The Fairy Godmother Project Wedding Photography

The Fairy Godmother Project are creative and talented wedding photographers ...our aim is to give you confidence and creativity on your big day. The Fairy Godmother Project is casting a protective wand over your perfect day. We are here to create timeless memories with an elegant, fun and trustworthy approach. Based in West London, serving London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire and beyond...

Showing posts with label Real Beauty Sketches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Real Beauty Sketches. Show all posts

Friday 19 April 2013

This is my story of the 96% beauty blindness...




There is this Dove Real Beauty Sketches campaign doing the rounds on the Internet at the moment, which claims that only 4% of women consider themselves to be beautiful.  I was so shocked by these figures, as it leaves an astounding 96% of women deeming themselves unattractive.  I always thought all women around me to be beautiful; that is all except me...



And then, a few days later, I was tasked with taking pictures of my sons teachers to display on a board. I started this project after walking every day past the board and noticing the ugly, badly lit mug-shots of the staff taken with a camcorder... I was terrified that someone who was spending so much time with my son would have such low self esteem after walking past and seeing their terrible portrait so many times a day!


It was quick photo session for the staff. There was the standard conversation of, "I don’t like having my picture taken," and variations of the, "I hate pictures of me," dialogue, with the girls that cheer me every day with their huge generous smiles at the reception, soon joining in.  Every day as I approach the nursery building I know I need to start smiling, because there will always be huge welcoming smiles waiting for me and I cannot ruin this by arriving with a “flustered mother” face...



I practically begged the girls to give me try and prove that they are so so wrong... These pictures were taken without any special preparation, dressing up or professional make-up. They are exactly as I see them every day... And later that evening when my husband entered the office as the pictures were uploading to my computer, his reaction was "wow, is she a model!? Where did you meet her?"... If you only knew how she felt about herself... 

What are we doing to ourselves girls?!


Which team are you on… the 96% or the 4%?


Honestly it's been the most emotionally difficult photo editing ever. A complete roller-coaster between anger, sadness and tears... But also happiness; happiness that I have a gift to see people as beautiful as they truly are...


Oh, I only realised that I had this gift thanks to Elina, who wrote about her wedding experience with me. She wrote about me: "She loves people, she is super positive and gets on amazingly well with everyone. She finds beauty in people and she is a people photographer." Yes, I really see everyone as beautiful. Honestly! But when it comes to myself, it's the same old hypocritical story.


I got a birthday gift from my best friend from school, with the words - "When I saw this necklace I thought it was SO YOU!" My first reaction was - No. It's beautiful but it's not me. It cannot be true that even though she knows everything about me, including all my skeletons hidden in the wardrobe, and yet she still finds me as bold and beautiful as this necklace...


When you need to understand something, the universe conspires to help you achieve this understanding?!


Can we be the universe for each other and change how we feel about ourselves, ladies?! Or will we always find our critical voice louder than the universal one around us?!


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