Photography has an interesting way of feeling like therapy. As we’ve been on lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of Covid-19, I’ve been forced to take self-portraits to continue practicing and growing my skills as a photographer. Not to mention, the ideas for pictures I would like to create don’t ever stop coming. I fell in love with portraits with this desire to show people how beautiful they are. I grew up hating pictures of myself and honestly hating myself as well. I think everyone has some sort of unreasonable body standard that they’ve placed on themselves, women aren’t alone in this. Many of us have been raised in a culture with an undertone that places value on our bodies. Maybe no one in your family ever said anything that denigrated your worth, but we’re finding out that they don’t have to. It doesn’t matter how subtle it is if it’s everywhere. If we aren’t intentionally fighting against this undertone, then we are, even if only a little, accepting it.
There’s hope! Body-positive movements are growing in popularity. Take the downturn of a specific women’s lingerie company and the upturn of new inclusive, and women-lead lingerie companies as an example. Women are making a growing majority of the decisions in societies everywhere. Let’s make the decision to stop hating on bodies. Time to start accepting and even loving our bodies. We tend to focus on the things we don’t like and have little to no control over being able to change. I often see people confusing vanity with self-love. Being vain is such a negative thing that most of us would rather make ourselves smaller than ever be confused with being vain. It’s a balance issue, if you love yourself and think that you are better than everyone else, you might be lying to yourself. You are the same things you see the most in others. I don’t think you can love yourself and not love others as well. When we connect with and accept our own flaws, we gain empathy for others’ flaws. Developing love and compassion for yourself might even be viewed as a generous act for society. Join the rebellion! My goal is to grow the epidemic of confident women one woman at a time.
Below is a gallery of images from my most recent play time. My goal was to focus on strong contrasting light and creating shapes with my body. I love this high contrast look in black and white because it quiets the senses and draws the focus in on the mood.
My dear, you are art.
If you’re ready, I’m here to celebrate you. I see you. Click below for more information.
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