The Story of Studio 34

An award-winning boudoir studio born from a simple belief: every woman deserves to be celebrated exactly as she is.

How we got here…

For most of my life, I was a photographer who didn't photograph people.

I saw photographing a person as a sacred act — one I wasn't yet worthy of. To reflect someone in their best light, I felt I needed a far deeper command of studio lighting, posing, and the technical craft of portraiture. So I waited until I was ready.

In 2020, a global pandemic made the decision for me. Stuck at home with more hours than I knew what to do with, I enrolled in every online course I could find and convinced Michelle and our daughters to become my models. Thousands of photographs later, something shifted.

I discovered that the part of this work I loved most wasn't the technical challenge. It was watching someone's face change the moment they saw their images for the first time. The quiet. The tears — the good kind. The whispered "I had no idea I looked like that."

That's when I understood what kind of photographer I wanted to be.

I also understood that to do this work with the depth it deserved, I needed a partner whose gifts were different from mine. Michelle had spent nearly a decade as a certified trauma-informed yoga teacher and reiki practitioner. She had spent years learning how to make people feel safe in their own bodies — how to read a nervous system, how to guide someone back to themselves when the world felt like too much.

"The opportunity was to combine both of our skill sets and create pure alchemy. And so, Studio 34 Boudoir was born."

That alchemy is what you feel when you walk through our door. Tim's technical mastery and artistic vision. Michelle's gift for safety, presence, and empowerment. Together, they create something neither of us could make alone — and something you will carry with you long after your session ends.

WHAT WE BELIEVE…

We believe that every woman is worthy of being seen — not after she loses the weight, not after the kids are grown, not after things slow down. Right now. Exactly as she is.

We believe that a boudoir session is not a luxury reserved for a certain kind of woman. There is no certain kind of woman. There is only your story, and it deserves to be told beautifully.

Studio 34 is a space without judgment. Every body. Every age. Every background. Every identity. We have built this studio, and this team, to hold space for all of it — with warmth, with skill, and with the deepest respect for the courage it takes to show up for yourself.

That is not something we say. It is something we practice, every single session, without exception.

MEET THE TEAM

Tim Gerdes
Photographic Director

Tim Gerdes is a Philadelphia-area photographer whose work is defined not by technical precision — though that is present in every frame — but by the emotional truth he finds in his subjects.

Tim came to portrait and boudoir photography through a long personal journey toward earning the right to photograph people. He spent years studying the craft — studio lighting, posing, the subtle technical demands of photographing every skin tone with equal care and beauty — before he felt ready to ask someone to trust him with something this personal.

That preparation shows. His images have been named Best of Boudoir by the Association of International Boudoir Photographers in both 2024 and 2025 — consecutive years, multiple images — placing his work among the finest boudoir photography produced anywhere in the world.

But the compliments Tim values most are not about the photographs themselves. They are the ones that come when a client sees her images for the first time and says: "You've captured the real me — the way I feel inside." Or simply: "I had no idea I looked like that."

That moment — that quiet recognition — is what Tim builds every session around.

Michelle Gerdes
Client Experience & Empowerment Director

Michelle Gerdes has spent nearly a decade learning how to make people feel safe in their own bodies.

As a certified trauma-informed Yoga Teacher (ERYT-200) and Reiki Practitioner, Michelle has worked with hundreds of clients navigating anxiety, trauma, grief, and the quiet, persistent weight of not feeling at home in themselves. She has spent years developing a deep fluency in the language of the nervous system — how to read it, how to support it, how to guide someone back to a place of ease and confidence when the world feels like too much.

She brings all of that into the studio on your session day.

Michelle's role at Studio 34 is not simply to guide you through poses. It is to hold the emotional container of your entire experience — to ensure that from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave, you feel seen, supported, and free to be exactly who you are. Her background makes her uniquely equipped to work with clients who carry body image struggles, past trauma, or deep personal vulnerability into the space. Many of them do. She is prepared for all of it.

Michelle is also your first point of contact. Your consultation, your preparation, your session day — she is present for all of it, and she considers that a privilege.