Beauty Is NOT In The Eye Of The Beholder.

Did a little session the other day with my dear little Jenny - AKA my apprentice. Don't ask me why anyone would let me influence this poor girl, but they do, and I love that she keeps me sane in quite a few INsane situations. Anyway, the point is that she rocked it out like I knew she would. The best part about it? I had her leave her hair natural. She calls it frizzy - I call it uniquely GORGEOUS. I cannot get enough of this photo of her in the antique shop. So awesome! But the problem with being a photographer and dealing with all of these insanely stunning girls is that one begins to feel a little self conscious about themselves.




In addition to doing some great shots with her, I had her take a couple of me. What does that mean? That means I have gone through all of them and done nothing short of nitpick every single one. No, I'm not saying that Jenny took bad pictures. In fact, quite the contrary. What I'm saying is that I am, in my husbands words, ridiculous. I know, I know. This may look like I'm fishing for compliments, but I swear to you, that is not the case. I'm merely trying to explain the revelation that I had after reading my own comments on my own pictures. Really, I annoyed myself. Now I think I kind of understand where my husband is coming from. Never a time when a compliment from him wasn't met with a derogatory statement from my mouth. Poor guy. And here is a sampling from my FB comments to myself.








Jenny's comment about my head shot she did: "YAYYYY my photography :) i love it!"
My comment back: "Good work my friend. You did the best with what you were given. A girl with a large nose and a giraffe neck."

Seriously? How obnoxious am I?!

And this goes on and on for numerous pictures. The solution? Taking all the negativity off and replacing it with positive comments. Let me know if you run across any that I miss...

But that wasn't the revelation. No, the revelation was much bigger than that. I started to think about what really makes me beautiful. Sure, I can do a pretty good make-up job and I do pretty well keeping up with the trends, but at the end of the day, that isn't what fulfills me. Here I've been preaching to my 7 year-old daughter that it's the inside beauty that matters, but not leading by example. So what is my true beauty? It's the beauty in the everyday. It's taking the time with my kids to play Lincoln Logs and Guess Who. It's changing my babies diaper when it's wet and being just as happy as she is when I know she's comfortable. It's even in scrubbing the toilet because I want my house to be clean for my favorite little family. Beauty is what is behind your intentions. Beauty is my compassion for people and how I can serve them. So, next time my husband tells me that I look pretty when I haven't done my hair or make-up and I'm hanging out in my scrubby clothes, I'm merely going to look at him and say, "Thank you".