Shanna Demke: Redefining What’s Sexy Through Boudoir Photography

Shanna Demke-Jukes’ photography journey began the traditional way — a calendar full of engagement shoots, weddings and LinkedIn headshot sessions. However, when something shifted and balancing photography with a full-time corporate job began to snuff out her passion, her husband encouraged her to quit and focus more narrowly on her fascination with women’s portraiture, saying, “If you’re gonna go for the islands, burn the boats.”

Her portfolio began to read like a documentation of the female form, following the female figure through all of life’s changes. Demke spoke about a particular maternity photoshoot at the Great Salt Lake where she was photographing a woman who had a difficult time accepting the changes to her body during pregnancy. When the client realized how mean she had been to herself, she wanted to change her tune in order to honor her body through her final pregnancy journey. They decided to put iridescent glitter on all of her stretch marks to document the roadmap on her body, and the client asked to do one nude.

“I was about a size 18 at the time, and I was really heartbroken because my body type was not represented anywhere.”

“We were so in the moment that when we turned around, there were so many people gathered watching and clapping. We were in tears because it was so beautiful to document this mother just connecting so deeply with her body that was doing the things we were made to do so elegantly,” Demke says. “If boudoir could make her feel that way, imagine what it could make every woman of every body type, every size feel.”

As Demke started doing boudoir photography full time, she realized that most body types were not represented in the field. “I was about a size 18 at the time, and I was really heartbroken because my body type was not represented anywhere,” she says. “If you’ve got a body, you are a boudoir body.” Determined to change the language around the boudoir industry, she began to shoot everyone but models.

She would kick her family out of their house in order to do live model calls for “everyday women willing to come get half-naked” with her. Her style embraced the natural body and avoided retouching or photoshopping, a rawness that remains a top priority for her company today. “These women see from a different perspective that the girl they’ve been such a dick to is worthy of all this. She’s worthy of being fussed over and feeling beautiful,” Demke says.

“It has been the best, most beautiful, hard, but rewarding thing that I have ever done.”

Two months into the COVID-19 pandemic, she bought her dream studio space and opened up Blushed Boudoir, which is now the largest private, all-female boudoir studio in Utah. They take pride in offering individually tailored empowerment sessions that make clients feel safe and secure. “It has been the best, most beautiful, hard, but rewarding thing that I have ever done,” Demke says.

She began by shooting two clients a day, seven days a week — but quickly realized that with her growing clientele, she needed some support. Her team has grown to include four photographers and three makeup artists who service between 35 and 50 clients a month. “We are just living in nakedness over here,” Demke says.

Interestingly enough, the majority of her clients come from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Utah’s predominant religion that is heavily associated with modesty. Demke sees these clients book a session either as a surprise for their husbands or to undo some shame associated with sensuality or sexuality. “They think that they are doing it as a gift, but what they leave with is so much more self-love,” Demke says.

Not only are professional makeup, hair and wardrobe styling offered with each session, but the studio is flooded with the ultimate hype-women to guide them through poses step-by-step and make sure that clients feel comfortable throughout the whole process. The team offers pre-session complimentary video calls with clients in order to ensure that any reservations they have are put to rest.

“You don’t have to be nude to have sexy photos, because sexy is an attitude. It has nothing to do with how much skin you are showing.”

The entire staff is trauma trained in order to recognize and adapt to signs of discomfort in clients who have experienced sexual trauma or have negative experiences associated with their sexuality. They emphasize that these sessions are specific to the person and that nudity is never a requirement.

“You don’t have to be nude to have sexy photos, because sexy is an attitude,” Demke emphasizes. “It has nothing to do with how much skin you are showing.” Demke’s profound hope is that every client, no matter their shape, size or identity, leaves proud of themselves and with a newfound sense of empowerment and self-love. “We just hope that you’ll leave showing yourself a whole hell of a lot more grace and kindness,” Demke says. “That you will discover that you are a badass with a great ass.”

Check out Blushed Boudoir at blushed-boudoir.com or at @blushedboudoirphotography on Instagram.

Read more features on local photographers:
Boudoir by Brie: Celebrating Every Body Through Photography
The Bold, Bright and Beautiful World of Sharon Reza