Beauty Through Another's Eyes

If you are a woman today (actually ever), each day you look in the mirror and wish for something. Wish you were skinnier, your hair longer, your lips fuller, your eyes brighter… it is a never ending list that goes on and on. Then you walk through a moment and a random stranger stops to tell you what beautiful hair you have, or you over hear someone saying something sweet about you.

We often can’t see how beautiful we are through our own eyes. We have to see ourselves through another’s eyes.

I love this campaign by Dove. It is a perfect example of why I insist the moms I photograph get in the photos with their children… to exist in photographs - no matter what they look like. Your children, partners and family only see YOU! They don’t care if your hair isn’t perfect, or your outfit not pristine. They only know that they love you and you are amazing!

I Understand What Men See

Have you ever heard a man say he prefers to see you in the morning?  Often before you have had the chance to put on your makeup, do your hair, etc.  If you are a woman, then you most definitely have and, if you are like me, you looked at him like 'are you crazy'?  My makeup makes me beautiful.

Watching this video today, I get it.  Seeing these women look so natural and free, it was like seeing the real them.  Yes, they were all beautiful all made up.  But when they stripped away the makeup, false lashes and hair, I realized I could see THEM.  Each uniquely beautiful with flaws and character that made them so much more engaging.

I hope that I can learn to see that in myself and not hide behind the facade of what beauty really is.  Relish in the things that what people see in you, what they like in you, rarely has to do with the makeup on your face!

Defining Beauty

If life teaches us nothing, it is that culture defines beauty.  Similarly, as culture evolves and changes, so does what it considers beauty.

I love this video for it so eloquently illustrates this very fact.

When all is said and done, define beauty for yourself.  Be your most beautiful on your own terms and never apologize.   For that, is what is most beautiful and what I most love to photograph!