Begging To Be Beautiful

We post pictures.  We tell funny stories.  We record beauty, life, and love.  When what we're really doing is straining our eyes to see the light.

We tell the good stories but don't for a second believe there aren't bad stories too.  Don't believe there aren't days when we want to post a desperate cry, "I'm hurting so much! I need help!"  or "Just give that other person grace, they're drowning in despair!"

I take pictures of people (mostly).  When you point a camera at someone they often start feeling insecure about how they appear.

I'm passionate about beauty.  It's my soapbox.  On of my personal missions is to make everywhere I go a little bit brighter and little more beautiful.  I notice beauty.  I notice how hungry and desperate people are for beauty.   I notice how TV producers write shows about makeovers and how girls compete with outfits and makeup.  Of all the things I've noticed, I've realized that the world is begging to be beautiful.  How it's craving to be other than it is.  I've seen how we can ignore that which isn't beautiful.  How people don't always like to see pain. I've learned that painting over pain doesn't eradicate the pain.  I've learned that straining to see the light is where finding beauty begins.

People love makeovers because it's a transformation of old to glorious new.  People love happy endings because it's darkness triumphed by light.  People hate masks cause they're not genuine.

Why can't we all be more vulnerable?  Why can't you say, "That hurt" and I say, "I'm sorry."  Why in our begging for beauty do we hide from the light?

Yes, I capture beauty, it's my job.  But you can capture beauty too.  We both just have to be willing to strain our eyes to see the light!

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On Curly Hair and Being A Photographer : Personal

I really wanted curly hair.  My friends had talked all about this curly girl thing.  I read the book.  I  researched and researched ('cause I love research).   I tried the methods I listened to the experts and somehow success just wasn't meant to be mine.  Greasy hair, crunchy hair, those things I could achieve but gorgeous curls, they weren't happening.  Years later I looked in the mirror.  "When did I get this curly hair I'd dreamed of?"  I wondered. 

"Is your hair naturally curly?"  It's the question every girl dreaming of curls is wishing she could hear.  It's a question I hear now but not one I used to (believe me:).

I worked so hard to have curly hair but my curls weren't achieved in an instant or even in the 6-8 weeks the experts promised.  My curls were achieved through time, consistence, and finding my own rhythm.  Believe it or not, everyday still isn't a perfect hair day for this curly girl.  Some days my hair is just sad.

I think it sounds a lot like photography.  I can read the articles and research, research, research.  I can listen to the experts and try to copy them but I won't be a good photographer until I spend time just clicking the shutter, until I forget a few of the rules and find a rhythm.

I kind of forgot about my perfect curls obsession and it was somewhere in the forgetting that I got those curls.  Maybe it's somewhere in the forgetting of the perfect photographer that we start to really craft our art!

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