As Out to Lunch prepares to go back to hosting live lunches, for inspiration we’re taking a look at some of our pre-Covid shows. Here’s an Out to Lunch Best of: Boudoir Photography.

Maybe you think Boudoir Photography – intimate, seductive portraits taken for romance or personal empowerment – is something that happens in other places. After all, we’re pretty conservative around here. Aren’t we? Well, apparently not.

Acadiana Boudoir Photographer April Courville

April Courville got a masters in marketing in college and wound up in Minnesota where she fell into boudoir photography. When April moved back to Lafayette she  built a big enough book of business to strike out on her own full time with a boudoir photography business called A. Danette Photography.

Here’s a photography cliche. Why hire a photographer when a phone can do the job? That was already the conventional wisdom 13 years ago when the iPhone debuted. Since then, the lenses have only gotten better and people have started making millions taking pictures of their lives on Instagram. But the professional photographer never went obsolete as predicted.

That’s because there are plenty of circumstances that require a professional touch — weddings, portraits, magazine features and commercial photography that requires special skills to make the ordinary look extraordinary. That doesn’t mean making a living behind the camera isn’t a hustle. Success in photography takes relentless self-promotion, creativity and maybe a little luck. ‘

photographer Paul Kieu

Paul Kieu detoured into photography while on a path toward law school. Taking pictures was a hobby until he figured out he could get paid to do it and he stuck with it after graduating from UL with a degree in political science. He worked as a photojournalist for the Daily Advertiser for several years until leaving to work on his own. Taking a particular interest in culture, Paul’s work captures Acadiana’s boucheries, festivals and celebrations in vivid detail. You can find his photos in several local and regional publications.

Out to Lunch Acadiana is recorded over lunch at The French Press in downtown Lafayette. And talking of photographs, if you’d like to see photos from this show by Travis Gauthier you can find them at https://itsacadiana.com/show/out-to-lunch/

Paul Kieu, Christiaan Mader, April Courville pose for their 2021 Christmas Card portrait

More conversation over lunch about Acadiana photography here.