Hello!
If you've made it to this page, you're either the type who does their homework before jumping in, or you're just nosey. Both are fine by me.
Either way, here's the stuff I'd want to know if I were you.
Firstly, how did you get into this?
I get asked this more than anything else, so let's start here.
Years ago, a bride whose wedding I was shooting asked if I'd do a boudoir shoot for her as a gift for her husband-to-be. I'd never done one. I said yes anyway.
She loved the photos. So did he. But the bit that stuck with me was what she said afterwards: she'd never felt or looked so good in her life.
At the same time, I had women in my life who were brutal on themselves. "I'm too much of this." "I'm not enough of that." Nothing I said made any difference. I went blue in the face trying.
So I stopped telling people how good they looked and started showing them instead. No Photoshop, no filters. Just a camera, a bit of time, and someone finally seeing what everyone else already sees.
That was 2017. I left wedding photography behind and You at Yours was born.
A few things you should know before you book
Zero Photoshop. Zero filters. Not a little bit of smoothing. None. If the photos only work once they've been edited, what's the point? You need to see that it's actually you.
You have to want this for you. Not for a partner, not because a mate talked you into it. If it's a gift for someone else, I'll happily point you elsewhere. The shoots that change something are the ones people do for themselves.
You don't need to be confident. You need to be a bit brave. Confidence is what you leave with, not what you turn up with. Think skydiving: nobody's calm in the plane.
Consent runs the whole day. You decide what you wear, what you show and what you don't. I explain everything before it happens. Nothing is a surprise.
It's actually fun. People expect it to be awkward. It isn't. There's a lot of laughing, usually at me.
The CV bit
10 years doing this. 850+ sessions.
Voted London's Best Boudoir Photographer three times.
Featured in Forbes, The Times, The Sun and on BBC Radio London.
I teach nude photography to other photographers. The course is built around consent and safe spaces, not pretty pictures. (The pretty pictures come on their own once someone feels comfortable.)
Council member at Shoulder to Shoulder, a men's wellbeing organisation.
In 2024 I ran The Summer Walk: a walk through London with a big group of women in their underwear behind me. That's the photo at the top of this page. Nobody got arrested. Everybody cried a bit.
"I wish I had a mini-Merv in my pocket all the time. The things he's done for my confidence..."
Who are you, then?
I'm Mervyn. Merv to most people. I'm 40, born and raised in South London, and still here.
Before this I spent 10 years in a corporate job in the City. I kept the suits. They remind me why I left.
No pets, but the house is full of plants, which I'm counting. When I'm not working I'm with friends and family, digging through vinyl, or travelling. I'm also still trying to finish the complete Sherlock Holmes. It's a very thick book.
Huge Red Dwarf fan. Happy to hear about whatever you're watching, even the reality stuff. Especially the reality stuff.
Random fact: I had a horse as a kid. I named him Mighty Morphin. I was 10 and very into Power Rangers. No regrets.
What's your body confidence like?
Good question. Fair question, too.
For years I wore long-sleeved t-shirts because I was insecure about my weight. I'd been called skinny my whole life and it got in.
What changed wasn't the gym. I was never going to hit it consistently enough, and I'm not giving up cake. What changed was realising I've only got the one body and I can't have it both ways. So I made peace with it.
The other thing that changed it was getting in front of the camera myself. I have my own shoot every few months now. It's the same thing I ask of you, and I'm not going to ask you to do something I won't.
I've seen what a shoot does for people. Turns out it works on me too.
It's not really about the photos
Ten years in, I've worked out that the camera is the excuse. What people actually come for is the feeling afterwards, and that's the bit I'm most interested in now.
So alongside the shoots I do confidence coaching, I speak at events, and I run Out on the Table, which is the coaching side of what I do. If a shoot feels like too big a first step, confidence coaching might be the right place to start. And if you're a photographer who wants to learn to work this way, there's a page for you too.
When, if not now?
Every session starts with a free welcome call. It's mostly me listening. No hard sell, no pressure. If it's not right for you, I'll tell you.
Want the long version? I talk through all of this on the Love High podcast below with the INCREDIBLE Florence Bark.
It's about an hour, so make a cuppa.
Thanks for being here,
Merv x