My cousin needed some headshots, so I figured I should grab a picture of myself while I had the backdrop up. It felt completely bizarre to be on the other side of the camera. I had huge fake smiles and my cousin (not a photographer) was snapping away while I directed her where to stand, how aim the camera, and she yelled at me to not look so stupid.
I felt like giving up but then my kids came in and in true toddler form, they had me laughing in no time. Looking back at the images, I am so glad I decided to capture “just me”. I’m always behind the lens or buried under kids in images.
There was something that felt so uplifting to look at a picture of just me and see the face that everyone everyone else tells me is pretty. Looking in the mirror we see our wrinkles, bags under our eyes, and endless flaws, but in these pictures I see beauty and hear laughter. With kids and jobs the days are long, the nights never long enough and it was nice to have a moment captured to appreciate that beyond being a mother, a teacher, a wife, and a photographer, I am a woman.
Go now…smile, take a picture, and love yourself 🙂
