People often ask me what the hardest thing about photography is.
Honestly?
For me, it’s when a client doesn’t like how they look in pictures. (Or at all.)
It takes me back to when I hated myself in pictures. The lack of confidence, the inability to truly smile, the fear that I just look bad.
One day I started mentoring/teaching young photographers and they (mostly my little buddy Nic) would take tons of pictures of me. At first I was appalled at the unflattering images. But then I realized…that’s how I always look, and the people in my life don’t see me as unflattering. Oh sure, sometimes I look absolutely goofy and sometimes I look extra gorgeous, but the truth is in the between — where I am every day.
I am animated. I make faces. I look excited. I look sad. I look out of it. I look tired. I look alive!
All versions are still me.
The hardest part of photography for me as the photographer is to see someone who can’t see their beautiful selves the same way I see them — the same way their loved ones see them.
Self-acceptance is hard. I get it. Our bodies change. Our faces change. Maybe we don’t have the Hollywood accepted look (I don’t — I always used to say people don’t “fall” for me immediately based on my looks, but my heart will get ya!). Maybe our waists have grown round with child. Maybe they have grown round without child. It’s still you — and you are still beautifully YOU!
At the end of the day — at the end of a session — I can’t convince you to love what I see. That’s an inside job. But I hope you will come to see that you are loved no matter how you (think you) look.
