Meet Your Photographer | Cheyenne Gil | Philadelphia Boudoir Photographer
Want the quick and dirty? Here you go, babes —
I’m Cheyenne (They/she), a Philadelphia based body and fat affirming boudoir photographer, educator, and retreat facilitator. I help you celebrate, honor, and see yourself through the incredibly healing experience of being photographed, helping you photograph yourself and others, and facilitating a space for folks to come together in intentional, caring community. I’m a Queer, Latine, and Nonbinary babely babe and I can’t wait to make some magic with you!
And the long-winded version:
My my my. I love what I do. Maybe you’ve been following along for a while on Instagram and already know what I’m all about, but if you’re new here, here’s what you need to know: I’m a body and fat affirming boudoir photographer based in Philadelphia who specializes in working with folks who are ready to see themselves, celebrate their body, mind, and soul, and use this space as a way to begin or continue healing their relationship with their body.
I have worked one on one with over 2200 people in my boudoir studios in the past 11 years to help them step into who they are and celebrate, heal, and fully allow themselves to be seen.
I work with my clients to hold a loving space for people to simply exist - exist in their joy, in their pain, in their healing - in the form of boudoir photo sessions, self portraiture coaching, and magical retreats.
I’m a mother to my beautiful, giggly, little potato butt Sun, Apollo. I also love burlesque, laying around watching tv, and eating buffalo chicken cheesesteaks.
Things used to be different around here.
Once upon a time I owned a big boudoir photography studio, was a workaholic, chronic doer, and never-rester.
Then the pandemic hit. During the state-wide shut down, I got a taste for what real rest felt like and I realized how absolutely, truly, down-to-my-core burnt out I was. And while I did try to “pivot” as so many of my peers were doing, I simply couldn’t keep going the way I was going. I needed to walk away. And I did.
Then I got pregnant. My pregnancy was so special and delicious and incredible…something I don’t take for granted. It was full of grounding daily rituals like dancing and stretching and singing to my baby. When it came time to give birth, I pulled all the juiciness from those rituals and had a magical and dreamy home water birth in our bedroom. Total and utter connectedness to myself and my Sun from the moment of my water breaking, to the moment I caught him in my arms. Apollo was born on March 30th, 2021 at 5:08am. An Aeries. And yes, he is fiery. And his energy tells us how sure of himself he is. How much he just knows who he is already. That inspires me.
Parenthood is magical and dreamy, and definitely very, very, very hard — but I’ve fallen in love with being my kid’s mom. Apollo takes one look into my eyes and he sees into my soul and my feet root into the earth and that’s that. Giving birth to him and being his parent has reignited the flame that had dwindled down to ashes.
The ripple affect the pandemic had on my life broke me down over and over and over again. The only thing that proved to pick me back up time and time again was ritual and connection. I had to connect to myself. To my baby. To my friends. To my family. Over and over and over again, and all through rituals like dancing, singing, stretching, taking self portraits, cooking, eating, gathering (safely) etc etc etc etc.
This new iteration of my business was born out of the sheer and utter desire for connection through the ritual of practicing being seen — in this case, through photos. Being photographed is a ritual that has shown me connection in the form of honoring myself, celebrating myself, and allowing myself to be seen. It’s the reason why I do what I do. It’s the reason why I became a boudoir photographer ten years ago, and it’s the reason why I’m able to come back to my passion after a year and a half of complete burn out.
So join me in this delicious, beautiful, healing, powerful ritual. Come connect and honor and celebrate yourself.
Thanks for reading, friend. I’m glad you’re here.