THE STORY BEHIND THE STUDIO

I'm Aura (they, them), the artist behind Crux Forma Creative.

Crux Forma started with my trans and nonbinary friends who couldn’t find places that would photograph them with real affirmation, especially for something as vulnerable as boudoir.

That gap pissed me off enough to leave the corporate rat race and take a leap of faith into building an alternative.

I photograph the people most studios weren't built for: queer, trans, nonbinary, and gender-diverse folks. Anyone who's spent too long being handled instead of actually seen.

Learn more about the name

I'm nonbinary and gender-fluid, AuDHD, queer, and half-Korean. I make this work from the inside of the communities it's for.

I'm also a multidisciplinary artist. Photography leads, but I work in visual art, music, and mixed media too, and Crux Forma is built to grow into all of it.

What holds it together is how I see people: my job is to make images that feature what you love about yourself and show you the way you want to be seen.

If you already know how to style and pose, great, I'll follow your lead.

If you have no idea what to do with your hands and the whole thing sounds terrifying, that's what I'm here for.

I've spent most of my life helping people through things that felt vulnerable or intimidating, including over a decade of nursing and years teaching movement and outdoor adventure indoors and out.

My background helping people do scary things shows up in how I run sessions.

This is the studio I went looking for and couldn't find.

So here it is.

What I bring to a shoot is pace, consent, and choice, never pressure.

Come as you are.

Be seen as yourself.

Guided, low-pressure, consent-forward; no need to arrive knowing how to pose.

That’s my job.

Want help with gender-affirming hair, makeup, and styling or costuming?

I can help with that, too.

SERVICES

Individual and gender-affirming portraits for anyone ready to be seen as they actually are, at any stage of transition, expression, or self-discovery.
Solo, partnered, or any configuration in between. Sessions built around what feels true to your body. No posing expertise needed.
Cosplay, drag personas, mythic and magical alter egos. Whatever version of yourself only exists in your head, brought fully to life in front of the camera on your terms.