has gone the best? Where are you at with the business and leads? And then tell me, like, what do you feel like your biggest challenge has been in learning this or doing some of this?

[Amber Desantis]

Okay, so some of the good things retargeting ads on Facebook have been so good and so important. And actually just this week I was like, okay, so now I've kind of figured out the base of that. So now I have all these plans for all these other retargeting things that I'm going to be doing all laid out in different, like, lookalike audiences that I knew nothing about doing. I'm so glad video view lookalike audiences.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah.

[Amber Desantis]

That I can target. And so I'm excited about that. And as far as successes, so I started the course, I think, in the end of January.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah.

[Amber Desantis]

Took about a month and a half to watch all those videos and get everything reset up. I, you know, I had all my Facebook and Google Ads accounts set up, but I still watched everything from the beginning and kind of went through and checked everything and all my conversions and all of that stuff that you teach the foundation that is so important. And so every month since then, I've, you know, I've been booking clients in and have had five figure months every month, which is Great. And I'm still, you know, I'm still booked out about two months in advance.

[Ashley Brock]

Good.

[Amber Desantis]

Getting my leads every day, which is great. And they're scheduling their calls.

[Ashley Brock]

Leads every day. You feel okay? Yeah, that's great. You know, you say when it was.

[Amber Desantis]

Crickets, you know, for months, when you feel that panic, like, oh, my God, no, nobody's contacting me.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah. Man. From crickets to a lead a day. Like, even a lead a day is, like, a really big deal for a lot of people.

[Amber Desantis]

Yeah. And then getting them, you know, this is something I noticed.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah.

[Amber Desantis]

Just this week is, I think, because people are seeing my ads more, they are responding more to communication from me.

[Ashley Brock]

Because you're top of mind.

[Amber Desantis]

I think. So it is the most bizarre thing. So I have an automation, a workflow setup where people will get a text message from me. At a certain point in the series, all the new people are responding to this particular text message that yesterday I was like, oh, my God, what is happening? It's just bing, bing, bing, bing. People, they're like, thank you so much for reaching out. Like, what is happening? And I think it's because they're like, oh, yeah, I know her, and I remember I want to do that with her. And I really feel like that is attributed to my ads.

[Ashley Brock]

I feel like I'm like, watching a movie. What's this text? So, like, when does this text come? Is it like, how do they get into this tech series?

[Amber Desantis]

So it's a lead who comes in. They maybe have signed up. You know, they want to learn more, but they haven't booked a call.

[Ashley Brock]

Okay.

[Amber Desantis]

So they go into my workflow. So they get a text. It's just me reaching out, saying, hey, you know, you were interested in doing this. It's not anything fancy or special wording. It just, you know, like, are you still interested? I'd love to, you know, chat with you if you have.

[Ashley Brock]

Hey, do you want this?

[Amber Desantis]

Because I'm still here.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah.

[Amber Desantis]

And people are responding and not. They haven't been, you know, Amber. So I think that was just so interesting to me to see their openness to it and be like, oh, yeah. Like, I mean, that's literally what. What they have said. Thank you for reaching back out and thanks for the reminder. And I haven't forgotten about you. And this is something on my bucket list.

[Ashley Brock]

So, you know, it reminds me of, like, I know that this has happened to me and hopefully many of you who are listening and watching too. But you know how if your friend doesn't text, you back but then you see them on Instagram stories and you're like, now like, it's like a reminder crap. I actually meant to text them back right now. It's different. Like I have like for business things, like I have, I leave my text messages and even my like client messages unread or I even turn the notifications off until I can sit down and really focus and go through it. So like there's absolutely times where I'm like, hey, I've been going out and about. I haven't had time to put my focus hat on because I don't like, like willy nilly. Like I don't like, oh, let me respond to this real quick. I'm like, no, let me put my focus because I want to like listen to everywhere. And so there's totally times like with my coach, I've sent her a message, haven't heard back yet, I'm doing something, haven't been able to focus yet. But like when you see someone again, it just reminds you, oh, I need to, I need to go, I need to go back and do this. So I think it's just so smart. Like people do want what you have to offer and it's like this isn't a magical text, it's just that you have it. It's just having systems in place where they do want to respond.

[Amber Desantis]

Yeah, yeah. And then as far as a challenge, I, I like to try different things. So when I was setting up my ads, I set up the dm.

[Ashley Brock]

Okay, try to DM twice.

[Amber Desantis]

I tried it. It just doesn't work for my business. I get, for some reason I just get people that are men inappropriate.

[Ashley Brock]

Okay, we need to look at your settings after this call because you shouldn't be getting men for those.

[Amber Desantis]

I know, I know. And I, I'm fairly sure that you know it's targeted to women, but for some reason they're eking through.

[Ashley Brock]

I just wanted to remind you really quickly that if you haven't joined the Win with Paid Ads challenge, the doors are closing soon. And just as a refresher, this is five, five days of you and or someone on your team learning my five part strategy to scale your paid ads. So day one is messaging, which is what you say and how you say it. Day two is setting, which is all the different places you can place your ads. Think Google Ads versus YouTube, Meta or TikTok. Day three is targeting, which is how you can get in front of your exact right person. Day four is testing so you can know what to test and how to improve your ads. And day five is scaling and profiting and how you can 10x whatever you're spending on your ads now so that you can have more profit and return and impact, which is ultimately what you want. Right? So click the link below and I cannot wait to see you. In the Win with Paid Ads challenge. There are settings where it's like if someone does have on their profile that they, they are male or female, that if that's what they've selected, then you may get these messages. And so sometimes, hey, you're going to just get an abundance of people. And sometimes we, we have to change the targeting a little. There's still some things we could play with. But also it's so true. Every single business owner is going to find these type of ads work better. For me, these don't. And that is okay. They don't have to be perfect now. I'm overly optimistic and I just want it. I want everything to be great. But it's also like, let's call a spade a spade. The Google Ads killing it. This retargeting, killing it. Let's just lean into that. And so people ask me amber, and this is actually a mistake I feel like people make is what. When something's actually working, what happens is like the ads are rolling, everything's going well, and then they're like, okay, what's my next move? And what they're really asking is what can I launch next? And although yes, you can have retargeting on YouTube and TikTok and Pinterest and all these places and yes, let's do that later. The biggest thing and the biggest mistake that I feel like people make is when something is going well, just not spending more on that thing. It's like, we want to launch something else. Versus, like, most of my clients at the ad agency, they just got to a place where they were excited to spend six figures a month on Google. It's like, what if you just dialed in and just worked on scaling the thing that's already going well versus being like, I want to have 10 campaigns. What if you had one that drove 95% of the revenue? Like, at the ad agency, most of my clients spent significantly more on Google than they did on meta. And I feel like because we all see meta so much, a lot of times we spend more. I would say I spend more on meta. I run Google Ads for my podcast for some events, and I've tried it for the challenge, but for the specific way that I work with people, I found meta works Better. But I think sometimes we just need to scale more of what is working too. But I love that you're. I love that you feel so confident that you can test and try the other things too. That's also part of it.

[Amber Desantis]

I know. I'm definitely getting a lot of traffic from Google.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah.

[Amber Desantis]

And I only right now just have the one search campaign going. I did set up a competitor's campaign, but actually turned it off.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah. It wasn't going as well.

[Amber Desantis]

It was okay. And I wanted to put that money back into the other one.

[Ashley Brock]

I think we sometimes second guess ourselves. We're like, wait, we can just have this one thing and just like really dial into this. And sometimes you really can. And as long as you know what your next move would be if that didn't work as well. But I'm all about get the getting while the getting is good. And if that is working, just spend more on that for right now. You know, don't change. No sudden movements when something's really working. Like just be. Have a boring business and do the same thing. You know, I love that. You know, but. Okay, so Amber, let's give some tips. I feel like one of the reasons your ads are good is cause you are a photographer, so you are creative, so your ads actually look good. So for people that feel like they're terrible at actually the visuals of ads, do you have any tips that you feel like from a photography or from a visuals perspective? Maybe when you see someone's ad or something, you're like, gosh, that doesn't look as good. Like, do you have any tips that could help people with their creating the ads or what you think about when you're creating ads?

[Amber Desantis]

Yeah. So obviously lighting is really important.

[Ashley Brock]

And Robert agrees. Right.

[Amber Desantis]

I would say if you can hire a professional photographer to do some of your photos, that's really, you know, obviously going to Amber DeSantis photography up level your images. But you can still do great content on, on the cell phone. Yeah, they're. They're so good. But obviously lighting should be really good. And I have, I have actually found that video performs really, really well for me.

[Ashley Brock]

Right.

[Amber Desantis]

And so I think just doing a combination of images of yourself that you can leave some negative space. We put text on in the background.

[Ashley Brock]

Tell everybody what is negative space.

[Amber Desantis]

Negative space is just that blank, open space behind you. And I would, I would aim to do something that's kind of neutral or just a solid color is really eye catching.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah, that's good. So it's so funny because some people will be like, my static ads perform the best. My videos perform the best. And I think that's the whole point is when you actually know how to set it up properly, you'll find out which one which does better, and then you can lean into it. But that's really good. Okay, so we got white space. We got great lighting, professional photos. Any other tips you feel like for just. Just good ads?

[Amber Desantis]

So just create a ton. A ton of content. And then what I would suggest that people do is before they do their ads, to set up folders to make it easy for you to. Then when you're going in and uploading all of your images into your ads account, it's already done. And also name your photos what you want them to show up. Because I noticed that under my ads, sometimes my. When I first was starting, I have to go back in and fix a few still. The photo says there's like a little name that says what your image title is. So, yeah, so you want to be conscious of what you're actually naming your photo files.

[Ashley Brock]

So the photographer and videographer in the room right now are advocating for organized folders and naming. And honestly, I feel like sometimes people come to me and they're stressed about their ads, and I'm like, well, pull up the ad. And it's like a nightmare. I'm like, is this what your closet looks like? No wonder you're stressed. And you think you're stressed at the ads, but really, it's like just having an organized process. And I think getting your ducks in a row before you go to click go makes a big difference. So, Amber, before we wrap up, one question that I forgot to ask you is, why did you decide to do photography?

[Amber Desantis]

Well, okay, so. And the reason I went into Boudoir specifically is about 13 years ago, I had a friend who said, hey, you need to join this photographer's group on Facebook. She does Boudoir. I was like, what is boudoir? I'd never heard of it, but I did. And I eventually wound up having a session. And I thought to myself, this is an amazing experience. I want to learn about this. And at the time, boudoir was relatively unknown. Niche. It's very. It's more popular now. But that sort of set me down that road and why I eventually Left teaching in 2019. Within that time period, I wound up taking some masterminds. I have a mentor in San Francisco that taught me a method called emotive photography. And so that is the way that I coach my clients, is using all of the emotions that they have inside of them so that their images are going to be full of life. It's not like a Kardashian fembot. Yeah, Gaze. We want to. When the. When the clients come in, I'm going to coach them to bring out all of those beautiful emotions and feelings that they have inside of them, that the people who know them and love them, what they see when they. When. When they are looking at them, as opposed to what. What you see when you look at yourself in the mirror. You're going to see yourself the same way every day. You don't necessarily see what everyone else around you gets to see. And so a boudoir session is really more about the experience and the transformation that women go through when they come, they're nervous. A lot of times they're, you know, they're nervous about being vulnerable in front of somebody, a stranger. And so it is so important to me that they feel comfortable and that they feel safe and able to open up and kind of let. Let those feelings out. And there are a lot of. Oftentimes there's tears involved because I think as women, we put so much pressure on ourselves of how we think our bodies need to be and how we talk to ourselves and we say things to ourselves that we would never, ever dream of saying to a friend, you know, but we feel comfortable saying these things to ourselves. And there's. It's. It's like 99% of everyone who walks through my door has something about themselves that they feel vulnerable about or uncomfortable about. And so the fact that they can leave there and feel beautiful and feel empowered. I show them the back of the camera as we're going. And I always tell my clients that, you know, like, I want you to feel like this is a safe space. So the minute you walk through the door, this is a safe space for you to learn about yourself again. You got to fill your own cup, you know, before you can fill everybody else's. And then, you know, when they leave, they got their hair, makeup done. They look in their rear view mirror as they're driving down the road and be like, no, I. I did that.

[Ashley Brock]

That's so awesome. I remember I've done two photo shoots where I was not wearing many clothes, and one was my boudoir shoot for my husband, which he has his little prize notebook in his closet. He loves this little thing. I was like, hey, we're about to get married. Merry Christmas to you.

[Amber Desantis]

See a lot of brides.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah. He loved that. So that was fun. The second Time I did it was actually when I was eight months pregnant and I had no clothes on. But what we did was. We. It was with a friend of mine. Because it really does matter. You can't just get naked in front of anybody. Right.

[Amber Desantis]

Very, very vulnerable.

[Ashley Brock]

It is. And especially when you're pregnant. Like, I honestly felt just. Just. Just. Just huge. Like, I just felt it. Okay. But, like, she was able to, like, do some turning and do some angles where it was so. And it was, like, backlit. But, like, I. I will treasure those pictures forever because you, like, see the body of, like, those curves and things.

[Amber Desantis]

That you can't look at yourself and see.

[Ashley Brock]

No.

[Amber Desantis]

So you have no idea until you see those photos. And I think it is such a surprise to women where they're like, oh, my God, like, that's what I look like.

[Ashley Brock]

Yeah.

[Amber Desantis]

You know, and it just helps heal.

[Ashley Brock]

So much or helps you appreciate. Like, I. Oh, gosh, I'm not gonna cry. My makeup, I remember, like, looking and being like, okay, I felt so, like, ugly then, you know, and then you look at it and like, oh, God, what? Like, a beautiful gift your body can do. It's so cool and so special that you get to capture that. All right, well, my inner.

[Amber Desantis]

It's a sacred duty.

[Ashley Brock]

I feel like it is. I guess we're gonna end the episode on some tears, but that's normal. See, it's like, something about Amber. She's so calm and warming and comforting. I'm like, yes. I get how everybody loves doing those sessions with you. It's really special. And I think, what's cheesy, since we're in an emotion mode, I think it's really cool that I'm getting to help people, like, find you to be able to do that, which is so cool, because those are photos that I look back on. Even when you're. When you're having a hard day or a bad day, you're like, you know what? That is what I look like then. That is what I look like then. What'd you say?

[Amber Desantis]

Say when you're old and spooky.

[Ashley Brock]

When I'm old and I'm gonna be 87. Like, do you remember, Kyle when we did this? Yeah.

[Amber Desantis]

I love it. Treasures.

[Ashley Brock]

I love it so much. Well, thank you for being here. Thank you for being willing to learn ads. It just says so much about you and who you are that you're willing to do that. You. And if you want to find Amber. How can they find you, Amber?

[Amber Desantis]

They can follow me on Instagram. Amber Desantis. Photographer or same website.

[Ashley Brock]

That's right, Amber DeSantis Photography. We will link to Amber's information below this episode. And don't forget, if you want to win with ads like Amber has, and it all starts at the Win with Paid Ads challenge. So click the link below this video, below this podcast, or if you're driving, go to ashleybrock.com challenge. Once you do that, you'll get retargeted and see a bunch of ads too. So click the link. You can win just like Amber did too. And I will see you on the next episode.